gmailAutoarchive.js

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var delayDays = 2; // will only impact emails more than 48h old
  var maxDate = new Date();
  maxDate.setDate(maxDate.getDate()-delayDays); // what was the date at that time?

  // Get all the threads labelled 'autoarchive'
  var label = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName("autoarchive");
  var threads = label.getThreads(0, 400);
  
  // we archive all the threads if they're unread AND older than the limit we set in delayDays
  for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
    if (threads[i].getLastMessageDate()<maxDate)
    {
      threads[i].moveToArchive();
    }
  }
}

Thanks for this, I tweaked it for my needs and it is available here
Archives any read message that is older than 24 hours.

I used a set of labels nested under a parent "autoarchive" and added the following into my fuction:

var labels = GmailApp.getUserLabels();
for (var a = 0; a < labels.length; a++) {
var curr_label = labels[a].getName();
var curr_label_parts = curr_label.split("/");
if (curr_label_parts[0] == "autoarchive") {
...// rest of archive function
}
}

Or just leverage GMail's built in search features:

var threads = GmailApp.search("in:inbox label:auto-archive older_than:2d");

https://gist.github.com/akamyshanov/88e0bfa936296d14febe4cb7d5c37c78

I would like to do something similar, but I only want threads that I have read. Is there a way to filter read messages?

Cool script two questions first is this script safe as with respect it looks like we are giving permissions to a stranger on the internet!
Next, how do we set it to archive more than 400 older emails? I have going back to 2018 which need archiving.

Script runs for me, and then there are clearly items with the autoarchive tag that are older than 2d. What a joke.

Got this to work. The filter method suggested by @akamyshanov works. Wrote a single line in the script that applied the filter then output the match count. Then dropped into the loop and archived the ones that were found. The tools could be a lot better, jeez. ANyway thanks for this.

Thank you! I've adapted it into a more generic cleanup script - the initial setup needs a bit of personal tweaking...
Edit - too many versions. I've added my gist here

Thanks for this, I tweaked it for my needs and it is available here
Archives any read message that is older than 24 hours.

Hi mrdlcastle
Thank you for the tweaked version of the script .
However, shouldn't the last message be greater than max date? #14 of your script.

@CognitiveCaesar Messages more X days old is the same as date of message < today - X days.

@superfawkes thanks for clearing that up. My script was not working according to plan, so I thought that it might have something to do with the setup. However, once you pointed out the concept, I checked the trigger and found that its execution has failed for some reason. Still don't know why. But the script itself, once manually run, works fine.

I used a set of labels nested under a parent "autoarchive" and added the following into my fuction:

var labels = GmailApp.getUserLabels();
for (var a = 0; a < labels.length; a++) {
var curr_label = labels[a].getName();
var curr_label_parts = curr_label.split("/");
if (curr_label_parts[0] == "autoarchive") {
...// rest of archive function
}
}

If you have nested labels just use :
var threads = GmailApp.search("in:inbox label:label_parent-label_child1-label_child2"); ("-" -> use this as 'conector' between nested labels)

If you want to archive only read email add this code to condtition:
if (threads[i].isUnread()==false)

Is there a way to tweak this where it'll auto archive an email to a specific label, but only after it's been read by the user?

Is there a way to tweak this where it'll auto archive an email to a specific label, but only after it's been read by the user?

I have put this piece of additional cide in my previous post ( use function isUnread() ) ->
If you want to archive only read email add this code to condition:
if (threads[i].isUnread()==false)

I definitely overthought by this by a lot! But here's a version with the option to set different cutoff days per label. (Note that it maxes at 100 threads and doesn't batch them.)

// Will be checked against lowercased label names
var autoarchiveLabels = {
  newsletters: 2
};

// Get cutoff date for a specific label
function labelDelayDate(labelName) {
  if (!autoarchiveLabels[labelName.toLowerCase()]) {
    return false;
  }
  var delayDays = autoarchiveLabels[labelName.toLowerCase()];
  var maxDate = new Date();
  maxDate.setDate(maxDate.getDate() - delayDays);
  return maxDate;
}

// Archive thread after cutoff dat
function shouldArchive(thread, label) {
  var maxDate = labelDelayDate(label.getName());
  if (!maxDate) {
    return false;
  }
  
