We’re all looking for ways to save time and clicks when working with email. Gmail’s Send + Archive button is a great feature that can help with this by allowing you to perform two actions with one click. however, many who attend my training sessions don’t know it exists or are confused about how it works. In this post, I’ll explain what the send + archive button does, how to turn it on, and why it should be your new favorite gmail feature.
what does the ‘send + archive’ button do?
once enabled, the “send + archive” button appears every time you reply to an email. here is an example:
When you click on it, your reply is sent and the email you are replying to is archived. these are your two actions in one click.
Now compare this to what would happen if you just clicked the “submit” button. your reply would be sent and the original email would still be in your inbox. that means you would then have to do something else on the original email, like archiving it or moving it to a label.
but where does the email go when you archive it?
I’m so glad you asked! I’ve explained this in detail in my blog post on demystifying the gmail archive button, so I recommend checking it out for a full understanding. In short, if the email you’re replying to was only in your inbox, you’ll see it in the “all mail” label after you archive it. however, if it was in the inbox and another label was also applied to it, it will be in “all mail” and the other label after being archived. in the example below, the email would show up in the “all mail” and “training sessions” labels after clicking “send + archive”.
when is the submit + archive button useful?
There are two key scenarios where the “send + archive” button is most useful.
scenario 1: if you archive your emails
some people prefer to just archive their emails, instead of archiving them in labels. if that’s you, this feature will save you a lot of time. you can use it on all email replies and clean up your inbox quickly.
scenario 2: if the email already has a tag applied
If the email you’re replying to already has a tag applied to it (as in the example above), it’s definitely worth using the “send + archive” button. there are two reasons why the email might already have a label: (1) you previously moved the email to a label, but it went back to your inbox because someone replied to the conversation (this will only happen if you use conversation view) , or (2) you are using filters to automatically tag incoming emails. You can learn more about the latter method in my blog post on Using Gmail Filters to Automatically Label and Archive Your Emails.
how do I get the submit + archive button?
If you’ve decided to give the “send + archive” button a try, here’s how you enable it:
1. click the settings button (cog) > settings. 2. in the general section, scroll down until you find the send and archive section. 3. select the option to show “send & archive” in response. 4. Scroll down and click save changes.
Feeling overwhelmed by emails and want to learn how to better manage your gmail inbox? check out our online course to be smart with gmail.