Google’s cloud storage service, Google Drive, has more than 2 billion monthly active users, according to Google partner Patronum. And if you’re one of those people, you might know that you only have 15 GB of free space in your account. However, that storage can fill up quickly, and when it does, you’ll be prompted to upgrade to a Google One plan. However, you don’t have to spend money on additional storage. Instead, here are some tips on how to free up space in your digital filing cabinet for free.
We recommend trying these tips on your desktop instead of your mobile device, as it makes it easier to categorize and manage your files. However, if you only have access to a mobile device, we will walk you through both processes.
1. Delete large files first
If you want to keep most of your items in Google Drive and Gmail, you can free up space by sorting each service by file size and deleting only one or two large files instead of dozens of small items. It can be released. Deleting one or two videos that take up several megabytes of space is easier than sorting through hundreds of old documents with similar file sizes and deciding which ones can be deleted.
Delete Google Drive files by size
Here’s how to delete files on your desktop by size:
1. Sign in to your Google Drive account.
2. click storage It’s in the menu on the left side of the screen.
3. of storage This page lists files from largest to smallest, but if not, used storage It’s on the right side of the screen. Files are now ordered from largest to smallest.
Four. Click to select the large file you want to delete. Press and hold to select multiple files. shift Press a key on your keyboard.
Five. After selecting the files you want to delete, click the trash can that appears near the top of the screen, or click and drag large files. garbage It’s on the left side of the screen.
However, even if the item is inserted, it is not complete. garbage.From there, click garbage on the left side of the screen garbage menu.Then click empty trash can Click on the right side of the screen, empty forever.
You can also delete files by size on your mobile device. Here’s how:
1. Open the Google Drive app and sign in to your account.
2. Tap File It’s located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Tap name Under my drive Near the top of the screen.
Four. Tap used storage. This will arrange the files from largest to smallest.You can choose my drive after that used storage Click again to list the files from smallest to largest.
Five. Three dots (…) next to the item you want to delete.
6. Tap remove after that Move to trash.
Google describes items within the app as follows: garbage It will be automatically and permanently deleted after 30 days. However, if you want to speed up your work and empty the trash right away, check out the following methods.
1. Tap the hamburger icon (three stacked lines) in the top left corner of the screen. Search in Drive.
2. Tap garbage.
3. Three dots (…) in the top right corner of the screen.
Four. Tap empty trash can.
Whether you need more space or just want to keep your Gmail organized, it’s easy to free up space for storage within the service.
Delete files by size in Gmail
Gmail also lets you delete files based on size. Here’s how to do it on your desktop:
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. type Yes: Large attachment: 10MB Type in the search bar and hit search. This will display all emails with attachments larger than 10 MB, ordered from largest to smallest. This format allows you to filter by other file sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Select the checkbox to the left of each email you want to delete. garbage Click the icon at the top of the screen.It should be below conversation.
Four. click garbage on the left side of the screenClick to go to the Trash menu.If you can’t see garbageclick more and garbage It should be in the expanded menu.
Five. click Empty the trash now It’s at the top of the screen.
You can delete files in the same way in the Gmail app. Here’s how:
1. Open the Gmail app and log in to your account.
2. type Yes: Large attachment: 10MB Type in the search bar and hit search. This will display all emails with attachments larger than 10 MB, ordered from largest to smallest. This format allows you to filter by other file sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Tap the email you want to delete.
Four. Tap the trash can icon at the top of the screen.
Five. Tap < in the top left corner of the screen
6. Tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner of the screen. Search within email.
7. Tap garbage.
8. Tap Empty the trash now.
Once the file is moved to: garbagewill be automatically deleted after 30 days.
2. Empty your Gmail spam folder
It’s easy to forget to empty your spam folder, which can lead to unwanted data in your Gmail account. Empty your spam folder, as well as your social and promotions folders, is another way to free up space.
Here’s how to empty the spam folder on your desktop.
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Once logged in, click spam It’s on the left side of the screen.If you can’t see spamclick more and spam It should be in the expanded menu.
3. in the spam folder, Delete all spam messages now.
Four. click got it In a pop-up.
Here’s how to empty your spam folder on the mobile app.
1. Open the Gmail app and log in to your account.
2. Tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner of the screen. Search within emails.
3. Tap spam.
Four. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty your spam now.
Don’t let spam slow down your Gmail.
3. Clean up Google Photos
Google is also including Google Photos in the 15GB of free storage it offers users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text-based files, especially high-quality files, so you may want to thoroughly delete old photos and videos to free up space.
There’s no option to order photos and videos from largest to smallest like in Google Drive or Gmail, so you’ll have to manually review and delete items. You can see how much space a file takes up by selecting it and clicking “i” from the top menu to view information.
Here’s how to delete photos and videos from Google Photos on your desktop.
1. Open Google Photos and sign in.
2. Scroll your mouse over the photo or video you want to delete and click the gray check mark icon in the top left corner of the photo or video. Do this for as many photos and videos as you want.
3. Click the trash can icon in the top right corner of the screen.
Four. click move to trash.
Five. click garbage It’s on the left side of the screen.
6. click empty trash can It’s near the top right corner of the screen.
7. click empty trash can You are now ready.
And how to delete photos and videos from the Google Photos mobile app.
Note for Apple users: If your Gmail is linked to your iCloud account, your two digital storage spaces may also be linked. This means that when you enable Backup and sync With the Google Photos feature, all local photos on your iPhone will appear in Google Photos. Deleting photos on Google Photos also deletes local photos on your iPhone. Additionally, once your local photos are deleted, they no longer appear in iCloud. When you try to delete an image in Google Photos, you’ll know if it’s you. A pop-up window will appear informing you that you are about to delete from both locations.
1. Open Google Photos and sign in.
2. Tap the photo or video you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash can icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Four. Tap erase.
Five. Tap library It’s located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
6. Tap garbage.
7. Three dots (…) in the top right corner of the screen.
8. Tap empty trash can.
9. Tap erase.
without clicking or tapping empty trash can Whether you’re on desktop or mobile, deleted photos and videos are automatically deleted after 60 days.
Bonus tip: You can reduce the file size of some photos and videos in Google Photos. Doing so will give you some space back, but will reduce the quality of your media. For more information, visit Google Support here.
Google Photos photos and videos can take up a lot of storage.
4. If all else fails, download the file to your desktop.
If your storage is still almost full and you can’t part with any more items from Google Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos, you can download them and save them directly to your computer.
Here’s how to download all your Google files and save them to another hard drive.
1. Open your Google Drive or Google Photos account on your desktop and sign in.
2. Select the file or photo you want to download.
3. Click on the three stacked dots in the top right corner of the screen.
Four. click download. Note that Gmail downloads messages as .eml files.
Five. Once the item has been downloaded and moved to your hard drive, feel free to delete it from your account and empty your trash.
You can download emails from Gmail in much the same way, but you have to download emails one at a time. This makes downloading emails more cumbersome, but still possible. Here’s how to download emails from Gmail.
1. Open your Gmail account on your desktop and sign in.
2. Click on the email you want to download.
3. Click on the three stacked dots in the top right corner of the screen.
Four. click download. Emails are downloaded as .eml files.
Five. Once the email has been downloaded and moved to your hard drive, feel free to delete it from your account and empty the trash.
For more information, please check 10 tips and tools for Gmail, 9 Google Drive features you may have missed and 5 Google Photos features you should try right now.
