I remember the first time I “archived” a message from my inbox. It was a boarding pass for a flight scheduled later that day and it was entirely by accident. I must admit it did raise my pulse a bit when I couldn’t figure out where this message went. I scrolled through my folders and was surprised that there was no folder for “Archive.” So where did it go?
After some poking around I found it tucked away in the folder “All Mail.” Phew
Boarding pass now intact, I had enough piece of mind to actually investigate the “archive” function. Google offers some explanations in their support section: Archive Mail, Archiving vs. Deleting (in case you were confused about these two separate and distinct actions) and of course All Mail (so you can figure out what this folder is really for).
Google claims the Archive feature is “like moving something into a file cabinet for safekeeping, rather than putting it in the trash can.” Anyone who has ever worked in an office probably knows firsthand that items put in the file cabinet for safekeeping usually remain there until:
- an office relocation or
- somebody dies.
After reading the support pages I’m guessing that “archive” is meant to save something that is important enough to keep, but not important enough to:
- remain in your inbox and clutter it up
- go in a separate folder (that would presumably be labeled with a topic or subject for reference emails)
- get a label
But if you’re going to save something for possible future use or reference, wouldn’t it make sense to create a folder or label to identify something about this email? Is anybody concerned about cluttering up the All Mail folder?
The Archiving vs. Deleting section implies that saving every unimportant email, rather than deleting it to free up space, is an option thanks to all of Gmail’s free storage. Is creating space the only reason people delete things? I’m in the habit of deleting things that no longer offer value to me, regardless of the space they take up.
Aside from the fact that the word and action “archive” is used improperly, I find the whole idea of it a little baffling. By the way I am an archivist so naturally I’m a bit biased.
Do you use the Gmail archive function? Do you find it useful? Please write in with your comments.
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