Here are the detailed steps you can take each time to back up your storage and get more storage on Google Drive without having to purchase storage. If ways to add storage space meet your requirement or you do not want to remove anything from your Drive, you can check out the additional storage tip on Google Drive beyond the first 15GB via CBackup.
- Free photo storage
- Use Google file formats.
- Do not add shared drive files.
- You have no Google Drive trash
- Clean Gmail
- Delete duplicate files
- Delete large useless files and sweep the trash.
- Expect Google Drive offers and promotions.
Free photo storage
In fact, all photos and videos backed up to Google Photos in real size will be counted on your Google storage. But Google will give you unlimited free storage if you back up photos and videos in “High Quality” mode, compressing up to 16MP and 1080p videos. Therefore, you can free up a lot of space by converting those size images and videos into “high quality” mode.
- Go to the Photos page, and choose the highest quality (free unlimited storage).
- On the same page, click the restore button. That will compress your existing photos and videos and remove them from your Google share.
Google Images compress original objects.
Note: As of June 1, 2021, any recently uploaded photos and videos will be included in your Google Drive rating.
Use Google file formats.
Supports you to upload files in their original format without converting them to Google Drive. But if you want to expand your Google Drive space for free, you need to save documents to Google file formats, namely Docs, Spreadsheets, Slides, Drawings, etc.
Convert to Google Formats
Do not add shared drive files.
When other people share with you Drive content, that content does not remain in your archive unless you choose to add that content to your Drive. If you want to save space, don’t download the shared files to your Google Drive unless you have to.
You have no Google Drive trash.
When you delete files from Google Drive, you do not delete them first. They are sent to the trash where they can be piled up. Over time, they add and unnecessarily use storage. Be sure to go to Trash and permanently delete files you no longer need.
- Open Google Drive and click on Trash in the left-hand bar.
- Click the arrow next to the word Trash and then click Empty Trash.
- Erase everything from Google Drive Trash
Clean Gmail
Emails do not change the tone, but attachments do. Cleaning your inbox, spam, and spoiling your Gmail Bin is a great way to free up Drive space. Deleting unwanted emails with large attachments:
NOTE: If necessary, save the attachment to Google Drive.
- In your Gmail search bar, type “has: larger attachment: 10M” without quotation marks, then click on the Search icon
- Select the emails you do not need and click Delete.
- In the left sidebar (where you have Inbox, Sent, etc.) Click on more and then click on Bin.
- At the top of the Bin page, click on Empty Bin now and confirm your action.
Delete duplicate files
If you use Google Drive to store files, you may have multiple duplicates by mistake, and these duplicate files can save your valuable storage. So, all you have to do is check your Google Drive storage for duplicate files. Doing so can help you to open up more space.
- Open your Google Drive account. Click List View in the top right corner.
- Now, all your files are listed here. Long press the control key and click on all the useless icons, starting with “Copy of…” or having the same name and number in parentheses.
- Right-click any selected file and right-click Delete to delete all selected duplicate files at once.
- Remember to take out your trash after removing it.
Delete large useless files and sweep the trash
After a long run, you may have to save a few obsolete files that you can safely delete. You can update what you have in your Drive and delete files, especially some large files, which you no longer need. Additionally, apps associated with your Google Drive storage may sometimes have hidden data, but you only need a few clicks to uninstall it.
- Open https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/quota in your browser. Large files will be at the top of the list.
- Browse files and delete anything you no longer need.
- Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the Drive, then select Settings, followed by Manage Applications.
- For any applications that have a note about hidden information, click the gray options box on the right and select Clear hidden app data.
- Spread your trash.
Expect the offer and promotion of Google Drive
You can get free offers on Google Drive from time to time, especially at great times. For example, Google has provided 2GB of free driving space to users who improved the security of their Google accounts in 2016.
