New Google Storage Limit for EVSC Student Accounts

by Jerrad Gleim | Aug 11, 2022 | Announcements | 0 comments

Google announced in 2021 that changes were coming to Google Workspace cloud storage in 2022.  Those changes are now here and storage limit policies are now in place.  EVSC Students now have a limit of 15 GB of Google online storage.

How To Check Your Google Storage Use

You can view your Google Storage usage in Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail.

Google Drive has the best detailed view of usage that you can view on the Google Drive website.

From the Google Drive Website

1). Click Storage in the sidebar.

2). Look at the top of the page.

  • The BIG number is how much storage that is used out of 15 GB.
  • The bar graph beneath represents how much space is being consumed by Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail.

Student Google Storage Limits - Drive Storage

What Happens If I Don’t Free Up Space?

If you don’t free up space in your Google Account…

  • You can’t upload new files or images to Google Drive.
  • You can’t receive or submit assignments in Google Classroom that contain attachments.
  • You can’t back up any photos and videos to Google Photos.
  • Your ability to send and receive email in Gmail can be impacted.
  • You can’t create new files in collaborative content creation apps like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Forms. Until you reduce your storage usage, nobody can edit or copy your affected files.
  • You can’t back up new Recorder files.
  • Note: You can still sign into and access your Google Account.

What To Do If You’re Over Your Storage

If you’ve exceeded your Google storage quota, you will need to delete files to free up space.  The question is where to start?  If you checked your Google Storage use using the Google Drive Storage page (see above), you will know which app is using the most space: Google Drive, Google Photos, or Gmail.

Google Drive

On the Google Drive Storage page, Google organizes the files in your Drive by Size with the top of the list showing the biggest sized files first.  Start there and delete files that are larger than 10MB.

If you see files that are 1GB or larger, delete those for sure!

Remember, you only have 15GBs to use across Drive, Photos, and Gmail.

Review your Storage usage in Drive by clicking on "Storage" in the sidebar.

Google Photos

Are you backing up photos from your phone to Google Photos?  If yes, that will explain why Google Photos is using a lot of space.  Here’s what you need to clean up Google Photos.

  1. Turn off the auto backup feature in the Google Photos app on your phone and/or other device.
  2. Delete Photos and/or Videos from Google Photos.

* PLEASE NOTE: The “Move photos to archive” only HIDES photos from view.  It does not delete or minimize the space photos/videos use in your Google Photos.

Gmail

If your email is the culprit, then go to your Gmail and search for emails that have large file attachments.  Start with file sizes greater than 10MB.

Empty the Trash!

After deleting emails with large file attachments, be sure to go to your Trash and empty it to complete the deletion process.

Use the Search box in your Gmail for emails by Size greater than 10MB.

Questions / Comments

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