  // Being in the inbox already is implicit but helps with logging
  // on the threads that are affected
  var shouldArchive = thread.getLastMessageDate() < maxDate && thread.isInInbox();

  if (shouldArchive) {
    Logger.log('Will archive: ' + thread.getFirstMessageSubject());
  }

  return shouldArchive;
}

// Check threads against cutoff date and archive them
function archiveLabel(label) {    
  Logger.log('Archiving ' + label.getName());
  var threads = label.getThreads(0, 100).filter(
    function (thread) { return shouldArchive(thread, label) }
  );
  Logger.log('Found ' + threads.length + ' archivable threads');
  if (threads.length) {
    GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(threads);
  }
}

// Find archivable labels
function gmailAutoarchive() {  
  var labels = GmailApp.getUserLabels();
  for (var i = 0; i < labels.length; i++) {
    var label = labels[i];
    if (Object.keys(autoarchiveLabels).indexOf(label.getName().toLowerCase()) !== -1) {
      archiveLabel(label);
    }
  }
}

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/2cca33d376f7f924fdaa67891ad098cc

I slightly modified the original script because I needed to archive threads after a couple of hours.

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  var hours = 3600000;
  var days = 86400000;
  var delay = 4 * hours;  //Select quantity and time unit i.e. 7 days
  var maxDate = new Date();
  maxDate.setTime(maxDate.getTime()-delay); 

  var label = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName("autoarchive");
  if (label == null || label == undefined) return -1; 
  
  var threads = label.getThreads(0, 400).filter(function(thread) {
    // Only include threads older than the limit we set in delayDays
    return (thread.getLastMessageDate() < maxDate);
  });
  
  var batch_size = 100;
  while (threads.length) {
    var this_batch_size = Math.min(threads.length, batch_size);
    var this_batch = threads.splice(0, this_batch_size);
    GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(this_batch);
  }
}

Here's my version taking care of all inbox email, irrespective of the label

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var delayDays = 3; // only impact emails older than 3 days
  var maxDate = new Date();
  maxDate.setDate(maxDate.getDate()-delayDays); // what was the date at that time?

  // Get all inbox threads
  var threads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();
  
  // archive all the threads older than the limit set in delayDays
  for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
    if (threads[i].getLastMessageDate()<maxDate)
    {
      threads[i].moveToArchive();
    }
  }
}

A small addition to @jututt's version, this will not auto archive "starred" and "important" threads:

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var delayDays = 3; // only impact emails older than 3 days
  var maxDate = new Date();
  maxDate.setDate(maxDate.getDate()-delayDays); // what was the date at that time?

  // Get all inbox threads
  var threads = GmailApp.getInboxThreads();
  
  // archive all the threads older than the limit set in delayDays which are not marked as imported or have starred messages
  for (var i = 0; i < threads.length; i++) {
    if (threads[i].getLastMessageDate()<maxDate && !threads[i].isImportant() && !threads[i].hasStarredMessages()) {
      threads[i].moveToArchive();
    }
  }
}

Has anyone run into an issue where you have to reauthenticate weekly?

Hi all, after playing around with this I came up with a more efficient version which uses search to find all affected threads instead of iterating through threads belonging to the label. Hope it helps someone.

Replace moveThreadsToArchive with moveThreadsToTrash if you want to trash the threads instead.

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var rules = { // Each label with number of days to keep
    "billsbillsbills" : 2,
    "newslettersandstuff" : 28
  }

  var batch_size = 100;

  for (let label in rules) {
    
    var keepdays = rules[label];
  
    Logger.log(`Archiving all threads in ${label} older than ${keepdays} Days`);

    var threads = GmailApp.search(`label:${label} older-than:${keepdays}d`);

    Logger.log(`Identified ${threads.length.toString()} threads for archival in ${label}`);

    while (threads.length) {
      var this_batch_size = Math.min(threads.length, batch_size);
      var this_batch = threads.splice(0, this_batch_size);
      GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(this_batch);
    }
  }
}

Hi all, after playing around with this I came up with a more efficient version which uses search to find all affected threads instead of iterating through threads belonging to the label. Hope it helps someone.

Replace moveThreadsToArchive with moveThreadsToTrash if you want to trash the threads instead.

