You can find archived Gmail messages mainly in two places: All Mail, and via a search query. What to do
- On desktop:
- Open Gmail.
- In the left sidebar, click More, then All Mail to view all messages including archived ones.
- Archived messages won’t have the Inbox label. If you want to confirm a specific item, you can open it from All Mail.
- Using search:
- In the Gmail search box, type in: in:archive and press Enter. This filters to archived messages.
- Note: Gmail may occasionally mix archived messages with others in search results; check the labels on each message to confirm whether it’s archived.
Additional tips
- If you’re using the mobile Gmail app:
- Tap the hamburger menu (three lines) to open the side menu, scroll to the bottom, and select All Mail.
- Or use the search bar and enter in:archive to find archived items.
- If you use keyboard shortcuts (enabled in settings), you can quickly archive or unarchive messages and navigate between Inbox and All Mail.
If you’d like, tell me whether you’re on desktop or mobile, and I can tailor step-by-step instructions with exact menus for your setup.
