How do I retrieve a message I accidentally archived in Gmail?

Question

I was trying to mark an email as "Important" in Gmail and accidentally archived it.

Now I cannot locate it, since there is no "archive" label anywhere.

How do I get it back?

score 100 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 26 '23 at 23:03

100

Click on All Mail on the left. When you see the message, open it, and choose the Move to Inbox option to "un-archive" it.

Alternatively, you can use the search feature to locate the message (the search box should be towards the top of the Gmail page).

For more details visit Archive or mute Gmail messages | Gmail Help.

edited Mar 26 '23 at 23:03

Rubén - Volunteer Moderator -

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answered Dec 19 '11 at 02:00

Andrew Maiman

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score 75 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 05 '22 at 00:46

If you want to search for more than one archived email, entering the following into the search bar will list all your previously archived emails:

has:nouserlabels -in:Sent -in:Chat -in:Draft -in:Inbox

To move them back to the inbox, select all the displayed messages (or a subset of them if you only want to restore some of them) and click the icon that says "Move to Inbox" when hovering over it.

score 21 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 19 '11 at 21:37

21

Just search for -label:inbox.

answered Dec 19 '11 at 21:37

Michel de Ruiter

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 19 '11 at 18:46

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An archived email is just an email with the inbox label removed. Search for it, or open a label that it should be in, then click on move to inbox.

answered Dec 19 '11 at 18:46

mhoran_psprep

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 07 '20 at 18:55

5

Google finally fixed this. Here's the 2020 answer:

in:archive

answered Jun 07 '20 at 18:55

Abram

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score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 17 '12 at 20:40

In addition to the other answers that show how to find your answer again, you can always get it back immediately after archiving it by clicking "Undo" in the message that appears just after the action:

enter image description here

I have used this "undo" feature many times. Also works for deleted messages.

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 08 '13 at 22:51

1

If you can remember who is the sender or his mail id or part of his name, try to search with this information in the search box on the top of the page.

edited Feb 08 '13 at 22:51

ChrisF

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answered Feb 08 '13 at 22:11

gopi

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How do I retrieve a message I accidentally archived in Gmail?

7 Answers7