Tips for Maximizing Your Google Drive Storage

Maximizing your Google Drive storage is essential to making the most of the 15 GB free storage or any additional storage you may have purchased. Here are some tips to help you optimize and save space:

1. Check Your Storage Usage

Regularly check what’s taking up space by visiting Google’s storage management tool to see how your storage is distributed across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.

2. Delete Large Files and Duplicates

Search for large files by typing “larger:10M” in the search bar to identify files larger than 10MB. Remove duplicates or unused large files to free up space.

3. Use Google’s Native File Formats

Files created with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Drawings don’t count against your storage quota. Convert Word documents or Excel sheets into Google’s formats whenever possible.

4. Optimize Google Photos Storage

If you use Google Photos, choose “Storage saver” mode, which reduces the size of photos and videos without significantly compromising quality. High-quality images take up less space.

5. Empty Trash

Files in your trash still count toward your storage limit until they are permanently deleted. Be sure to regularly empty the trash to free up space.

6. Compress or Archive Files

Compress files you don't access frequently (e.g., ZIP format) or archive old files to reduce their size while retaining them for future use.

7. Use Google Takeout to Export Data

If you want to keep backups of your data without storing it on Drive, use Google Takeout to export and download files. You can store these locally or on an external hard drive.

8. Clear Gmail Attachments

Gmail attachments can take up significant storage space. Search for large emails in Gmail using the query “has
larger:10M” to find and delete emails with large attachments.

9. Move Files to Shared Drives

If you’re part of a Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) organization, consider moving files to Shared Drives. These don’t count against your personal storage quota.

10. Uninstall Unnecessary Apps with Google Drive Access

Some third-party apps linked to Google Drive may save files directly to your Drive. Uninstall or disconnect apps you no longer use to prevent them from consuming unnecessary storage.

11. Back Up Files to External Storage

Regularly back up files you don’t need immediate access to onto external drives or other cloud storage platforms, such as Dropbox or OneDrive, to free up space on Google Drive.

12. Use Shared Links Instead of Storing Copies

Instead of saving multiple copies of the same file, share links to Google Drive documents. This prevents duplication and reduces the amount of storage used.

13. Upgrade Your Storage Plan

If you frequently run out of space, consider upgrading to Google One, which offers plans starting from 100 GB of storage. It also includes additional perks such as customer support and family sharing.

14. Manage Version History

Google Drive keeps version histories for documents. If you don’t need to preserve older versions, you can delete them to free up storage.

15. Remove Unused Apps or Backups

Some Android apps automatically back up to Google Drive, using up space. Review these backups and remove those you no longer need in the Google Drive settings.

By following these tips, you can make the most of your Google Drive storage and avoid running out of space too quickly.