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var rules = { // Each label with number of days to keep
    "billsbillsbills" : 2,
    "newslettersandstuff" : 28
  }

  var batch_size = 100;

  for (let label in rules) {
    
    var keepdays = rules[label];
  
    Logger.log(`Archiving all threads in ${label} older than ${keepdays} Days`);

    var threads = GmailApp.search(`label:${label} older-than:${keepdays}d`);

    Logger.log(`Identified ${threads.length.toString()} threads for archival in ${label}`);

    while (threads.length) {
      var this_batch_size = Math.min(threads.length, batch_size);
      var this_batch = threads.splice(0, this_batch_size);
      GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(this_batch);
    }
  }
}

Note that the search operator is older_than: not older-than:
per https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en

Otherwise, this code works well. :) Thanks @dancapper

Thanks @BLiTyvr - quite right. I fixed this in my code when I noticed it wasn't working, but forgot to come back and update my comment.

You can find my final version at https://github.com/dancapper/gmailArchiveScript/ if it's a help to anyone, I made it easier to update the rules to suit your needs, and set a flag to archive or trash the matching threads.

Hey, can someone please tell me does labelling an email would move it from the inbox?
Let's say I am getting emails from a particular email everyday email@example.com, I would like to keep them under the label example and don't want to see them in my inbox.

Hey, can someone please tell me does labelling an email would move it from the inbox?
Let's say I am getting emails from a particular email everyday email@example.com, I would like to keep them under the label example and don't want to see them in my inbox.

You can do that using filters on Gmail, no need for a script. Just adding a label won't move it from the inbox, you need to archive it too.
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en#zippy=%2Ccreate-a-filter

Thanks, @fanprince its working beautifully.

do you know if this impact snoozed emails? (let's say an email that older than 2 days that has been snoozed to reappear in two weeks)

Hi all, after playing around with this I came up with a more efficient version which uses search to find all affected threads instead of iterating through threads belonging to the label. Hope it helps someone.

Replace moveThreadsToArchive with moveThreadsToTrash if you want to trash the threads instead.

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var rules = { // Each label with number of days to keep
    "billsbillsbills" : 2,
    "newslettersandstuff" : 28
  }

  var batch_size = 100;

  for (let label in rules) {
    
    var keepdays = rules[label];
  
    Logger.log(`Archiving all threads in ${label} older than ${keepdays} Days`);

    var threads = GmailApp.search(`label:inbox label:${label} older-than:${keepdays}d`);

    Logger.log(`Identified ${threads.length.toString()} threads for archival in ${label}`);

    while (threads.length) {
      var this_batch_size = Math.min(threads.length, batch_size);
      var this_batch = threads.splice(0, this_batch_size);
      GmailApp.markThreadsRead(this_batch);
      GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(this_batch);
    }
  }
}

I know this is very old, but if anyone else finds this you're actually reprocessing all of the archived emails every time. Adding label:inbox limits the search to the emails not already archived. I've modified the above to do that, and also to mark the messages as read while moving them.

Thank you for the solutions everyone. I had to change older-than to older_than in @blhoward2's solution and it worked perfectly.

function gmailAutoarchive() {
  
  var rules = { // Each label with number of days to keep
    "autoarchive" : 2,
    "newslettersandstuff" : 28
  }

  var batch_size = 100;

  for (let label in rules) {
    
    var keepdays = rules[label];
    Logger.log(`Archiving all threads in ${label} older than ${keepdays} Days`);

    var threads = GmailApp.search(`label:inbox label:${label} older_than:${keepdays}d`);

    Logger.log(`Identified ${threads.length.toString()} threads for archival in ${label}`);

    while (threads.length) {
      var this_batch_size = Math.min(threads.length, batch_size);
      var this_batch = threads.splice(0, this_batch_size);
      GmailApp.markThreadsRead(this_batch);
      GmailApp.moveThreadsToArchive(this_batch);
    }
  }
}

Hey, i am looking to archive all my "read" mails which have "user labels" after 2 days, can anyone help with that?. i want to do it for all mails user labels instead of doing individually for all the labels i have. i also do not want to create a separate label to use as an archived inbox if possible. if not i will go this way

@101legend101 this is my approach, quite simple really. Cheers.

function gmailAutoarchive() {

  // Build the query
  var query = "in:inbox is:read has:userlabels older_than:2d";
  
  // Get the threads
  var threads = GmailApp.search(query);
  
  // Archive the threads
  for (var thread of threads) thread.moveToArchive();

}