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();
    }
  }
}

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 protected], 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 protected], 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();

}

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, I further tweaked your script and feel I made some worthwhile changes. A bit more verbose in the logging, but mainly it is more efficient in memory management and loops if the files to archive are >500. You can find the my updated version here.

Thanks for the starting point. :)