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Archive Emails Older than a Year in Gmail [Complete Guide]

Proper email management makes your work easier. If you want specific data from Gmail, this article will help you. Here, we will explain how to archive emails older than a year in Gmail.

If your inbox feels cluttered, archiving is like spring cleaning—without deleting anything. It moves old emails out of sight but keeps them accessible anytime needed. This keeps your inbox clean, speeds up your workflow, and reduces the overwhelm of sifting through years of messages. Think of it as putting files in a cabinet—still there, but not on your desk.

In Gmail archiving the emails is easy, select the emails you want to save and click on the archive button. Boom! Your emails will be safely secure to the location which you can get any time you want. This method saves your entire data which is great, however, if you want to download only one year's emails. This will be explored in this guide.

Why Need to Get Emails Older than 12 Months in Gmail?

Sometimes, the emails you think you no longer need can suddenly become important. Instead of deleting them, saving them will be a great choice. So, if you want to archive all Gmail emails older than 1 year, there are many reasons behind this.

  • Emails often contain important records—agreements, attachments, invoices, or project details. These might be needed months (or even years) down the line for tax purposes, legal compliance, or customer follow-ups.
  • Sometimes, we need to revisit old discussions to refresh our memory or trace back a decision’s origin. Archived emails act as a trail of past conversations that can offer useful context.
  • Many product purchases and online transactions send receipts or warranty documents via email. If you misplace a physical receipt, your archived email can save the day.
  • Businesses, freelancers, and contractors may need to access prior interactions to maintain continuity with clients or vendors. Having old emails handy helps you follow up seamlessly or resolve disputes quickly.
  • Emails serve as an unofficial but reliable form of documentation. They offer a timestamped record of communication, which can be crucial when you need to prove that an email or request was sent on time.

In the end, archiving emails older than a year ensures that valuable information remains at your fingertips, no matter how far back you need to go. Therefore, we will discuss the ways you can use to get the required Gmail emails you want.

Manually Archive Emails Older than a Year in Gmail

Archiving 12 months older Gmail emails manually is straightforward, and there are a couple of ways to get it done. You can search and archive them directly with this hands-on approach, this method lets you select and archive emails yourself.

  1. Open Gmail and type the following in the search bar: **before YYYY/MM/DD** (Replace with the date exactly one year ago).
  2. Gmail will now show you all the emails older than the date specified.
  3. Select the emails by checking the box next to each one (or click Select All).
  4. Click the Archive icon (a box with a down arrow) at the top toolbar.

This method is perfect if you want to pick and choose exactly which emails to archive. However, it is a time-consuming process. You have to determine which date you want your date. So, if you are having problems using this method. Professional tools will help you.

Save Gmail Emails Older than One Year Professionally

On the internet, there are third-party tools that allow you to archive emails in Gmail by date. Among them is Corbett Gmail Backup Software which allows you to download specific emails. It has an advanced search feature that you can use to sort your data and save the selected emails. Users can also export their emails in different file formats like EML, PST, PDF, etc. So, download the software in your Windows OS and follow the steps below.

Steps to Archive Gmail Emails Older than 12 Months

  1. After installing the software, click on the Open button.
  2. Select the Email Accounts and Add Account option.
  3. Enter your Gmail account details, and click on the Add button.
  4. Your data will be present in front of you. At the right-side click on the search option.
  5. In the select a date set your date from: and to fields. Then, click on the Find button.
  6. After that, click on the Export option and choose any option you want. Click on the Save button.

After following these steps you can have your data for 1 year. In this way, you can also get the data for more than 12 months.

Conclusion

Archiving emails makes your work much easier. Thus, this article explains how you can archive emails older than a year in Gmail. Here, we have explained both manual and professional ways which will provide you with great results. We provided clear-cut steps so that you can easily follow them.

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