Archive or mute Gmail messages

To clean up your inbox without deleting your Gmail messages, you can archive or mute the messages.

Learn how archive & mute work

The “All Mail” section displays messages that you archive or mute.

• Archive:
  • The message comes back to your inbox when someone replies to it.
• Mute:
  • The message is labeled as "Muted."
  • New messages in the thread skip your inbox.
  • You still receive the message in your inbox if:
    • The message is sent to you and no one else.
    • The message is sent to a Google Group where you’re a member.
    • Someone adds you to the “To” or “Cc” fields in the message.

Archive a message

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. Open the message you want to archive.
3. At the top, click Archive .

Tips:

• To archive multiple messages, click the box next to each message Archive .
• To archive a message with keyboard shortcuts, press E. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.

Find archived messages

Important: When you search in Gmail, your results include archived messages. Learn more about search in Gmail.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. On the left, click More.
3. Click All Mail.

Move archived messages to your inbox

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. Find the archived message.
3. Next to the message, check the box.
4. At the top, click Move to Inbox .

Mute or unmute messages

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. Open a message.
3. At the top, click More   Mute or Unmute.

Tips:

• At the top of the Gmail search box, to find all messages with the “Muted” label, enter is:muted.
• To mute a message with keyboard shortcuts, press M. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.

Related resources

• Search in Gmail
• Search operators you can use with Gmail