Free up storage space on your Google Drive by cleaning up the data stored there and by changing certain settings in your Google applications.
Used daily, Google Drive and its 15 GB allocated for free can be very quickly saturated. Before you consider purchasing additional storage, start by cleaning up a bit by deleting data to free up space.
Google Drive isn’t just about simple file storage. Google’s service is, in fact, used to store files for the various applications and services of the search engine.
You can easily check how this space, allocated free of charge by Google, is occupied. To do this, go to your Drive then, in the left column, click on Buy more storage space
The page regrouping all the subscription plans offered on Google Drive displays a report of the space occupation according to the different applications used. Here’s how to free up space on your Google Drive.
1. Clear up Gmail
If you’ve made Gmail your primary mailbox, it’s a safe bet that the majority of Google Drive storage space is monopolized by your emails. To free up space on Google Drive, it is therefore advisable to do a little cleaning in your mailbox.
Deleting notifications, large emails, or spam, there are several ways to sort through Gmail to free up space on Google Drive.
2. Limit the import size in Google Photos
Second among the most storage-intensive items, photos and videos synced to Google Photos. If you have opted to synchronize your content in its original size, the space they occupy on Google Photos is deducted from your Google Drive space quota.
You can change this setting by opening the Google Photos main menu and then going to Settings. Choose High Quality to have your images saved with compression.
When this option is chosen, photos are compressed to not exceed 16 megapixels. The images thus compressed can be printed with a good rendering up to the format 60 x 40 cm. As for the videos, they are automatically resized so as not to exceed a definition of 1080p.
In addition, Google Photos allows you to Recover storage space by compressing already backed up content. Click on the Recover storage space button then on Compress to validate your choice.
3. Empty the Drive recycle bin
If you have recently deleted files from your Drive, they have been moved to the Recycle Bin and are therefore still counted as space usage for Google Drive. In the left column, navigate to the Trash, click the Trash drop-down menu at the top of the page, and choose to Empty Trash.
4. Delete the backups of your old devices
Google Drive also stores backups of Android devices. If their weight is generally contained, you may be able to grab a few extra megabytes by deleting old backups, from Android devices that you no longer use.
To do this, click on the Backups menu in the left column, then right-click on one of them, click Delete.
Confirm the deletion by clicking on Delete in the confirmation window that appears.
5. Remove hidden data from apps
Another solution to make some space on Google Drive, delete hidden data from applications. Click on the cogwheel icon at the top right of the page then, in the window that appears, go to the Manage applications section.
The list of applications connected to your Google Drive is displayed. If hidden data is stored by an application, the space it occupies should be indicated.
To remove them, click Options and then click Remove Hidden Application Data.