Free Up Your Google Drive Space at No Cost With These Hacks

Spring has officially sprung, and with it comes the annual ritual of spring cleaning. While you’re busy decluttering your home, why not give your digital space a fresh start too? If you’re a Google Drive user, you’re probably familiar with the 15GB of free storage that comes with your account. But as we all know, that space can fill up quickly, especially if you’re using it as your primary digital storage solution.

If you’ve found yourself running out of storage, you’ve likely seen the dreaded message asking you to upgrade to a Google One plan. But before you reach for your wallet, there are several tricks you can use to clear out space in your digital filing cabinet without spending a dime.

First things first, I recommend tackling this task on your laptop rather than your phone. You’ll have an easier time sorting through and managing files on a larger screen. However, I’ll walk you through both processes if you only have access to a mobile device.

1. Easily find and delete large files

This trick was a lifesaver for us. If you want to keep the majority 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 a few dozen smaller items. Deleting one or two videos that take up multiple megabytes of space is easier than sorting through hundreds of old documents of similar file size to decide which can be deleted.

To delete files by size in Google Drive on your desktop, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Drive account.
2. Click Storage in the menu on the left side of the screen.
3. The Storage page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not, click Storage 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 Shift key on your keyboard.
5. After selecting the files for deletion, click the trash bin that appears near the top of the screen.

You’re not finished when the items are in the Trash. From there, click Trash on the left side of the screen to go to the Trash 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 your Google Drive app and log in to your account.
2. Tap Files in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Name underneath My Drive near the top of the screen.
4. Tap Storage used. This will arrange your files from largest to smallest. You can select My Drive and then Storage used again to list your files from smallest to largest.
5. Tap the three dots (…) next to the item you want to delete.
6. Tap Remove, then Move to trash.

Google says in the app that items in your Trash are deleted forever 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 top-left corner of the screen next to Search in Drive.
2. Tap Trash.
3. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap Empty trash.

2. Empty your spam folder

I forget to empty my spam folder, but it can take up unnecessary space in your Gmail account. Emptying your spam folder – and your social or promotions folders – is another way to make space.

Here’s how to empty your desktop Spam folder:

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Once you’re logged in, click Spam on the left side of the screen. If you don’t see Spam, click More. Spam should be in the expanded menu.
3. In your Spam folder, click Delete all spam messages now.
4. Click OK in the pop-up.

Here’s how to empty your Spam folder in 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 next to Search in mail.
3. Tap Spam.
4. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty spam now.

3. Delete old or duplicate photos in Google Photos

Google also includes Google Photos in the 15GB of free storage it gives its users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text-based files, especially higher-quality ones, so it’s a good idea to go through and delete old and duplicate photos and videos to make room.

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

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

1. Open and log into Google Photos.
2. Scroll your mouse over 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 to as many photos and videos as you want.
3. Click the trash icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Click Move to trash.
5. Click Trash on the left side of the screen.
6. Click Empty trash near the top-right corner of your screen.
7. Click Empty trash again, and you’re set.

Here’s how to delete photos and videos from the Google Photos mobile app:

1. Open and log 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 bottom-right corner of the screen.
6. Tap Trash.
7. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.
8. Tap Empty trash.
9. Tap Delete.

If you don’t click or tap Empty trash on either desktop or mobile, the photos and videos you’ve deleted will automatically be deleted after 60 days.

4. When all else fails, download your files to your desktop

If your storage is still almost full and you can’t part with any more items in Google Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos, you can download them to your computer before deleting them from Google Drive.

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

1. Open and log into your Google Drive or Google Photos account on your desktop.
2. Select the files or photos you want to download.
3. Click the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner of your screen.
4. Click Download. Note that Gmail downloads messages as .eml files.
5. Once the items are downloaded and moved onto 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 have to download your emails one at a time. While this makes downloading your emails more tedious, it’s still possible. Here’s how to download your emails from Gmail:

1. Open and log into your Gmail account on your desktop.
2. Click on the email you want to download.
3. Click the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner of your screen.
4. Click Download. Your emails will be downloaded as .eml files.
5. Once your emails are downloaded and moved onto your hard drive, feel free to delete them from your account and empty your trash bins.

For more on Google, here’s what to know about Google’s Canvas AI project planning tool, what to know about Google’s Gemini AI tools in Google Drive, and how to avoid Google’s AI Overviews.

Tags: Google Drive, Gmail, Google Photos, digital storage, spring cleaning, file management, spam folder, duplicate photos, AI tools, Canvas, Gemini, AI Overviews.

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