Top 5 Ways to Clean Gmail Storage
The average size of an email message that contains nothing but plain text is just 75 KB, but most emails sent these days are much larger because they contain high-resolution images and all kinds of attachments. If you’re like most people, then you probably have a lot of emails from retailers, marketers, coworkers, friends, and family members that are no longer useful and are just taking up valuable space.
To avoid running out of space, it's crucial to manage Gmail storage effectively. Let’s take a closer look at the top 5 ways for an effective Gmail storage cleanup.
💡 Tip: Before cleaning up Gmail, visit drive.google.com/settings/storage to check what’s using up space across Gmail, Drive, and Photos — this helps you decide where to focus first. If you remove clutter from Drive and Photos, you can often free up enough space without upgrading to a paid Google One plan.
⚠️ Important: If your Gmail is full, you may not be able to receive new messages until you free up some space.
1. Use a Gmail Cleanup Tool
While you could go through your Gmail inbox and manually delete messages one by one, it’s far more efficient to use a Gmail cleanup app like Clean Email to reclaim space in one go.
How to clear Gmail storage space using Clean Email
Step 1. Start with a quick clean using the Cleaning Suggestions tool. It offers tailored suggestions for organizing your inbox, based on your most common actions in the app and those of other users. You have the option to follow these suggestions manually or set up automated rules to automatically handle similar emails in the future.
To free up storage with the Cleaning Suggestions feature:
- On the web, go to https://app.clean.email and sign in with your email account. Or download the app for iOS or Android to use it on the go.
- Select Suggestions from the left pane.
- Move all email bundles containing unwanted or useless messages to the Trash.
Step 2. Once you’ve done a quick Gmail cleanup, move on to old emails you no longer need — especially if your Gmail storage is often full.
Clean Email simplifies deleting old email messages:
- Go to https://app.clean.email or download the app for iOS or Android to use the app on the go.
- Select All Mail from the left pane and click the Old Mail filter above the search box.
- The 'Older than 6 months' filter is selected by default. Click the down arrow to choose a different time period.
- Select the senders you want to clean up, then click the Trash button in the blue action bar at the bottom. All selected messages will be moved to the Trash folder.
Step 3. Additionally, you can set up Auto Clean in Clean Email to automatically delete similar emails in the future. You can review all active rules anytime while the app keeps your inbox tidy.
2. Clean Up Google Drive and Google Photos
As we’ve already explained, your storage is shared across several services. As such, you don’t necessarily have to clean Gmail space by deleting old emails. You can also delete files from Google Drive and Google Photos.
Go to the Google Account storage page for a detailed breakdown of how much space each of the three services occupies.
To delete photos and videos in Google Photos:
- Go to photos.google.com or open the Google Photos app on your Android or iOS device.
- Select any photo or video and click Delete (trash can icon) → Move to trash.
- Open the Trash folder.
- Click Empty trash to permanently delete your photos and videos.
To delete a file in Google Drive:
- Go to drive.google.com or open the Google Drive app on your Android or iOS device.
- Select any file and click the trash can icon in the above panel.
- Open the Trash folder and click Empty trash to permanently delete your files.
When you’re done cleaning up, go to the Google Account storage page again to see how much space you’ve managed to free up. If not enough, then continue reading this article for more tips on how to clear up Gmail storage.
3. Use the Google One Storage Manager
Google is aware that many of its users are struggling with space management and not enjoying cleaning up Gmail space manually, which is why the tech giant created the Google One Storage Manager, a handy tool that lets you conveniently manage your account space across all its services.
Using the Google One Storage Manager, you can quickly review and clear deleted emails and files, spam emails, emails with large attachments, large photos and videos, videos that Google Photos can’t process or play, and more.
Use the Google One Storage Manager on desktop:
- Visit Google One on your computer.
- Click Storage on the left pane.
- Under Get your space back, click Free up account storage.
- Select the files you want to remove.
- