Do you really need to pay more for additional storage space on Google Drive for Gmail? Try these alternatives first.
You might find yourself running out of storage space in Gmail. This means you won't be able to save anything else to Google Drive, as the two are linked. This can happen if you've been using your account for a long time and have accumulated many files. In that case, you'll see the option to subscribe to a paid plan to increase your available storage. But is this really necessary?
We'll give you some alternatives before you resort to paying to expand your Google storage. This will help you have better control over your stored files and avoid keeping files you don't actually need. We'll give you some helpful tips.
Free up space on Google Drive
Google offers 15 GB of free storage. However, if that's not enough, you can upgrade to a larger plan and get several terabytes of data. This option is useful if you need to store large amounts of data in the cloud, such as backups from multiple devices. While you don't usually need that much space, the initial 15 GB may be limited.
Delete large files
The first essential step you can take is to delete large files stored in the cloud. To do this, we recommend checking which service is using the most storage space. You'll need to sign in to your Google account, then click on "Manage account," go to "Payments and subscriptions," and then to "Account storage." There you'll find something similar to the image shown in the screenshot below:
Once you know if you've used up a lot of storage space in Gmail or Google Drive, you can focus on where to look. If you're using Google Drive, open the service, then go to "Storage," where you'll find all your saved files sorted by size. You can delete any files you don't need to free up space.
As for Gmail, you can search for the largest emails, which may contain unnecessary attachments. In this case, type something like "larger:15M" into the Gmail search bar. This will show you all emails larger than 15 MB.
Do not collect emails you do not need.
However, your problem isn't limited to emails with large attachments; it also includes their accumulation. You might find yourself with a large number of unnecessary emails that are taking up significant storage space. Therefore, we recommend reviewing your email and deleting any unwanted messages.
It's good practice to delete all the messages you no longer need. Instead of letting them pile up and having to delete hundreds at once, avoid reaching that point and empty your inbox whenever possible.
Create a separate account
Before resorting to a paid subscription for additional storage, you can create a separate account. You can keep your personal account separate from your professional account, or simply create multiple personal accounts, to avoid accumulating 15 GB of storage and gain greater flexibility.
In short, if you're considering subscribing to Google Drive for extra storage, remember there are other alternatives, and you might not need this investment. See what we've explained.