Your account, , is a personal account with up to 15 GB of storage, which is shared among Drive, Gmail and Photos. Your Google storage is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, WhatsApp backups and Google Photos. When your account is full, it affects these services. When your account reaches its storage limit, you won't be able to upload or create files in Drive, send or receive emails in Gmail or back up photos or videos to Google Photos. If you're over your storage quota for two years, we might delete your content across Gmail, Drive and Photos. Learn more about Google storage policies . What you'll find in this article: Short-term solution : Empty your bin Short-term solution : Empty your bin Long-term solution : Clear space or buy more storage Option 1 : Learn how to clear space Option 2 : Buy more storage Long-term solution : Clear space or buy more storage Option 1 : Learn how to clear space Option 1 : Learn how to clear space Option 2 : Buy more storage Option 2 : Buy more storage Manage your WhatsApp backup size Manage your WhatsApp backup size Understand your computer and Google storage when using Drive for desktop Understand your computer and Google storage when using Drive for desktop Short-term solution: Empty your bin If your account reaches its storage limit, critical services like Gmail stop and: You can't send or receive emails. Messages sent to you go back to the sender. To get your account to work again in the short term: Empty bin and spam folders: This is the quickest way to recover space. Until you permanently clear items in these folders, they count against your storage limit. Important: Allow time (up to 48–72 hours) for your storage to update after deleting multiple files at once. You could lose these files permanently. Empty Gmail bin and spam Empty Drive bin Empty Photos bin Empty Gmail bin and spam Empty Drive bin Empty Photos bin Delete large emails: Find and delete one or two emails with very large attachments that you no longer need. On your computer, go to Gmail . On the left of each message that you want to delete, tick the box. At the top, click Delete . On your computer, go to Gmail . On the left of each message that you want to delete, tick the box. At the top, click Delete . Tip: To delete all messages in your bin, in the notification at the top, click Empty bin now . Wait for storage to update: After you delete files and empty the bin, your available space updates after a short period. If your account is still full after 30 minutes, you can perform advanced cleanup . Long-term solution: Clear space or buy more storage If you're close to or over your storage limit, you can: Learn how to clear space or Buy more storage Option 1: Learn how to clear space You're not signed in to a Google Account. To find out how much storage you have and how to manage it, log in to your Google Account and reload this article. Sign in to your Google Account Advanced cleanup tips For a more targeted cleanup, use these techniques to find specific types of files that consume the most space. Find large files In Gmail: Use search operators directly in the Gmail search bar. To find emails with attachments larger than 10 MB, enter: has:attachment larger:10M To find emails with PDF attachments larger than 5 MB, enter: filename:.pdf larger:5M To find emails with attachments larger than 10 MB, enter: has:attachment larger:10M To find emails with PDF attachments larger than 5 MB, enter: filename:.pdf larger:5M To find emails with attachments older than two years, enter: older_than:2y has:attachment . - In Google Drive: On the left-hand menu, click Storage . Your files are automatically listed from largest to smallest. On the left-hand menu, click Storage .

Your files are automatically listed from largest to smallest. Find and remove duplicate files You can find duplicates manually. Google Drive doesn't have a built-in tool to automatically find them. In Google Drive, at the top right, click the list layout [icon]. Click Name . This sorts the files alphabetically Look for files with identical names, especially those that end with '(1)' or 'Copy of'. Clear other storage This category often includes device backups and hidden data from apps connected to your Drive. Find and delete unneeded device backups: Go to the Backups section of your storage . Scroll to Backups . Delete hidden app data: Go to Google Drive settings. Click Manage apps . Option 2: Buy more storage Google One is a subscription that gives you more storage across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos for your account, . When you subscribe to Google One, your total storage increases depending on the plan that you choose. Get more storage with Google One Manage your WhatsApp backup size WhatsApp backups on Android count towards your Google Account storage limit. To save space effectively, you must change the settings in the WhatsApp app first. If you delete a backup from Google but don't change your settings, a new backup will automatically appear the next time that your device backs up. To save space effectively, you must change the settings in the WhatsApp app first. If you delete a backup from Google but don't change your settings, a new backup will automatically appear the next time that your device backs up. When you delete your WhatsApp backup, it's permanent. You lose all your chat history if you change phones or reinstall WhatsApp before you create a new backup. Step 1: Reduce WhatsApp backup size on your device Videos usually take up the most space in a backup. You can exclude them from future backups. On your Android device, open WhatsApp . On your Android device, open WhatsApp . Tap Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Turn off Include videos . Tap Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Turn off Include videos . To back up your device immediately with the new settings, tap Back up now . To back up your device immediately with the new settings, tap Back up now . Tip: Learn how to free up storage on WhatsApp . To learn more about how WhatsApp backups count towards your Google storage, go to the WhatsApp article About Google Account backups . Step 2: Delete backups from Google After you update your device settings, you can remove existing backup files from your Google storage. Delete via Google One: Go to one.google.com/storage/management to manage and delete specific backup files. Important: When you delete your WhatsApp backup, it's permanent. You lose all your chat history if you change phones or reinstall WhatsApp before you create a new backup. Delete via Google One: Go to one.google.com/storage/management to manage and delete specific backup files. Important: When you delete your WhatsApp backup, it's permanent. You lose all your chat history if you change phones or reinstall WhatsApp before you create a new backup. Important: When you delete your WhatsApp backup, it's permanent. You lose all your chat history if you change phones or reinstall WhatsApp before you create a new backup. Tip: WhatsApp backups that haven't been updated in five months may be automatically deleted. Understand your computer and Google storage when using Drive for desktop This does not change your Google storage limit. Because of this, your computer and your Google storage page will usually show different numbers. This difference is expected. Only the files that you own count towards your Google storage. Learn why your computer's storage differs from your Google storage. Related resources Google Drive Help Community Need more help? Try these next steps: