Why not keep everything?

Recently, Google changed their file storage policy. Additionally, old files eat up storage space in your Google account, cost UNI money, and make it difficult to find important data. Below are ways to help find and delete old or unneeded data.

How much storage am I using today?

You can find this by visiting:

https://one.google.com/storage

Storage in Google is divided among Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Below are tips on helping with these three areas.

What happens if I'm over quota?

Google outlines what happens if you're over quota, but as a summary:

You can’t upload new files or images to Google Drive.
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, Forms, and Jamboard. 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.
Accounts in the alumni.uni.edu that remain over quota will be disabled. After 6 months, suspended accounts will be permanently deleted. (Note, after June 2026, no new accounts will be created in this domain.)

Gmail/Email

Deleting individual or multiple emails

Visit Google's support article.

Finding large emails to delete

To find large emails that take up space, in the Gmail search bar type:

has:attachment larger:5M

and press Enter. This will identify emails with large attachments that can be deleted.

Identify and remove old messages

To find old messages you may no longer need, in the Gmail search bar type:

older: 2019-01-01

and press Enter. This will identify messages older than January 1, 2019. You can change this date to be sooner or older, as well as add additional filters like a specific folder.

Empty Gmail Trash

Once you've deleted all the emails you no longer need, empty your Trash. To do this:

On the left side of the page, click More.
Scroll to Trash.
Check the box next to messages you want to permanently delete, then click Delete forever.
Note: The Delete forever option is only available in the Trash. You won’t be able to delete items forever from the Search result view.
To delete all messages in your trash, click Empty Trash now.

Note: You may need to empty your Trash several times if there are many old messages to delete. Simply choose Empty Trash now until no message remain.

Drive

Identifying your largest files in Drive

Finding and deleting your largest files is a good starting place to free up space. In Drive, click in the bottom-left corner under Storage:

You'll see a list of files sorted by the amount of storage space used. Deleting large files you no longer need will free up space in your account.

Identify and remove old files

You can find your oldest files by clicking on the Last modified column and change from Relevance to Last modified:

Once selected, clicking on Last modified again to show an up arrow which will sort by the oldest files first:

To find old files you may not need after a certain date, type into the search bar:

before:2015-01-01

This will identify files created before January 1, 2015. To get older or newer files, change the date.

Deleting multiple files

If you store files in a folder, simply delete the folder and the contents will be deleted, too. Alternatively, hold the Ctrl key, select multiple files, and choose the Delete icon to delete multiple files at once.

Knowing if a file is shared

It's helpful to tell if a file is shared prior to deleting it. To tell if it's shared, look for the double person icon:

Right-click and select Share to display who the file is shared with.

Checking the last time a file was used/modified

When reviewing files to delete, it's helpful to know when they were last edited or accessed. To do this:

Find the file in Google Drive.
Right-click on it and choose "View details":

or click on the "i" with a circle in the top-right corner:
The last Modified, Opened, and Created dates will be displayed in a panel on the right:

Empty Google Drive Trash

Once all of your files have been deleted, they will be sent to the Trash. To empty the Trash, click on Trash on the left side of the page and choose "Empty trash." Once emptied, your storage space used should decrease in about 24 hours depending on how much was deleted. See Google's support article for additional details.

Photos

View Google's recommendations on freeing up space in Google Photos or in this related article.

Reducing Your Google Storage Usage