How to Unarchive a Story on Instagram?

Instagram Stories are a fantastic way to share little snippets of your day. However, have you ever wanted to see or share a Story again after it’s left your profile? Instagram saves what it calls Stories for you in the “Stories Archive”. The Stories Archive saves your Stories so you’re able to view or share them whenever you’d like. In this simple guide, we will outline how to unarchive a Story and share some handy tips for using your Story Archive.

What is the Instagram Stories Archive?

Instagram Stories Archive is an incredible feature, allowing you to save every Story you share and even after the Story disappears from your profile (24 hours later). Basically, you will never lose a piece of content again, and you’ll be able to access it whenever you’d like.

Why would you use your Stories Archive?

• Remembering Memories: Every Story you saved is stored safely, so you can go back and view memories or moments during your time on Instagram.
• Resharing Stories: You can share your Stories archive content as new Stories. In addition, Instagram lets you create Story highlights on your profile.
• Keeping Your Profile Clean: The archive allows you to store unwanted or archived Stories while keeping your main feed clean.

How Instagram Stories Are Archived?

Instagram is designed to archive your stories for you. You do not need to do anything special, unless you changed that in your settings and disabled Stories Archive. You can also archive different posts if you would like to keep them private. Additionally, you can archive posts away from your profile.

Who Can See Your Archived Stories?

Only you can see your archived stories. The only thing that the public or your followers can see is that you have archived Stories, but cannot watch them.

How to Find and Access Your Archived Instagram Stories?

Finding archived stories is very simple. However, if you are unfamiliar with the interface, it may become confusing or unclear.

• Open the Instagram App

Go to the Instagram app on your device. 

• Go To Profile and open menu 

Tap your profile picture in the lower right-hand corner. Tap the three horizontal lines located in the upper right-hand corner. This will open a side menu.

• Select “Archive”

Tap the “Archive” option, which will open your Stories Archive and show you all of your archived (saved) stories.

• Switching Archived Types

Use the drop-down menu in the top bar to switch between Posts, Stories, and Live archives.

Troubleshooting Suggestions for Archived Stories

• Archive Missing?

Make sure you have the archive feature turned on within your settings. Go to Settings > Privacy > Story Controls and make sure “Save to Archive” is turned on. 

• Can’t Find a Story?

Use the calendar icon or scroll through the archive and find Stories based on the date.

• Still having issues?

Make sure the latest version of the Instagram app is downloaded and your device is connected to the internet.

How to Unarchive and Share Stories from Instagram?

Unarchiving a Story on Instagram isn’t really called “unarchiving.” You just reshare the archived Story as a new Story, or you can add it to your Highlights. Here are the steps:

To Reshare an Archived Story as a New Story

• Open Your Stories Archive:

Access your archive as stated above.

• Choose the Story You Want to Post:

Tap the Story you want to reshare as your story. 

• Tap “Share”:

You will see a “Share” button. Tap this to post the archived Story as a new Story to your account.

• Make Edits to Your Story as Desired (Optional):

You can still add stickers, text, or drawings to your Story first, before sharing it.

To Add an Archived Story to Your Highlight

• Open Your Stories Archive:

Access your archive as stated above.

• Choose the Story You Want to Add:

Select the Story you want to add to your Highlights.

• Tap “Highlight”:

Choose the “Highlight” option from the menu. Select to add it to an existing Highlight, or select to create a new one.

• Edit the Highlight Details as Desired (Optional):

If you are creating a new highlight, you can name it and choose a cover photo.

Note: You can’t recover a Story to where it originally appeared on your profile anywhere in the 24-hour view, but as a new Story, you can reshare it whenever you like.

Additional Ideas Useful for Instagram Story Archive

Do you want your Instagram to look organised? Here are some basic ideas: 

• Activate the Story Archive feature: Go to Settings > Privacy > Story> “Save to Archive” (so your Stories are saved automatically).
• Organize your Highlights: Gather similar Stories together in Highlights and you name them so viewers will know what they are.
• Use Highlight Covers: Use your own icons or colors to make your profile look clean and nice.
• Use old Stories again: Create new Reels with saved Stories or use them as new posts and promotional material.

In sum, knowing how to unarchive a story on Instagram lets you make the most of your old content. You can re-post it to get a few more views, add it to Highlights, or just see some old memories. The Archive feature makes it all too simple.