What happens when your Google account's free storage quota is over - Times of India (2024)

FAQs

What happens when your Google account's free storage quota is over - Times of India? ›

When you're over quota, it means you use more storage space than you have available. If you go over your storage quota: You can't upload new files or images to Google Drive. You can't back up any photos and videos to Google Photos.

When your account reaches its storage limit: You can't sync or upload new files. You can't create new files in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard.

If you're over your storage limit for 2 years or longer or if you don't free up or purchase more space to get back under your storage limit, all of your content may be removed from Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive (this includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard files).

When you free up space on the Google Photos app on Android or iPhone, it removes locally stored copies of photos and videos from your device while keeping them safely backed up in your Google Photos cloud storage. This action reclaims storage space on your phone without permanently deleting your media.

When your account reaches its storage limit, you can't: Send or receive emails through Gmail. Upload photos or videos through Google Photos. Upload files to Drive or create new files in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard.

When you're over quota, it means you use more storage space than you have available. If you go over your storage quota: You can't upload new files or images to Google Drive. You can't back up any photos and videos to Google Photos.

You're also exempted from the deletion of your photos and videos if you have an active Google One membership with no outstanding payment or quota issues. If you're inactive in Google Photos for 2 years or more, your content may be deleted from Google Photos. Before that happens, we will: Give you notice using email.

If you cancel your Google One plan or it expires, the files will remain in your account for a limited time and then Google may delete them. Your storage quota would return to the standard 15GB of free storage. If you exceed the 15GB storage, your Gmail, Docs Editors apps, and Photos will no longer work.

If your storage plan is canceled or expires

If you cancel your storage plan, you'll lose all additional storage for your account. At the end of your billing cycle, you may be over quota. If you're over your storage quota for 2 years, all the content that counts toward your storage quota may be deleted.

Discovering that your Gmail account has reached its storage limit can be alarming. Especially because you can no longer receive or send emails. However, there is no need to panic because a full storage does not mean you are stuck. It simply means that you are long overdue for a cleanup.

Can I delete photos off my phone but keep them on Google Photos? ›

What happens when you remove photos & videos from your phone. If you remove copies of photos and videos on your Android device, they're now deleted but, you still can: See your photos and videos, including the ones you just removed, in the Google Photos app and photos.google.com.

Using a tool called “Free up space” in Google Photos, you can let the app automatically remove any local file that has a safely backed-up copy in the cloud.

There is no "official" way to delete photos (and videos) from Google Photos without deleting them from the device (you can do it the other way around), there are "tricks" such as moving your photos to a folder not synchronized with the app and then delete them from the app.

With the Google One Storage Management Tool, you can review and free up storage space by deleting emails in your trash, spam emails, or emails with large attachments. info Features are subject to availability. The steps may look different depending on your device.

The short answer is that if you don't instantly pay for additional storage, Google Photos won't remove your previously taken pictures and videos. You can no longer add new content, but your existing content is still safe.

If you do run out of storage, you'll see a message asking you to upgrade to a Google One plan, but you don't have to buy digital storage.

Discovering that your Gmail account has reached its storage limit can be alarming. Especially because you can no longer receive or send emails. However, there is no need to panic because a full storage does not mean you are stuck. It simply means that you are long overdue for a cleanup.

If your storage plan is canceled or expires

If you cancel your storage plan, you'll lose all additional storage for your account. At the end of your billing cycle, you may be over quota. If you're over your storage quota for 2 years, all the content that counts toward your storage quota may be deleted.

The reason for this is simpler than you might think: “deleted” files are actually just moved to Trash, where they continue to take up storage space.