How to Send a Reply and Archive With One Click in Gmail

Updated June 30, 2019

Keyboard shortcuts are a boon for saving time, but sometimes they are unnecessary. Take the keyboard shortcut e in Gmail, for example. When you are through with an email but don't want to trash it, you just click e to archive it.

Bored With Send, E?

Click Send. Press e. Click Send. Press e. Click Send. Press e.

This works, but you can deliver the reply and archive the conversation all with a single click, which would make your Gmail experience even more effective. You need to look no further than Gmail's settings to do just that.

How to Send a Reply and Archive With One Click in Gmail

To enable the Send & Archive button in Gmail:

Click the Settings gear in the top right corner of your Gmail screen.
Select Settings from the menu that appears. The Settings page will open.
In the Send and Archive section of the General tab, choose the radio button next to Show "Send & Archive" button in reply to activate this feature.
Select Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Now, to send a message and archive its conversation in one go:

Compose your reply to an email you received.
Click the Send and archive button located immediately beneath your reply and next to the Send button.
Your reply is sent, and the email is moved to a label called All Mail. If someone replies to that email, it is moved back to your inbox for your attention.