How to Bulk Archive All Emails in Gmail at Once

Most Gmail inboxes are packed with thousands of emails, including newsletters, alerts, receipts, and updates. Deleting isn’t always safe, but keeping everything visible slows you down. Important messages get buried, and daily triage turns into a time sink.

If you want to clean up without losing anything, bulk archiving is the fastest solution. Gmail lets you remove emails from your inbox in one action, while still keeping them fully searchable in your account.

This guide shows how to bulk archive all emails simultaneously, plus advanced filters to clean by date, sender, or status. 

Understanding Gmail's Archive Function

Archiving in Gmail is not the same as deleting. When you archive an email, it disappears from your inbox but remains in your account and is fully searchable. This is ideal for clearing out clutter without losing valuable information.

What Does Archiving Do?

• Removes the email from your Inbox label while keeping it in your “All Mail” view.

• It preserves all existing labels except "Inbox"—you can still find emails by label, search, or filters.

• Does not notify the sender or affect the status of the email thread.

• Allows continued replies—archived messages work like any other email when opened.

Example: You're done coordinating a client project. You don’t need it cluttering your inbox, but you may need to refer back to those threads later. Archiving lets you keep the record without constant visibility.

Also Read: How to Prioritize Emails in Gmail

Archiving vs. Deleting in Gmail

Understanding the distinction between archiving and deleting is critical before you bulk-process your emails.

Benefits of Archiving Emails in Gmail

Archiving helps you keep the inbox clear without losing important emails. It’s especially useful when you want to focus on current work but still need access to old threads.

• Keeps your inbox focused on current tasks without losing historical records.

• Improves search performance by reducing inbox clutter, especially for high-volume users.

• Reduces stress and distractions—no need to scan through old messages daily.

• Protects your data—unlike deleting, archiving maintains a full backup of your conversations.

Also Read: 6 Fundamentals of Email Inbox Organization

Steps to Bulk Archive Emails in Gmail

Gmail's mobile app doesn’t offer a complete “Select All” feature, so if you’re trying to archive everything at once, you'll need to use a desktop browser. 

Here’s how to do it in three quick steps.

1. Open Gmail on a Computer

• Go to mail.google.com and log in to your account.

• Wait for the inbox to load fully. Bulk actions work best when Gmail is stable.

2. Select All Emails in the Inbox

• Click the checkbox above your email list. This selects the 50 emails currently visible.

• A line appears saying: “Select all conversations in Inbox”. Click that to select every message in your inbox, even if you have 5,000 or more.

3. Archive Everything

• Once all emails are selected, click the Archive icon (a box with a downward arrow).

• Gmail will process the request and show a confirmation banner.

• Emails have now been removed from your inbox and moved to All Mail.

Pro Tip: You can immediately undo the action using the “Undo” button on the banner, which is only available for a few seconds.

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Advanced Techniques for Targeted Archiving

If you don’t want to archive everything, Gmail’s search filters let you narrow it down by date, read status, sender, and more. Use this when bulk archiving specific types of emails.

Archive Emails by Date

To archive older messages without touching recent ones:

1. Type ‘before: 2023/01/01’ in the search bar to pull up all emails before Jan 1, 2023.

2. Click the checkbox to select visible messages.

3. Click “Select all conversations that match this search.”

4. Hit the Archive button.

Example: This is useful if you’re cleaning up old client work but want to keep anything from this year in your inbox.

Archive Only Read or Unread Emails

Use these filters:

• ‘is: read’– shows only emails you’ve already opened.

• ‘is: unread’ – isolates anything you haven’t read.

Follow the same steps: select → expand to all results →  then archive.

Pro Tip: Combine filters ‘is: read before: 2022/12/31’ clears out read emails older than a year.

Archive Emails by Sender

To bulk archive messages from a specific person or source:

1. Search ‘from:example@domain.com’

2. Select all results → “Select all conversations” → Archive

Pro Tip: You can run this after using the unsubscribe button so Gmail won’t misfile new emails from that sender in the future.

Tired of searching and filtering to clean your inbox?  NewMail AI auto-labels messages like “Urgent,” “Important,” or “Low Priority” the moment they land, so you don’t need to run filters just to stay organized. Try NewMail and let smart rules do the work.

Automating Archiving with Filters

If certain emails, like reports, alerts, or notifications, always end up archived anyway, you can set Gmail to do it automatically. This reduces manual cleanup and keeps the inbox focused.

How to Set Up Auto-Archive Filters

1. Click the gear icon in Gmail → See all settings.

2. Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.

3. Click Create a new filter.

4. In the popup:

   1. Fill in criteria: from:notifications@company.com, subject keywords, etc.

   2. Click Create filter.

5. On the next screen, check Skip the Inbox (Archive it).

6. Click Create filter to save.

Example: You can automatically archive monthly payroll reports from HR or security alerts from cloud services that don’t require action.

Also Read: How to Keep Your Gmail Inbox Organized

Retrieving Archived Emails

Archived emails don’t disappear; they’re moved out of your inbox and stored in All Mail. You can pull them up at any time using search, labels, or Gmail filters.

Option 1: Use the “All Mail” Folder

• On the left-hand menu, scroll down and click All Mail.

• This shows everything in your account—Inbox, Sent, and Archived.

• Look for messages that don’t have the “Inbox” label. Those are archived.

Pro Tip: If you don’t see the “All Mail” option, click More in the sidebar to expand Gmail’s full label list.

Option 2: Search for Archived Emails

• Use the search bar at the top of Gmail.

• You can type anything you remember: sender name, subject, keywords, etc.

• To narrow it to archived messages, add ‘-in: inbox’ to your search.

Example: Searching ‘project update -in: inbox’ shows emails about a project that are no longer in your inbox, most likely archived.

Option 3: Return Emails to the Inbox

• Open any archived email.

• Click the Move to Inbox icon at the top.

• The message now reappears in your inbox with its original timestamp.

Example: If a client replies to an old thread you archived, their reply automatically brings the email back into the inbox. You don’t need to re-archive manually afterward.

Also Read: Top Email Organizer Apps to Streamify Your Inbox Management

Limitations and Considerations

Bulk archiving is useful, but there are a few constraints to keep in mind, especially if you're managing sensitive or high-volume inboxes.

• The Mobile App Can’t Do a Full Bulk Archive: The Gmail app only lets you select visible messages on-screen. There’s no “Select all conversations” option like on the desktop.

• Archived Emails Still Count Toward Storage: Archiving doesn't reduce your storage use. Gmail's 15GB limit covers Mail, Drive, and Photos.

• Labels Still Matter: Archiving removes emails from the Inbox but doesn’t strip other labels. If you’ve labeled emails “Legal,” “Finance,” or “2023 Projects,” those labels stay intact.

Also Read: A Complete Beginner's Guide on How to Use Email Automation

Conclusion

Archiving in bulk helps you reset your inbox without losing important records. Whether you’re clearing out a few years of email or just making space for new projects, using Gmail’s archive function properly keeps your account organized and searchable.

Need to archive less and focus more?

NewMail AI reduces inbox clutter before it builds up, with personalized email ranking, smart folder filtering, and automated rules to archive or move low-priority emails. You won’t need bulk actions when your inbox is already sorted.

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