How long does Gmail keep read, but unanswered messages in the Inbox?
Indefinitely.
The only messages that Gmail automatically removes are those in Trash and Spam. Those are removed after they're there for 30 days.
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1I've noticed that Google sometimes doesn't even remove Trash and Spam items automatically; I've had spam and deleted e-mails stick around for months on occasion. – JAB Mar 15 '16 at 15:05
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5My inbox goes back to 2006 (got an invite in the last months while they still were needed). But the OP might be referring to the recently created Inbox app, not the regular inbox (in which case, no idea, sorry, though likely the same - there's no reason to delete that sort of messages). – January First-of-May Mar 16 '16 at 2:50
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1One should be wary, that many apps have a setting
only synchronize the last X daysfor the inbox. I think this defaults to 30 days on many apps, so you will only see the last 30 days of messages in your inbox at first. (But all messages are still there and can be accessed via search or another client/browser interface) – Falco Mar 16 '16 at 12:01 -
Hmm, my Sent folder goes back to 2005, but my inbox only goes back to 2006. Not sure why ... – RBarryYoung Mar 16 '16 at 13:57
