How to get pictures from archive on instagram


How to Unarchive Instagram Posts to Make Them Reappear

  • To unarchive a post on Instagram, go to your Posts archive and click Show on profile. 
  • Unarchiving on Instagram can restore posts to your feed that you've previously archived. 
  • You can archive or unarchive Instagram posts at any time to re-arrange your grid.

The ability to archive posts on Instagram is a handy tool, as it hides posts from your feed without deleting them. When a post is archived, the likes and comments are preserved should you want to revisit it later or even unarchive it. 

Maybe you've had an Instagram account for over a decade and want to declutter your feed from the overfiltered, low-res snapshots — or you've pivoted to using your account for business and want to hide more personal posts. 

Unarchiving an Instagram post can be done in a few simple steps, which we've outlined below.

1. Open the Instagram app.

2. Navigate to your profile page by tapping your profile icon on the bottom-right.

3. Tap the three lines icon on the top-right of the screen, then tap Archive.

Access profile settings and more by tapping the menu icon. Abigail Abesamis Demarest

4. Under Posts archive, tap to open the post you want to unarchive.

You may need to tap the arrow at the top to navigate to the Posts archive (instead of Stories or Live archive). Abigail Abesamis Demarest

5. Tap the three dots icon on the top-right of the post, then Show on profile.

Use the same method to archive an Instagram post. Abigail Abesamis Demarest

Abigail Abesamis Demarest

Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made. 

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How To Archive or Unarchive Instagram Posts

Rather than users deleting content and losing the company’s potential revenue, Instagram offers a way to save it for later. It’s also beneficial to personal users because they can quickly bring up seasonal images or posts and adjust them. Rather than delete the post entirely, you can now archive it to remove it from the public’s eye. You can still view the post privately to use at a later date, but nobody else sees it. Live streams and stories get archived automatically, but this content is about “Instagram Posts.” Lets’ get started.

Using Instagram Archive for Posts

The Instagram “archive” feature contains a section for stories, live streams, and posts. The Instagram “Posts” category has an opt-in feature that you must use manually. Instagram does not automatically archive old or deleted posts like other systems—just stories and live streams.

How to Access Instagram Archives to View Your Posts

When you archive a post, it remains there until you manually delete it or un-archive it. As previously mentioned, Instagram Archive gets split between posts, stories, and live content. You’ll want to view your posts.

To access the Instagram archive:

  1. Open “Instagram,” then tap your “profile icon” in the bottom-right section.
  2. Select the “hamburger icon” (three horizontal lines) menu in the top-right section.
  3. Choose “Archive.”
  4. The “Archive” menu appears, showing your stories by default. To see your archived posts, tap on the “downward arrowhead” next to “Stories Archive” and select “Posts archive.”
  5. Your archived posts now appear.

As mentioned above, the archive is for you only and is not publicly viewable.

How to Archive Instagram Posts

  1. From the “Home” page, tap on your “profile icon” in the bottom-right section.
  2. Select “Posts” at the top next to your profile thumbnail.
  3. Choose the post to archive.
  4. Tap on the “vertical ellipsis” (three vertical dots) in the top-right section of the post.
  5. Choose “Archive” in the list of options that appear. This action removes the post from your profile. Followers and the public cannot view it anymore.

Your Instagram post now appears in your archives for later use.

How to Unarchive Instagram Posts

Unarchiving Instagram posts is very straightforward when you want to bring a post out of hibernation and back into your profile. Go into your Instagram archive and select the option to show it on your profile again. There is no restore option, just the choice to place the archived post on your profile. Essentially, that is the same thing in this situation.

  1. Open “Instagram” on your “profile page.” Select the “hamburger icon” (three horizontal lines) menu in the top right section.
  2. Choose “Archive.”
  3. Tap on the “downward arrowhead” next to “Stories Archive” and select “Posts Archive.”
  4. Choose the post you want to unarchive and select the “horizontal ellipsis” (three horizontal dots) menu icon.
  5. Select “Show on Profile” from the listed options.

The post now becomes active once more and is publicly viewable.

If you prefer to delete your archived post instead of making it public again, you can do it by selecting “Delete” instead of “Show on Profile. Your post gets deleted forever and is not recoverable. Sometimes that’s a good thing!


In closing, the Instagram archive feature is a neat idea that gives you control over what others see, whether for personal use or business. While we are gradually adjusting to the temporal nature of online life, some things are worth keeping for the longer term. If you don’t keep those memories close, at least you can preserve them on Instagram.

