[techtalk] GOOGLE - How to Free Up Space in Google Storage

Tue Aug 13 12:44:33 PDT 2024

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Account storage is full

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GOOGLE: How to Free Up Space in Google Storage

Intermediate

I logged into my Gmail account recently and saw a message prompting me to purchase a larger package to increase my Google Drive storage. I thought I was pretty good about deleting emails and not saving items, but after many years, it piled up!

[A notification from Google Drive with a red warning icon, stating "Account storage is full". It advises the user to clean up space or get more storage to continue sending and receiving emails, and saving to Drive and Google Photos. Two buttons read "Get storage" and "Clean up space".]

BY THE WAY: Your Google storage account is comprised of three separate entities: Google Drive, Gmail and Photos. All three of them take up space.

So I went to work. I deleted pictures, videos and large files, but it didn't free up as much storage space as I thought it would.

After doing a bit of digging, do you know what the space-hogging culprit was? My email SENT folder. You see, Gmail keeps EVERY email you ever send in this folder. This can be a good thing when you need to go back and retrieve an item needed, but not from 10+ years ago!

Even if you don't regularly use Google apps (Docs, Sheets, Slides…), you may work with other colleagues, family or friends who send you videos, images, docs, etc.… These types of large files over time, can fill your storage quickly - in addition to email.

Every "free" Google account comes with 15 GB of free storage space. Google Workspace (paid level) starts at 30 GB of space, which is a lot! This storage is for your ENTIRE Google account including Gmail, Drive and Photos.

Having available space is important. When your account reaches its storage limit:

·     You can't sync or upload new files.
·     You won't be able to create new Google Docs, Sheets, Slides…
·     Neither you nor anyone else that you have shared files can edit or copy your affected documents.

So how can you slim down your Google storage area so that you don't have to upgrade? Here are some quick tricks.

NOTE: The directions for these solutions are for working on a computer, but you can access Google files/Gmail from a mobile device as well.

See How Much Storage You're Using

First, to see your storage usage and the total for each app (Drive, Gmail and Photos), go to your Google Drive and click Storage at the bottom of the left menu ... or go to https://drive.google.com/drive/quota<https://opiayfbab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mz4pkFu-KMCcySQReMxAGS4dXCfn8SLfxvp1YwZtLETHjlFi8CuFbCQ8IapDX7xzQPQpgmf4wz00S_G8yezIzzzs2AFA2GJ9UkO1gHlxNx7ctEvvYMRQtzkee18G7NJ3zhnMxQ_nc66M5waKyhoiuyaoP8LOZoAjGoDyxxeyVVY=&c=yrS68i8wQFz3CGOFjctbPyNa8jbnrU98z8b31XHfmNB_L44tk7Be0Q==&ch=2mBHbCnYzkkU-fwZDxAce53_R7rnnLeOoTOUH7RKDwbTTWRay50TWQ==>

Here you'll see an overview at the top. Make a note of these numbers so that you can see the progress you have made when you start deleting files.

TIP: When you delete multiple files or folders it might take time for the changes to reflect in your storage space numbers.

[A Google Drive storage screen shows 23.68 GB of total usage. Breakdown: 2.42 GB in Drive, 14.31 GB in Gmail, and 6.96 GB in Photos. Red arrow points to "Storage" in the left sidebar menu. File details below are blurred.]

Find Large (Unneeded) Files to Delete

Start by getting rid of the largest culprits that may be irrelevant now. You'll need to do this for three different apps.

Google Drive

From your Google Drive account, click on Storage in the left menu (as in the image above). Here you'll view a listing of the largest files.

·     Now you can Delete the largest files that you no longer need (or Download them to save someplace else).

·     Go to Trash in the left menu to empty it.

Google Photos

[The Google Photos icon, A colorful pinwheel-shaped icon with four rounded petals. The top right petal is red, the bottom right is blue, the bottom left is green, and the top left is yellow.]

First, there are some caveats to what photos count towards your space used based on 1) the quality of the photo and 2) when it was saved:

·     Photos and videos saved in Storage saver (or Express quality) before June 1, 2021, DON'T count against your total storage space.
·     From June 1, 2021, going forward, photos and videos saved as Storage saver (or Express quality) DO take up space.
·     Photos and videos stored in Original quality DO take up space.

