Is Google Drive full? Try these steps to get more storage without paying for it

How long does it take to use 15 GB of memory? If you have a Google Drive account, you know that emails, photos, videos, and other digital documents can instantly take up that space. Google Drive is a popular digital storage service with more than 2 billion monthly active users, according to Google partner. Patronum – and many of these accounts are no doubt close to being filled or have been filled.

If you run out of storage, you will see a message asking you to switch to Google One plan, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy digital storage. If you’re ready create another Google accountyou can transfer all your old emails and files for free. But if that sounds like a hassle, here are a few more tricks that can easily free up space in your digital filing cabinet.

We recommend trying these tips on your desktop computer rather than your mobile device, as you’ll find it easier to sort and manage your files. We’ll walk you through both processes if you only have access to a mobile device.

1. Easily find and delete large files

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 just one or two large files instead of dozens of smaller items. Deleting one or two videos that take up a few megabytes of space is easier than sifting through hundreds of old documents of the same size to decide which ones can be deleted.

Delete files by size in Google Drive

Here’s how to delete files by size on your desktop.

1. Sign in to your Google Drive account.
2. Click Storage in the menu on the left side of the screen.
3. Storage the page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not, click Memory used on the right side of the screen. The files should now be ordered from largest to smallest.
4. Click on the large files you want to delete to select them. You can select multiple files by holding the button Shift key on the keyboard.
5. Once you’ve selected files to delete, click either the trash can that appears at the top of the screen, or click and drag large files to Garbage on the left side of the screen.

You are not finished when items are in Garbage. From there click Garbage on the left side of the screen to go to Garbage menu. Then click Empty trash on the right side of the screen, and then click 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 Files in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Name under My drive at the top of the screen.
4. Tap Memory used. This will order your files from largest to smallest. You can choose My drive and then Memory used again to list the files from smallest to largest.
5. Click on the three dots (…) next to the element you want to remove.
6. Tap Delete then Place in trash.

Google tells you in the app that the items in your Garbage are deleted permanently automatically after 30 days. If you want to speed up the process and empty your trash now, here’s how to do it.

1. Tap the hamburger icon (three folded lines) in the top left corner of the screen next to Search on Drive.
2. Tap Garbage.
3. Click on the three dots (…) in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Tap Empty trash.

If you need to free up more space or just want to keep your Gmail organized, the service makes it easy to free up storage space.

James Martin/CNET

Delete files by size in Gmail

You can also delete files by size in Gmail. Here’s how it is on the desktop.

1. Sign in to your Gmail account.
2. Type yes: attachment larger: 10 MB in the search bar and click Search. This will show you all emails with attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other file sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Select the checkboxes to the left of each email you want to delete, then click Garbage icon at the top of the screen. It should be under Conversations.
4. Click Garbage on the left side of the screento go to the “Cart” menu. If you don’t see Garbageclick More And Garbage should be in the extended menu.
5. Click Clean up the trash now at the top of the screen.

You can also delete files in the Gmail app. Here’s how.

1. Open the Gmail app and sign in to your account.
2. Type yes: attachment larger: 10 MB in the search bar and click Search. This will show you all emails with attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other file sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Click on the email you want to delete.
4. Tap the trash can icon at the top of the screen.
5. Tap < in the upper left corner of the screen.
6. Tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.
7. Tap Garbage.
8. Tap Clean up the trash now.

Please note that once the file is in Garbageit will be automatically deleted after 30 days.

2. Empty your spam folder.

It’s easy to forget about emptying your spam folder, and it can take up unnecessary data in your Gmail account. Emptying your spam folder, as well as your social media or promotions folders, is another way to free up space.

Here’s how to clean out your Spam folder on your desktop.

1. Sign in to your Gmail account.
2. After logging in, click Spam on the left side of the screen. If you don’t see Spamclick More And Spam should be in the extended menu.
3. In your Spam folder, click Delete all spam messages now.
4. Click FINE in a pop-up window.

Here’s how to clear the Spam folder in the mobile app.

1. Open the Gmail app and sign in to your account.
2. Tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner of the screen next to Look in the mail.
3. Tap Spam.
4. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty spam now.

Don’t let spam clutter your Gmail.

Getty Images

3. Delete old or duplicate photos in Google Photos.

Google also includes Google Photos it provides 15 GB of free storage to its users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text files, especially higher quality files, so it’s a good idea to review and delete old and duplicate photos and videos to free up space.

There’s no way to organize photos and videos from largest to smallest like Google Drive and Gmail, so you’ll have to manually go through and delete items. You can check how much space a file takes up by selecting it and pressing “i” for information in the top menu.

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from Google Photos on your desktop.

1. Open and login Google Photos.
2. Scroll your mouse over the photos and videos you want to delete and click the gray checkmark icon in the top left corner of the photo or video. Do this with any number of photos and videos.
3. Click the trash can icon in the top right corner of the screen.
4. Click Move to cart.
5. Click Garbage on the left side of the screen.
6. Click Empty trash in the upper right corner of the screen.
7. Click Empty trash again and you’re done.

Here’s 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, the two digital vaults may also be linked. This means that when turned on Backup and Sync features in Google Photos, all your local photos on your iPhone will appear in Google Photos. If you delete a photo in Google Photos, the local photo on your iPhone will also be deleted. Once a local photo is deleted, it won’t appear in iCloud. You’ll be able to tell if it’s you when you try to delete an image in Google Photos; a pop-up will tell you that you are about to delete data from both locations.

1. Open and sign in to Google Photos.
2. Tap the photo or video you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash can icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
4. Tap Delete.
5. Tap Library in the lower right corner of the screen.
6. Tap Garbage.
7. Click on the three dots (…) in the upper right corner of the screen.
8. Tap Empty trash.
9. Tap Delete.

If you don’t click or touch Empty trash On your desktop or mobile device, photos and videos you delete will be automatically deleted after 60 days.

Bonus tip: You can reduce the file size of some photos and videos in Google Photos. This will free up space, but will reduce the quality of your media file. You can learn more about this from Google support here.

Photos and videos in Google Photos can take up a lot of space.

Sarah Tew/CNET

4. If all else fails, download the files to your desktop.

If your storage is still nearly full and you can no longer bear to part with items from Google Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos, you can download your items and save them directly to your computer.

Here’s how to download all your Google files for storage on another hard drive.

1. Open and sign in to your Google Drive or Google Photos account on your desktop.
2. Select the files or photos you want to upload.
3. Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
4. Click Download. Please note that Gmail will download messages as an .eml file.
5. Once the items are downloaded and moved to your hard drive, feel free to delete them from your account and empty your trash bins.

You can download emails from Gmail in much the same way, but you will have to download the emails one at a time. Although this makes downloading your emails more tedious, it is still possible. Here’s how to download email from Gmail.

1. Open and sign in to your Gmail account on your desktop.
2. Click on the letter you want to download.
3. Click on the three dots stacked on top of each other in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Click Download. Your emails will be downloaded as an .eml file.
5. Once your emails are downloaded and moved to your hard drive, feel free to delete them from your account and empty your trash bins.

See more details. These 10 Gmail Tips and Tools, Five Google Photos Features You Should Try Right Now And How one of our colleagues saved his Gmail account.