Freelance writer reclaims 10GB from Google One storage cleanup
Google One storage can quickly fill up with emails, WhatsApp backups, photos, and Drive files, often leading users to upgrade their plans without addressing the root cause. Pankil Shah, a freelance writer, recently cleaned out his Google One storage and managed to free up 10GB of space he had been paying to keep.
Shah discovered that Gmail was a major storage hog, particularly due to email attachments. By searching for emails with attachments larger than 10MB and deleting old, irrelevant emails from tabs like Promotional, Social, and Updates, he freed up around 2GB of storage. This highlights how often-overlooked email attachments can significantly impact cloud storage.
WhatsApp backups also consumed a substantial amount of space, taking up around 5GB in Shah's case. While Google One doesn't allow deleting individual items from WhatsApp backups, he used WhatsApp's storage manager to delete unnecessary media files. This reduced his WhatsApp backup size to 3GB. Additionally, he disabled the option to include videos in chat backups to prevent future storage issues.
Device backups from Android phones and tablets can also accumulate over time. Shah advised checking Google Drive's Storage menu to delete outdated device backups. He also utilized Google One's cleanup suggestions, which highlight large files, photos, and emails, to quickly free up additional storage. Through these efforts, he managed to reclaim 6GB of storage within minutes.