Jan 13, 2023
How to free up storage space from Drive without deleting files from laptop.
I've got 25% storage left and I want to delete files, but I can't find a clear cut answer as to what happens when I do that. If I delete from Drive, does it delete the files from my laptop as well? If so, how do I prevent that?
I'd really appreciate some guidance. Thanks!
Informational notification.
This question is locked and replying has been disabled.
Community content may not be verified or up-to-date. Learn more.
If you delete files from Google Drive, they will be deleted everywhere these files are located. If the files were converted to a format that can be stored locally on your computer (such as .docx or PDF) and they are stored on your computer, NOT in Google Drive, they won't be affected. However, anything you delete from Google Drive will be removed on all devices.
Personal Google accounts come with 15GB of free storage that is shared among Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. If you run out of storage, you may receive a notice or you just may have trouble working with Gmail, Docs, or Drive.
Please go to this page to see your storage usage and how it is divided among the various Google services (Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos): https://drive.google.com/settings/storage. You may also want to use this storage management tool: Clean up your account storage.
Please also see this Help Center article: Updated storage policy for Google Photos.
To create more storage space, delete unnecessary files in each app and then empty the Trash in each app, as items in the Trash count toward your storage.
Also remove any hidden data from apps in Google Drive:
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- Click Settings
Settings.
- On the left, click Manage apps.
- If there's hidden data, you can find the amount under the app's description.
- To delete this data, click Options
Settings.Be aware that it can take 48 to 72 hours (and sometimes longer) from the time of deletion of the files from the Trash for your storage to update.
For more information, please refer to this Help Center article: Clear Google Drive space & increase storage.
Platinum Product Expert cfinch5 recommended this
All Replies (4)
Jan 13, 2023
If you delete files from Google Drive, they will be deleted everywhere these files are located. If the files were converted to a format that can be stored locally on your computer (such as .docx or PDF) and they are stored on your computer, NOT in Google Drive, they won't be affected. However, anything you delete from Google Drive will be removed on all devices.
Personal Google accounts come with 15GB of free storage that is shared among Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. If you run out of storage, you may receive a notice or you just may have trouble working with Gmail, Docs, or Drive.
Please go to this page to see your storage usage and how it is divided among the various Google services (Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos): https://drive.google.com/settings/storage. You may also want to use this storage management tool: Clean up your account storage.
Please also see this Help Center article: Updated storage policy for Google Photos.
To create more storage space, delete unnecessary files in each app and then empty the Trash in each app, as items in the Trash count toward your storage.
Also remove any hidden data from apps in Google Drive:
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- Click Settings
- On the left, click Manage apps.
- If there's hidden data, you can find the amount under the app's description.
- To delete this data, click Options
Be aware that it can take 48 to 72 hours (and sometimes longer) from the time of deletion of the files from the Trash for your storage to update.
For more information, please refer to this Help Center article: Clear Google Drive space & increase storage.
Platinum Product Expert cfinch5 recommended this
Jan 17, 2023
First of all, thank you for your quick and clear reply.
I have a Google One account with 100 GB, which shows me that it's 76% percent full.
The Storage Manager suggests I delete large files. Problem is, I need the files it suggests to delete. So I'm wondering:
1) Is there a way to "disconnect" these files from Drive so they don't take up storage?
2) If I want to "disconnect" certain folders that take up a lot of storage (e.g, pictures, which I can just store on a USB) - how do I do that?
Thank you!
You're very welcome, and thank you for your reply. If you want to store documents (such as Google Docs files) on local or removable media, you would need to first download the files to a format that can be stored locally. Since Docs files are cloud-based, you would need to download them to .docx, PDF, .txt, or .rtf format, for example. If you don't do that and try to move a Docs file out of Drive, the file will corrupt and be permanently unusable. After converting and moving the files, you can safely delete them from Google Drive.
Images can be moved without conversion to another format.
If you want to move folders, you will first have to download any content (files, spreadsheets, etc.) that are not in a format that can be stored locally.
Check and double-check that the files on your USB drive are in the appropriate format and can be opened successfully before you permanently delete any items from Drive.
If all your files are already on your computer and are in a format that can be stored locally (.docx and PDF), you don't need to download them. When files are in a format that can be stored locally, removing them from one place does not remove them elsewhere, as they are separate files. With documents that are cloud-based, such as Google Docs, that is not the case. But if that isn't what you are referring to, and you just have copies/backups in Drive in .docx and PDF formats, deleting them in Drive shouldn't affect what you have stored on your laptop (and vice versa).
Jan 17, 2023
I created a new file on my computer.
It was automatically backed up by Drive.
I then deleted it from Drive (not from the computer). But it WAS deleted from my computer as well.
If I stop using Drive, I won't have the cloud backup and I'll have to backup on hardware. But then I won't have this storage problem that 'forces' me to delete files.
Or, can't I just remove certain folders or files from Drive backup so that they don't use up storage?
If that makes sense, how do I do it?
Did you create the new file in Google Docs or in Microsoft Word software or another app?
Jan 18, 2023
Thank you so much!