Gmail: 9 Reasons to Archive Your Email

[Tim Williamson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/9-reasons-to-archive.html' target='_blank'>http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/...to-archive.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;We hear reports that many users don't archive their email. If you don't regularly click on the &quot;archive&quot; button or never even thought about it, here are some reasons you might want to get in the habit. Archiving just means moving mail out of your inbox and storing it for safekeeping. Your messages will be waiting for you when you click All Mail or search for them.&quot;<br /><img alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/500/dht/auto/1208801535.usr209.jpg" /><br /></em>For all you Gmail users out there,&nbsp;Google lists 9 great reasons to &quot;archive&quot; your mail rather than&nbsp;deleting it.&nbsp; I usually use the Archive button sparingly, but these are some good reasons to start using&nbsp;it if you haven't thought about it before.&nbsp; I can really relate to #8: Procrastination.</p>

[Reid Kistler]

OK - some pretty good arguments in favor of Archiving instead of Deleting.

Buy why Archive instead of merely leaving in IN box?

Under many / most? / all?? pc-based email apps, you need to archive / condense / compress / compact folders to avoid Severe Problems - but does this apply to Gmail as well??

rk

[Joel Crane]

...Why wouldn't you archive your mail? It takes the exact same amount of effort as deleting it, one click.

Then a year later, I lose my password for the Trillian Astra Alpha testing, dangit. No problem, type in "Trillian Astra" in the search box and bang, there it is. During all of this, my inbox stays neat and clean. Hey man, I only have Recycle Bin on my desktop!

It's a GREAT system, I love it!

[Tim Williamson]

Buy why Archive instead of merely leaving in IN box?

***long quote trimmed by mod JD***

I think the idea behind Gmail's "archiving" is to have an easy way to unclutter your inbox, but to still have old message available to open or search. You could just leave all your mail in your Gmail inbox, it doesn't seem to make a difference performance-wise (I think I have about 800 emails in my inbox right now).

[alese]

Nice tips, I actually archive my Gmail regulary just to clean my inbox.

Actually since I use IMAP on my WM phone I have my Gmail categories set as folders (with an added benefit of being able to assign more than one category to a mail, effectivelly putting it in more than one folder). So when I go through my inbox I just assign categories to mails that I'll keep and archive them, the rest I delete - result is a nice clean inbox and an archive of everything I may or may not need one day...

[Dyvim]

And don't forget the most important reason to archive your Gmail:

#10: To become accustomed to requiring more and more online storage for your Gmail so that eventually you will upgrade to a paid account.

(I say this as a happy Gmail user. Gmail works great on my iPhone. I've been a happy camper since I abandoned hotmail and Outlook Express in favor of Gmail and Thunderbird.)

As Alese points out, Gmail's categorizing abilities are indeed handy and work great with any IMAP client.

Why oh why can't I get push Gmail on my iPhone though? Apple and Google are bedfellows, right?

[Jason Dunn]

Buy why Archive instead of merely leaving in IN box?

I think because most people use their Inbox as their "to do" list, archiving completed emails is a way to indicate what's been dealt with and what hasn't.

[Tim Williamson]

I think because most people use their Inbox as their "to do" list, archiving completed emails is a way to indicate what's been dealt with and what hasn't.

Good point...most of my bills are electronic so I receive an email whenever one is due. I have filters setup to automatically tag any bills with the "Bills" label and to star it. After I pay a bill I unstar and archive it so I know it's been paid.

[Jason Dunn]

#10: To become accustomed to requiring more and more online storage for your Gmail so that eventually you will upgrade to a paid account.

Really? Google is offering, what 6.5 GB of storage? That's a LOT of email - short of a lot of email with attachments, when it comes to normal email 6.5 GB of storage is practically unlimited. I have 5+ years of email in my Exchange account and I'm just pushing 2 GB.

[Dyvim]

Really? Google is offering, what 6.5 GB of storage?
I was kidding (mostly).

[Tim Williamson]

Really? Google is offering, what 6.5 GB of storage?


I think you meant to say 6649.009569 GB of storage... ;)

BTW, they do allow you to purchase additional storage (https://www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage?hl=en):

Your new plan will automatically renew, but we will contact you 30 days prior to charging your credit card.
<input name="timeStmp" id="timeStmp" value="1208880613" type="hidden"> <input name="secTok" id="secTok" value="bd6ae2ebd2ebf32fde1ba3ffbd26860a" type="hidden"> <table style="font-size: 1em;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr onclick="selectPlan('10737418240:12:20000000@USD');"> <td>
</td> <td> <label for="radio_10737418240:12:20000000@USD"> 10 GB ($20.00 USD per year) </label>
</td> </tr> <tr onclick="selectPlan('42949672960:12:75000000@USD');"> <td>
</td> <td> <label for="radio_42949672960:12:75000000@USD"> 40 GB ($75.00 USD per year) </label>
</td> </tr> <tr onclick="selectPlan('161061273600:12:250000000@USD');"> <td>
</td> <td> <label for="radio_161061273600:12:250000000@USD"> 150 GB ($250.00 USD per year) </label>
</td> </tr> <tr onclick="selectPlan('429496729600:12:500000000@USD');"> <td>
</td> <td> <label for="radio_429496729600:12:500000000@USD"> 400 GB ($500.00 USD per year) </label>
</td></tr></tbody></table>