Manage Your Storage in Drive, Gmail & Photos

Learn what items in Gmail use storage space

Messages and attachments, like items in your Spam and Trash folders, take up space.

Learn what happens when you run out of space in Gmail

When your account reaches its storage limit:

• You can’t send or receive messages.
• Messages sent to you return to the sender.

Learn what items in Google Photos use storage space

• Photos and videos backed up in Original quality take up space.
• After June 1, 2021, photos and videos backed up in High quality (now named “Storage saver” or ”Express quality”) take up space. Learn more about Photos backup options.

Learn what items in Google Photos don’t use storage space

Photos and videos backed up in Storage saver quality or Express quality before June 1, 2021 don't use space.

Learn what happens when you run out of space in Google Photos

• When your account reaches its storage limit, you can’t back up any photos or videos.
• Photos and videos backed up before June 1, 2021 don't use space in Storage saver quality or Express quality.

Learn what items in Google Drive use storage space

• Most files in your My Drive take up space as they contain files and folders you upload or sync, such as .pdf files, images, or videos.
• Your space in My Drive also contains files you create, such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms.
• Items in your Trash also take up space. Learn how to empty your trash.
• If you use Drive for work or school, content in shared drives' trash also counts toward your organization's storage.

Important: New files you create in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard use up your Google storage space. Files that already exist don't count toward storage unless they're modified on or after June 1, 2021.

Learn what items in Google Drive don’t use storage space

• Files in "Shared with me" and shared drives don't use space. These files only take up space in the owner's Google Drive.
• Google Sites.
• Files you create before June 1, 2021 don’t count against your storage unless you edit them after that date.

Learn what happens when you run out of space in Google Drive

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.
• Until you reduce the amount of storage you use, neither you nor anyone else can edit or copy your affected files.
• Syncs stop between your computer's Google Drive folder and My Drive.

Items in Google Drive for desktop take up a different amount of space than the same items in drive.google.com.

• Items in your Trash take up space in Google Drive, but aren't synced to your computer. Learn how to empty your trash.
• Shared items take up space on your computer, but not Google Drive.
• Items that are in multiple folders sync to all folders on your computer and take up more space.
• If you only sync some folders to your computer, the storage on your computer is less than what is shown on drive.google.com.
• Your computer might show a different file size due to Mac or PC requirements than in drive.google.com.

You’re not signed into a Google Account. To find out how much storage you have and how to manage it, log into your Google Account and reload this article.

Sign into your Google Account

Google Workspace storage is shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. Learn how storage use is calculated.

The amount of storage for each user depends on your Google Workspace edition. Most Google Workspace editions have pooled storage. Pooled storage is indicated in the following tables as total storage or a storage amount times the number of End User licenses.

Google Workspace for Education

For more information about storage for Google Workspace for Education storage, go to Understand storage availability and usage.

Google Workspace Essentials

Google Workspace Essentials editions do not include Gmail.

Google Workspace Frontline

*This storage limit applies to all End Users using a Google Workspace Frontline edition, even if the Customer purchased another Google Workspace offering with different storage limits.

Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Google One storage is shared among Drive, Gmail, Photos and family accounts, where applicable. The amount of storage for each user depends on your Google Workspace edition.