In just under six weeks, there will be major changes to Google’s free storage – and we hope many more users are aware of that by now. But while the focus is primarily on Google Images, we will Google Drive Love to forget – depending on how you use it, it’s just a great memory hog. Free Google Drive storage will also be completely phased out as of June 1st. You can get all the details here.
Google Photos and Google Drive users can live in storage heaven for many years, because under certain conditions this was completely free and unlimited. An endless hole did not lose any data. But Google cannot or does not want to offer that anymore and will force all users to switch – one way or the other. Either use less storage, clean or delete more times, or buy more Google One storage.
We have already shown you the changes made to Google Photos in detail in this article and many users should deactivate automatic backups or inquire about storage pricing as a precaution or look for alternatives. But even Google Drive previously offered free storage, which this or other user probably wasn’t aware of. For this reason, the protest against Google Drive is much smaller.
Files of all kinds uploaded by users have always been deducted from their storage quota, but files in Google formats were previously free. This will change at the beginning of June and ensure that some users may have to change their behavior.
current situation
So far, Google only deducts files from user uploaded storage quota and is not in Google format. Google Formats are mainly documents application files, which were previously able to use storage space completely free of charge and with no known limits. Of course, it’s not just about a few characters, tables, and formulas – hard to mention in their file size – but above all about the media files included in them.
That will change from June 1
Starting June 1st, these free previous document formats will also be counted against or deducted from the quota available. This applies to all files uploaded or edited after June 1. So if you edit an old document, it will be taken into consideration automatically after editing. You should keep this in mind if you have files with large built-in media.
Files created or edited in apps for collaborative editing, for example b. In Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, and Jamboard.
Only files created or edited after June 1 2021 will count toward your quota.
On the other hand, files that were last uploaded or edited before June 1, 2021 will not be taken into consideration.
The problem with that was that it wasn’t easy to figure out the file size yet. This is very likely to change starting June 1st.
What products have been affected?
Google Docs, Google Sheets, Googel Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Jamboard.
What is taken out of memory?
Every Google Doc has a very long checklist, so it can make or undo the changes visible. Unfortunately, Google is not entirely clear on this point whether these revisions are also stored as part of document memory and therefore quota deducted. With a few characters that won’t be tragic, but with a document that has grown over the years, something comes together. Especially if media was added and removed later. Hopefully, Google gets a little more clear there.
How can I save storage space?
Make sure not to shoot sparrows with cannons when inserting media. The graphic in the document does not have to be extracted in megabytes, but in most cases it can be greatly reduced in size or converted to another format before uploading. There may be exceptions, but if you pay attention to them, you can save a lot.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many more tips than deleting unnecessary files. But you don’t have to review your resume, cover letters, or recipes, because it’s only a few kilobytes in size and it doesn’t matter. The cleaning procedure on Google Images or in GMail should be more effective. Of course, this depends on your usage profile and is difficult to assess overall.
Buy storage space
If you don’t want to worry or limit yourself, you won’t be able to avoid purchasing extra storage space. You can do this on Google One, which has a range of customization sizes with additional benefits. We recently gave you an overview in this article. Please note that even large GMail emails and of course backing up to Google Photos can fill your storage space, thus Google Drive can no longer be used if the limit values are exceeded.
[Google Support]
Subscribe to the GoogleWatchBlog newsletter