For social media savvy businesses, this is a way of using posts and media multiple times or for seasonal offers that repeat annually or regularly. Why create a Christmas offer each year if you can archive and tweak it and then make it public again? As for personal use, the Instagram archive feature lets you store posts or images you might want to reuse later, hold onto for personal reference, or even adjust them.

How to extract a post or story from the archive on Instagram

Instagram* allows you to save not only stories, but also posts. But how do you unzip a post? We understand in a series of short instructions.

Why archive posts on Instagram*

Post archiving is a useful tool that allows you to save posts, live broadcasts and stories in a separate section. Only the owner of the account can see it, the content in the archive is not available for viewing by other users of the social network.

In everyday life, the function is useful if you need to remove irrelevant posts, which, for some reason, it is a pity to delete permanently. Commercial accounts can use the tool more broadly. For example, as part of an advertising campaign, they can temporarily hide all publications in order to post one big post with a promotion. It attracts attention, conveys a sense of scale and creates intrigue.

Posts can be hidden in order to temporarily place such ads in the profile old. In order not to delete old posts, it's easier to hide them.

What about stories? They are automatically saved to archives, from where it is convenient to pull them out later to save to your phone, repost or send to highlights. For more information on how albums work in general, read the separate article “How to add and change Instagram Highlights*”.

How to work with archives and restore posts - we will tell further in small and visual instructions.

How to save a post to the Instagram archive*

When archiving, the post will be saved with all comments, hashtags, tags and publication date. It will be hidden from your feed and the feed of other users, only you will see it in a special section.

How to send a post to the archive:

  1. We go into the application and click on the post in our feed or profile.
  2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
  3. Select "Archive" from the list.
  4. Done, the post has been hidden from the profile and archived.
How to archive photos on Instagram*

The application interface on iPhone and Android is the same, so this instruction (and all subsequent ones) is relevant for any phone.

How to save stories to the Instagram archive*

The social network automatically sends stories to the archive 24 hours after publication. But if they are not displayed in the "Archive" section, then saving must be re-enabled. There are two ways: through the settings and while browsing.

Enable saving stories through the settings:

  1. Go to the application settings through the profile.
  2. Select "Privacy".
  3. Clicking in a new window on the "History" item.
  4. Activate the "Save stories to archive" function.
How to set up archiving of stories on Instagram* through the menu

Enable saving stories through the view menu:

  1. Watch your stories.
  2. Click on the three dots "More" in the lower right corner.
  3. Select "History Settings".
  4. Activate the "Save stories to archive" item.
How to set up archiving of Instagram stories* quickly

How to recover a deleted post on Instagram*

Recently, deleted posts are stored for 30 days, during which time they can be pulled back. But for this you will need to verify your identity using a special code that will be sent to your email.

How to get back a deleted post on Instagram *:

  1. Go to Settings and select "Account".
  2. Click on "Recently Deleted" at the very end of the list.
  3. Select a post and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
  4. Click "Restore" or "Delete" (then it will be permanently deleted).
  5. We agree with the restoration.
  6. We confirm the identity: a code will be sent to the mail, which will have to be entered in the application.
  7. After confirmation, you will need to click on the post again and click "Restore" again.
  8. Done: The post is back in the feed.
How to find deleted posts on Instagram* How to get back a deleted post on Instagram*

How to extract a post from Instagram archive*

After unzipping, the post will return to the feed with all comments and the same publication date as it was. It will take the place in the feed where it was previously, i.e. it will not be re-published. As I said above, the social network does not delete posts - it rather hides them in the archive with a further opportunity to return everything as it was.

How to restore photos from the archive on Instagram *:

  1. Go to your profile and click on the icon with three stripes in the upper right corner.
  2. Click on the "Archive" item.
  3. We get to the menu "Archive of publications" and click on the post.
  4. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
  5. Click "Show in profile".

You can also remove a post from the archive on Instagram* by clicking "Delete". Then the post will go to the trash, where it will be stored for 30 calendar days. See above for instructions on returning posts.

How to unarchive a post on Instagram*

There are more opportunities for unarchiving stories: you can re-publish as a repost, send to a post, save to Actual or upload to your phone in the gallery.

How to download stories from the archive:

  1. In the "Archive" menu, click on "Archive of publications" at the top and select "Archive of stories".
  2. Select a story and click on "More" in the lower right corner.
  3. Click "Save Video" or "Save Photo".
  4. The file has been saved to the phone.
How to download old stories from the Instagram archive*

For more information on how to download stories, read the guide “How to download stories from Instagram*”.

