How to archive conversations on Facebook Messenger and see your archived messages

• You can archive a conversation on Facebook Messenger using the website or mobile app.
• Archiving a Facebook Messenger chat removes it from your inbox, but doesn't delete it.
• To see your archived Facebook messages, head to the "Archived chats" menu.

If you're active on Facebook, chances are you make use of the social media site's built-in Messenger app. And if you use it a lot, your inbox might be flooded with old conversations.

You can delete any Messenger conversation by right-clicking or tapping it. But you don't have to erase these conversations forever — instead you can archive them, which will remove the chat from your inbox and move it to a new folder. This is great for saving messages from old friends, or chats with valuable information in them.

Here's how to archive a Messenger chat and see it again later.

How to archive a conversation in Facebook Messenger

You can archive your chats using the Facebook Messenger website or app.

On the website

1. Head to the Facebook Messenger homepage and log into your account, if you haven't already.

2. Find the conversation that you want to archive in the left sidebar.

3. When you hover your mouse over the conversation, you'll see a circle with three dots inside appear. Click this circle and select Archive chat.

The conversation will disappear from the list.

In the mobile app

These steps are the same on both iPhone and Android.

1. Open the Messenger app and log into your account, if you haven't already.

2. Find the conversation that you want to archive in the list, then tap and hold your finger on it.

3. When a menu appears, select Archive.

How to see your archived messages in Facebook Messenger

Once again, you can do this using your computer or your phone.

Using the website

1. Head to the the Facebook Messenger homepage again and click the circle with three dots in the top-left.

2. Select Archived chats.

3. The left sidebar will flip to show you all your archived chats. Click on any of them to see the conversation, but note that sending a message will move the chat back into your regular inbox.

You can also unarchive a chat by hovering your mouse over it in the left sidebar, clicking the three dots icon, and selecting Unarchive chat.

Using the mobile app

This works for both iPhone and Android.

1. Open the Messenger app and tap your profile picture in the top-left corner.

2. In the list of options, select Archived chats.

3. You'll see a list of all your archived conversations. You can open them and even send messages, but sending a message will move the chat back to your regular inbox.

You can also unarchive a conversation by tapping and holding it, then selecting Unarchive from the list that appears.

Jennifer Still contributed to a previous version of this article.