Want to clean up your Instagram feed? Today’s guide will show you how to archive posts instead of deleting them, plus how to access your archive in case you want to unarchive any content.
Key Points:
How To Archive Instagram Posts
Archiving Instagram posts allows you to hide them from your profile feed, as well as from your followers’ feeds, without outright deleting them.
When you archive a post, you can unarchive it at any time and it will return to its original position in your feed.
Archiving will not remove any engagement that the post received while it was public.
On Mobile
Open Instagram and access the posted content from your profile feed.
Tap the three dots on the top right corner and select Archive.
That’s it! Your post will be hidden from your feed grid and you will be able to find it again from your profile’s Archive.
On Desktop
Archiving individual posts from the post page is not available for the desktop Instagram site, but you can use the multiple post archive workaround from your browser.
On the bottom left corner, click More.
Click Your Activity.
Click Photos & Videos.
Click Select and choose the post you wish to archive.
Click Archive and confirm.
How To Archive Multiple Instagram Posts At Once
If you have multiple posts you wish to archive, you can do so via your Activity settings on both the Instagram mobile app and desktop site.
Just like archiving individual posts, archiving multiple posts will hide them from your profile grid and your followers’ feeds. It will not remove any engagement that the posts gained while they were public.
On Mobile
From your profile page, tap the three lines on the top right corner.
Under How You Use Instagram, tap Your Activity.
Under Content You Shared, tap Posts.
Tap Select on the top right corner, and select the posts you wish to archive.
Tap Archive and confirm.
On Desktop
On the bottom left corner, click More.
Click Your Activity.
Click Photos & Videos.
Click Select and choose the post you wish to archive.
Click Archive and confirm.
How To Archive An Instagram Story
If you want your Instagram Stories and, by extension, highlights to be automatically archived, you can toggle this setting on by following the steps below depending on your device type.
On Mobile
Tap the three lines on the top right corner of your profile.
Tap Archive.
Tap the three dots on the top right corner and select Settings.
Toggle Save Story To Archive.
This will ensure that your photos and videos will be saved to your archive whenever you post them as a Story, even if you later choose to hide Story slides or hide Instagram highlights.
On Desktop
Click More on the bottom left corner.
Click Settings.
Scroll down to Your app and media and click Archiving And Downloading.
Toggle Save Story To Archive.
This will ensure that your photos and videos will be saved to your archive whenever you post them as a Story, even if you later choose to hide Story slides or hide Instagram highlights.
How To Archive Instagram Reels
You can archive Instagram Reels just like you would a regular Instagram post, on both the Instagram app and desktop site.
On Mobile
Open Instagram and access the Reel from your profile’s Reels tab.
Tap the three dots on the top right corner and select Archive.
That’s it! Your Reel will be hidden from your feed grid and you will be able to find it again from your profile’s Archive.
On Desktop
On the bottom left corner, click More.
Click Your Activity.
Click Photos & Videos.
Click the Reels tab at the top.
Click Select and choose the Reel you wish to archive.
Click Archive and confirm.
How To Access The Instagram Archive
If you want to view the posts that you’ve hidden in your archive, you can do so from the Instagram app. There is currently no way to view the Instagram archive from the desktop site.
Open Instagram and access your profile.
Tap the three lines on the top right corner.
Under How You Use Instagram, tap Archive to see all Instagram photos or Story posts that you've hidden from public view.
Tap the drop down on the top to access different types of posts that you've hidden from public view.
How To Unarchive Instagram Posts
To make an archived post public again, you can unarchive it by following the steps below on the Instagram mobile app. You will not be able to unarchive a post from the Instagram desktop site.
Open Instagram and access your profile.
Tap the three lines on the top right corner.
Under How You Use Instagram, tap Archive to see all Instagram photos or Story posts that you've hidden from public view.
To Unarchive a post, tap it to open it, then tap the three dots on the top right corner.
Tap Show On Profile.
When you unarchive posts they will appear in the original place of your Instagram profile - there is no way to make unarchived posts appear as new posts.
Infographic: Instagram Archive Access
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you archive posts on Instagram without deleting them?
Yes, archiving a post on Instagram will not delete it or remove the engagement it received. You can unarchive a post at any time.
Can you archive Instagram posts anymore?
Yes, the archive feature is still available on Instagram as of October 2025.
Can I unarchive a post later?
Yes, you can always access your archived posts from your Archive on the Instagram app, and unarchive it which will put it back on your feed.
Is it better to archive or delete?
If you want to hide a post and repost it, deleting it is fine. However, if you’re just not happy with the way a post looks on your feed layout it’s best to archive it since that won’t affect your overall engagement rates.
Does archiving a post repost it?
No, archiving a post and unarchiving it will just put it back in the feed where it was originally. It will not repost it.
Does archive last forever?
Archiving an Instagram post lasts until you manually unarchive it yourself. If you never unarchive it, it’ll stay archived forever.
What's the difference between archive and unarchive?
Archiving a post hides it from your profile post grid and puts it in your Archive. Unarchiving a post will put it back on your profile post grid in its original position, and removes it from the Archive.
What is the best way to archive?
The best way to archive posts on Instagram is to access the Archive setting from the Instagram app, since it gives you more control over the settings.
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