To maximize storage, you can turn ON the setting in your account to Storage Saver to save space (if it is not already).

·     Go to https://photos.google.com<https://opiayfbab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001mz4pkFu-KMCcySQReMxAGS4dXCfn8SLfxvp1YwZtLETHjlFi8CuFbCQ8IapDX7xzG8kTtRsFXQSVBy1K8rwu0SFsluJo7RcT3DwM8ipEXGmim0sy_TfOOJFgXCgqmeH4To5APF_mmFCvMeCMDCH-2AWT4zhfLJmb&c=yrS68i8wQFz3CGOFjctbPyNa8jbnrU98z8b31XHfmNB_L44tk7Be0Q==&ch=2mBHbCnYzkkU-fwZDxAce53_R7rnnLeOoTOUH7RKDwbTTWRay50TWQ==>.
·     In the upper right of the screen click the Settings icon. Here you will see the Backup quality for photos and videos.
·     If not set to Storage saver, you can make that update the setting.

[A screenshot of Google Photos settings interface showing backup quality options. Two radio buttons are present: "Original quality" and "Storage saver". "Storage saver" is selected. The screen also has sections for unsupported videos and partner sharing. An arrow points to a gear icon on the upper right corner.]

[Google Photos storage management interface. The screen shows categories to review and delete: Large photos & videos (2.3 GB), Blurry photos, Screenshots (21 MB), Other apps (108 MB), and Unsupported videos. Storage option is highlighted in the sidebar.]

Next, go to Storage in the left menu to see a listing of the types of images and videos.

Click on any category to see the file names and delete the largest files as applicable.

Finally, click to Trash to empty it.

Gmail

If you use Gmail, to find large files that are hogging space (most likely with large attachments like video, multi-page PDF’s or images):

·     While you're in the main Inbox area, in the Search bar at the top, click the icon to the right to open up more settings.

·     In the Size area, put in a value for "greater than" X MB (where X is a number like 10).

[Gmail interface displaying the search filter options. The "Size" filter is set to "greater than 10 MB." A red arrow points to the settings icon in the top right corner. The search filter allows refining email searches based on various criteria.]
·     Click Search.

·     In the window will appear emails that have large files attached. These could be from your Inbox or other folders.

·     Determine if these emails can be deleted, or download the attachment and save it to your computer so that the email can be trashed to free up space.

·     Go to the Trash folder and delete the contents. NOTE: Files in trash are automatically deleted after 30 days.

Next, attack your Sent folder. Instead of scrolling and clicking and clicking to get to the last page of emails to find the oldest ones:

·     Click on Sent in the left menu. These will be sorted from newest to oldest.

·     Use the Any time button at the top to enter a Custom date range to find old emails.

·     Or use the Advanced search option to add date options.

[Screenshot of a Gmail interface showing the "Sent" folder selected. The "Any time" dropdown menu is expanded, displaying options for different time ranges. Advanced search options and filters like "Has attachment" and "To" are visible on the right.]

[A series of smooth, dark stones arranged in a line, half-submerged in calm, reflective water with a soft, gray background.]

Communication: Writing

Using two punctuation marks?

Have you ever been in a quandary as to which punctuation mark to use when the sentence is an exclamation, and at the same time, a rhetorical question?

How about using both of them?! Yes, you can!

You do it to convey strong emotion. (Of course you reserve this technique for informal, casual writing ... not more formal documents.)

Here are some examples:

·     You did what?!
·     Are you serious?!
·     How could you do that?!
·     Who would’ve thought?!
·     You really believe that?!
·     Why on earth would you say that?!
·     What do you mean, it’s canceled?!
·     You're actually going to do it?!
·     What were you thinking?!
·     Isn’t that amazing?!

Think about combining a question mark and an exclamation point when you want to express a mix of inquiry and surprise, excitement, or emphasis.

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Cheers,
Darci Hanning, MLIS (she/her/hers)
Public Library Consultant / CE Coordinator
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