Instagram Stories have been around since August 2016. That means that for more than three years, millions of active Instagram Stories users have been able to document their day in small glimpses on their profiles. And while these "small glimpses" only last for 24 hours before they disappear to your followers forever, they don't disappear for you. In fact, starting in 2017, the app made it so that you can see all of your old Instagram Stories in your Archive, letting you keep your favorite memories with you at all times.

In honor of the apps's 10 year anniversary, the Instagram Stories archive has been enhanced with a very graphically pleasing new feature that's here to stay: an interactive Instagram Stories map and calendar. If you want to find your old Instagram stories, you can now see them organized by when they were shared and where they took place. This new feature is private, so it's just for your own nostalgic enjoyment — meaning, all of your followers are not going to have sudden access to the date and location of all of your Stories.

Your Archive is the mysterious place where all of your old Instagram Stories and "Archived Posts" go to live, and it's pretty simple to access. To get to your Instagram Archive, go to your profile on your mobile app. Then, access the Menu by tapping the three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. In the list of options that come up, you should see your Archive listed underneath Settings. Tap it. This should bring you to a screen filled with all of the Stories you thought were once lost to the Great Beyond. You'll see options to view by screenshot chronologically, toggle by calendar, or see on a map. You can also update your Story controls to save or disable Story archiving, to allow other people to re-share your Stories, and to allow people to share your Stories as messages.

If you're a firm believer that Stories are better off fleeting, you can stop your Instagram from saving Stories on your Archive by going to the settings of your Archive. You can access this by tapping the three dots at the top right corner of your Archive screen and hitting Settings. This'll give you the option of switching the Save to Archive feature on and off.

One of the cool things about your Archive is that while you're the only person who can see your Stories, you can share those memories onto your Story again. All you have to do is tap on the Story you want to share, and click on the Share icon at the bottom right of the screen. Your old Story will show up in the screen that prompts you to post a new Story, but it will be labeled with the word "Memories" along with the date from when the Story is from. You can delete the date at the bottom if you'd like just by tapping it and dragging it into the trash icon. With or without the date, you can post your old Story right back up.

Especially when it might feel like you've only ever been to your living room couch, this retrospective will serve as a nice reminder that yes, you did once leave the house, and you will again.

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This article was originally published on Jan. 23, 2020

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