Before Google forces you to pay, here's how to reclaim gigabytes of wasted storage

Google is trying out a new signup flow that starts some new accounts at 5GB instead of the usual 15GB. To get the rest, you have to hand over a phone number and verify it.

The experiment is running in select regions, and Google's support page has already softened its wording from a flat 15GB to "up to 15 GB."

If you already have an account, none of this touches you, so this isn't a panic story. Consider it a reminder.

That 15GB you've had forever is one shared bucket split across Gmail, Drive, and Photos, WhatsApp backups (on Android phones), and, since June 2021, your Docs, Sheets, and Slides count against it.

Newsletters, blurry photos, a PDF receipt from 2019, it all draws from the same well. You can pay your way out with Google One. Or you can spend half an hour cleaning the house.

Use a computer for this cleanup. Google's storage manager, Drive filters, Gmail searches, and Photos quota tools are easier to review on a big screen.

Also, be careful with Google Photos. It's a synced library, so deleting a backed-up photo can remove it from devices with Backup turned on.

To keep phone copies while clearing cloud storage, turn off Backup on that device first, delete from photos.google.com, and double-check before emptying Trash.

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Start with the Google One storage manager

Before you dig through folders, go for the low-hanging fruit. Google's storage management page shows a visual breakdown of which services are the worst offenders and suggests items to remove.

A couple of clicks here often frees a gigabyte or more on the spot. If the meter doesn't drop right away, that's normal. Google can take up to 72 hours to register a big cleanup.

Start with videos, backups, and bulky uploads

Start with Large Drive files, and Large photos and videos in Google One storage manager.

These are the biggest files in your Google Drive. Files like old video uploads, backups, and large documents. This is the highest-value place to start.

They're shown largest first, so you can review the top offenders and delete whatever you no longer need.

Clear out emails with bulky attachments

Next, check Emails with large attachments and Emails in Trash. These are messages carrying bulky files like high-resolution photos, PDFs, and zip folders that people email and then forget. The majority of them are small, but they accumulate over the years.

One 20MB attachment takes up the space of thousands of plain-text emails. There's also a toggle for Spam and Trash emails. Those are wiped automatically after 30 days, but doing it manually reclaims the storage right away.

For more control, open Gmail on desktop and play around with search operators and stack the operators together:

• larger:10M surfaces any email over 10 megabytes. Adjust the number up or down to widen or narrow the net.
• has:attachment filters for messages with files.
• older_than:1y isolates anything more than a year old.

Clean up Google Photos and compress what's left

With the easy wins out of the way, the next target is Photos. This one's worth two passes. Like the earlier steps, do both on a computer.

The Photos quota management view directs you to blurry shots you can safely remove. A slightly out-of-focus photo can sometimes be saved with Photo Unblur, so check before deleting anything you care about.

There is also a page for unsupported videos, files that are corrupted or in a format Photos can't play, which eat into your quota without ever being viewable.

Pass two, compress what you're keeping. The storage settings have a Storage saver option that shrinks your original-quality photos and videos to a lower resolution.

For everyday photos, you barely see a difference on a phone screen.

This change is permanent.

You can't get the original resolution back, and 4K video noticeably drops to 1080p. Done across a full library, it can free up several gigabytes.

Turn off backup for folders you do not need

Cleanup is pointless if your phone keeps refilling the cloud after you empty it. Phones can back up almost every image they create, screenshots and downloaded images included.

Open the Google Photos app, go into the device folders menu, and switch off backup for the folders you don't care about.

Screenshots are the prime offender, along with downloads and, if you switched it on at some point, WhatsApp media.

Know what you're trading. A folder with backup turned off has only one copy. Something happens to your phone, and it's gone. Fortunately, there are several ways to back up your files safely.

Running out of space can have serious consequences

Hitting the 15GB wall breaks the Google experience. Drive stops accepting new uploads, and incoming mail starts bouncing back to its sender. Although some bugs can cause similar issues, too.

Depending on the sender's mail server, a temporarily deferred message may still arrive after you free up space, but don't count on it.

The dependable fix is to clear space quickly and ask anyone you were expecting mail from to resend.

A half-hour audit now is a lot cheaper than discovering a job offer bounced last Tuesday because it came with a PDF attached.