How long does it take to use 15 GB of storage space? If you have a Google Drive account, you know how quickly free space is consumed by emails, photos, videos and other digital documents. Google Drive is a popular digital storage service with over 2 billion monthly active users, according to Google partner Patronum — and many of those accounts are no doubt near or at capacity.
If you run out of storage, you’ll see a message asking you to upgrade to a Google One plan, but that doesn’t mean you have to buy digital storage. If you’re willing to create another Google account, you can actually transfer all your old emails and files for free. But if that sounds like a hassle, then here are a few more tricks to easily clear space in your digital filing cabinet.
We recommend you try these tips on your desktop rather than a mobile device, as you will find it easier to organize 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 many megabytes of space is easier than sorting through hundreds of old documents with similar file sizes 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. of Storage the page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not, click Used storage on the right side of the screen. Files should now be sorted from largest to smallest.
4. Click on the large files you want to delete to select them. You can select multiple files by holding down Switching key on your keyboard.
5. Once you’ve selected the files to delete, click either the trash can that appears near the top of the screen or click and drag large files to WASTE on the left side of the screen.
You’re not done when the items are in WASTE. From there, click WASTE on the left side of the screen to go to WASTE menu. Then, click Empty the 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 your Google Drive app and sign in to your account.
2. touch file in the lower right corner of the screen.
3. touch Name DOWN My disk near the top of the screen.
4. touch Used storage. This will arrange your files from largest to smallest. You can choose My disk and then Used storage again to sort your files from smallest to largest.
5. Tap the three dots (…) next to the item you want to delete.
6. touch Remove then Move to trash.
Google says in the app that Articles in your WASTE are permanently deleted automatically after 30 days. If you want to speed things up and empty your trash now, here’s how.
1. Tap the hamburger icon (three stacked lines) in the upper left corner of the screen next to it Search in Drive.
2. touch WASTE.
3. Tap the three dots (…) in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. touch Empty the trash.
Whether you need to create more space or just want to keep Gmail organized, it’s easy to make room for storage on the service.
Delete files by size in Gmail
You can also delete your files by size in Gmail. Here’s how on desktop.
1. Sign in to your Gmail account.
2. Business has: largest plugin: 10 MB in the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by files of other sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Check the boxes to the left of each email you want to delete, then click WASTE icon at the top of your screen. It should be under conversations.
4. Click WASTE on the left side of the screento go to the Trash menu. If you don’t see WASTEclick More AND WASTE it should be in the extended menu.
5. Click Empty the trash now at the top of the screen.
You can also delete files in the Gmail app in a similar way. Here’s how.
1. Open your Gmail app and sign in to your account.
2. Business has: largest plugin: 10 MB in the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by files of other sizes, not just 10MB files.
3. Click on the email you want to delete.
4. Tap the trash can icon at the top of your screen.
5. touch