Google account audit — how to clean up storage and save money

Google provides each user with 15 GB of storage for email, photos, and files. However, this limit can be reached quickly, especially if you frequently send and receive large attachments or take many photos. Before paying for Google One, which starts at $2 per month for 100 GB, try cleaning up your account to free up some space.

ITsider explains how to do this.

First, open one.google.com/storage. This page shows how much space Gmail, Google Photos, and Drive are using. The service offers tools that can help you quickly clean up large emails and files so you can see which data takes up the most storage space.

Organize your Google Drive

Turn on size sorting to easily find "heavy" documents, archives, or videos you no longer need. Remember to empty the bin after deleting files; otherwise, they will continue to count toward your used space. Additionally, go to Manage apps and clear hidden data from apps that haven't been synchronized in a while.

Optimize Google Photos

If you constantly take pictures with your phone, set the upload quality to "Space Saving" (up to 15 megapixels for photos and 1080p for videos). The Storage Management menu offers to delete blurry shots, duplicates, and screenshots. It's also useful to remove outdated backups from devices you no longer use. 

Clean up your Gmail

Enter "has:attachment larger:10M" in the search box to filter out emails with large attachments. Separately, clear the Spam and Promotions tabs, and then empty the Trash folder. These folders tend to collect junk that takes up tens of megabytes.

You can also try the followng:

• Disable automatic backup of folders that are not critical to store in the cloud.
• Set up selective synchronization of Google Drive on your computer so that only the necessary directories are stored locally.

Experts advise organizing an "audit" at least once every six months. Regular maintenance only takes a few minutes, but helps you save money on subscriptions and keep your digital space organized.

We also wrote that Google unveiled the AI Edge Gallery app that allows running AI models directly on a smartphone without access to the Internet. Currently, the app is available on Google Play for Android and will soon be available for iOS.

Earlier we shared that the Google Gemini app has a new feature that allows you to schedule routine tasks for a specific time. This is another step towards making the assistant more personalized and proactive, as promised during the I/O conference.