How to add a story from the archive to the Feature:

  1. In the "Stories archive" menu, click on the story and select "Add to Feature".
  2. In a new window, select existing folders or create a new one.
  3. Done: story saved in highlights.
How to save old stories in Instagram Hot*

How to send a story to a post:

  1. In the "Stories archive" menu, click on the story and click on the "More" item.
  2. Select the item "Share in the publication."
  3. Crop the photo and click "Next".
  4. Editing a post: applying filters, writing text, tagging people, adding hashtags, and so on.
  5. We publish a finished post from stories in our profile.
How to send old stories to an Instagram post*

How to get a story from the archive on Instagram* and publish it again:

  1. In the "Stories Archive" menu, click on the story and click on the "More" item.
  2. Select "Share".
  3. Editing a story: adding a signature, stickers and, if necessary, deleting the "Memories" badge.
  4. Publishing.
How to re-post old stories on Instagram*

In conclusion

Is it possible to return photos to Instagram* from a computer? Unfortunately, the social network site does not have a menu with archives of publications. Therefore, even if you switch to mobile layout, you will not be able to access the archives. Of course, you can install an Android emulator on your computer, download the application from Google Play and go into it, but it seems easier to use the phone.

On the other hand, posting from a computer is often convenient, especially if you have to type a lot of text on the keyboard and regularly make interactive stories. These opportunities are provided by the delayed posting service SMMplanner - where you can also put many posts and stories into postponement at once, which frees up a lot of time.

We can customize all aspects of a post: text, photo, video, hashtags, tags, comments. You can even upload a video and make a story with full functionality (stickers, polls, gifs, etc.)

Of course, the service will be useful primarily for SMM-persons and those who maintain several accounts and cross-post to several social networks at once. In any case, try it - the first week is free, and during this time it will become clear for sure whether you need such wide functionality or not.

Archive photos to archive in Instagram

The archive option allows you to save pictures and clean up your feed. Making a copy has been available since 2017, the archive is divided into publications and history. The information is stored on the Instagram server and is accessible from the personal profile. Consider how to create an archive on Instagram, what can be saved, how to archive stories and posts. 9Ol000

Archived posts and photos can be found in Instagram settings. The data is stored on the social network server, so it is not deleted when you change your phone. To view the archive, you need to connect to the Internet and go to the Instagram menu.

Where are the archived photos on Instagram:

  1. Open the app, go to your personal profile.
  2. Press the menu button.
  3. Click on the line "Archive" .
  4. Photos will be displayed in the opened window.

Important. Instagram automatically saves all published stories. When viewing the list, you can see the pictures and the date they were published. To expand the image to full screen, tap on it.

Publications are stored in the archive. They can be viewed at any time.

To view publications:

  1. Click on the arrow to open the drop-down menu.
  2. Click on line "Publication archive" .
  3. In the window that opens, all publications are available and the dates are indicated.

Archived pictures are not displayed in the feed. They can be restored at any time.

How to archive Instagram photos

Archiving allows you to clear the tape of irrelevant entries. You can archive pictures using your mobile phone. The operation will take a few minutes and a network connection.

How to add a photo to the archive:

  1. Open your personal Instagram profile.
  2. Find the desired picture.
  3. Press the button with three dots.
  4. Select option "Archive" .
  5. Update the feed.

The entry will instantly disappear from the tape. You can view it only through the archive.

Important. If the photo is not archived, try restarting Instagram. If this does not help, restart your mobile phone and check for an Internet connection.

Likes and comments when archiving photos

Instagram saves not only pictures in high quality, but also information about likes and comments. To view the comments, you need to go to the archived post. Likes are displayed below the post as numbers and custom icons.

When restored, the record appears in the same place where it was in the tape. When returning a photo, the date of publication is taken into account, all likes and comments are displayed as usual.

Important. If the application does not have a backup option, try updating it to the latest version. When installing updates, the possibilities of Instagram are expanded. You can update the application through the menu or using the App Store, Play Market, depending on the operating system of the phone.

What can be archived on Instagram

Now we know where the Instagram archive is located and how to view it. Consider what data can be stored.

The archive is suitable for storing:

  • outdated photos from the tape;
  • previously published story;
  • drafts.

To clear the tape from unnecessary or outdated images, send them to the archive. Photos can be viewed at any time, user access to these files will be limited. If you need to return the pictures, this is done by pressing a few buttons. You won't need to re-download from your phone's gallery.

Story saving is automatically enabled on Instagram.


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