Why is My Gmail Storage Still Full After Deleting Everything: Exploring the Reasons
Summary:- Many Gmail users face problems “Why is my Gmail storage still full after deleting everything?” In this article, you will learn why this problem occurs and some practical solutions to free up space. However, we will discuss other aspects like checking the Trash and Spam folders, managing Google Drive and Google Photos, keeping track of large attachments, and many more.
Table of Contents,
User Query,
“I’ve deleted all my emails and attachments, but Why is my Gmail storage still full after deleting everything? Working in an organization, I need to resolve this issue so that my email communications remain smooth. Why is this issue occurring, and what could be done from my side to resolve it?”
Gmail is one of the high-demanding e-mail services all over the world. It provides each user with 15 GB of free space, and the storage is shared between Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. However, users constantly need help with Gmail storage getting full after some time even after deleting e-mails & attachments. That could be frustrating, mainly when you need to send or receive an important email from the client. In this blog, we will go into detail about the reasons for this problem and also share some actionable solutions that would help free up your space. Apart from this, we will also share a simple tip that will help you solve this issue easily.
Why Gmail Storage Remains Full After Deleting Messages?
There can be many reasons for this problem. Some of the common reasons that cause Gmail storage to remain full, even after deleting messages, are as follows:
- Trash and Spam Folders: When you delete emails or attachments, they are moved to the Trash folder for 30 days before being forever deleted. Similarly, emails that are present in the Spam folder are also considered in storage. If you haven’t deleted everything from there, it takes the space.
- Google Drive and Google Photos: Gmail storage is shared with different applications such as Google Drive and Google Photos. Large files, backups, and photos stored in them can take up a lot of storage space. Therefore, it’s important to check these services and manage your data to free up the storage.
- Large Attachments: Emails consist of large attachments that can utilize more space and fill the storage faster. Even if you delete emails/messages, attachments can still take up space. You can make use of search queries such as has: attachment larger:10MB and find large emails for deleting them.
- Server Delays: Sometimes Gmail servers cause problems. However, it may take a few time to register that emails have been deleted. This delay can make storage appear full, even after deleting everything. To resolve this issue, you have to wait a few hours or a day.
- Connected Apps: Update the apps and delete the unwanted apps connected to your Gmail account. Moreover, you can review them for removal if that is not necessary and not in use which can help you to free up the space.
After going through the reasons Why Gmail storage is still full after deleting everything, Let’s dive into the different solutions to fix the issue.
How to Free Up Gmail Storage Space?
There are different solutions for resolving the user problem. Let’s discuss each of them one by one to free up Gmail storage space after deleting everything.
- Emptying Gmail Trash and Spam Folders
- Managing Google Drive and Google Photos
- Finding and Deleting Large Attachments
- Reviewing Connected Apps
Approach 1. Emptying Trash and Spam Folders
If you want to empty Gmail’s Trash and Spam folders, first you need to open Gmail and go to the left-hand sidebar. Click on “More” so that additional folders appear, and select “Trash“. In the Trash folder, click on “Empty Trash now” to delete all the emails permanently.
After that, go to the sidebar, click on “More” again, and select “Spam“. In the Spam folder, click on “Delete all spam messages now” to clear the folders. Such steps help to remove spam permanently from both folders and hence maintain the Gmail account easily.
Jumping to the next method to clear Gmail storage when it’s full.
Approach 2. Managing Google Drive and Google Photos
To manage Google Drive and Google Photos storage, first, Open Google Drive and click “Storage” in the left sidebar; this will show your used space and allow sorting of files by size. However, you can free up the space by removing large or unnecessary files. Open Google Photos and go through a review of your photos and videos, deleting those you don’t want so that your storage can be further managed. This will keep your Google Drive and Google Photos clean and not fill up too much storage.
Moving to the next way to solve the issue that is “Why is my Gmail storage full after deleting everything?”
Approach 3. Finding and Deleting Large Attachments
Attachments that come with the email message consume a lot of space. However, to find and delete large attachments in Gmail, you need to open Gmail and use the query has larger:10MB in the search bar. This will show you the emails containing attachments larger than 10MB. After that, review the search results, identify unnecessary emails with large attachments, and delete them to free up the storage space.
Approach 4. Reviewing Connected Apps
To review and remove connected apps follow the following steps given below:
Step1. Open Google Account settings using credential ID.
Step 2. Click on “Security” and then navigate to “Manage third-party access.”
Step 3. Check the list of connected apps and remove those that are not in use.
In addition, When the problem becomes difficult to manage, there is a tip for the user who wants to free up storage space.
Tip to Free Up Gmail Storage
After understanding the methods, you know why Gmail storage is still full after deleting everything. Now learn how you can increase Gmail storage space so that you don’t face this problem in the future.
You can make use of SysTools Gmail Backup Tool on your Windows PC or MAC. With this software, you can easily backup your Gmail mailbox on your hard drive, computer, or any external storage device. First backup your data and then free up Gmail storage space as per your need. This way, you can avoid Gmail storage problems in the future.
Some of the highlighted features of SysTools Gmail Backup solution are:
- Export into different file formats: PST, EML, PDF, HTML, TXT, CSV, MHT, EMLX, MSG, & MBOX
- Folder-Based and Date Filter options are available.
- Option to delete after download.
- You can export new emails after the first backup.
The steps to use this solution are as follows:
Step 1: Run the Gmail Backup software, and log in with your Google credential.
Step 2: The main screen appears, now choose export options from different file formats.
Step 3: After that, click on the checkbox “Advance Settings”
Step 4: Make a Checklist to delete emails from the server after a successful download.
Step 5: You also select Incremental Backup and Exclude All Mail Folder used for eliminating downloading emails from the All Mail folder.
Step 6: To change the destination, click on the “Change” button and follow the prompt.
Step 7: Now, click on the “Start Backup” button to start the backup.
Also Read: How To Mass Delete Gmail Emails?
Bottom Line
In this context, we discussed the user query which is “Why is my Gmail storage still full after deleting everything?” However, it is a challenging and frustrating task to deal with the full Gmail storage. But after knowing the reasons, you can take the right steps, to free up the space. This will help you to manage your Google account effectively. Additionally, to make your talk hassle-free, you may use professional tools. If the problem is still not solved, you can get help from Google Support or the IT Administrator of your organization.
FAQs
Q- What should I do if Gmail’s servers are taking a longer time than expected to register the deleted emails?
A- In case you are experiencing a server delay, just wait for some hours or a day, and then check your storage again. However, you can perform log-out and log-in for the same.
Q- Will the shared files in Google Drive count toward my Gmail account storage?
A- Yes, the shared files in Google Drive count toward my Gmail account storage. Make sure to delete any shared files or folders that are no longer needed, even if those were shared with you.
Q- What if I have multiple accounts with Google, all of them facing problems in storage?
A- If you have multiple Google accounts, make sure to check for storage usage and cleanup in each separately.
Also See: Gmail Delegation: How to Share Gmail Inbox Without Sharing Your Password?
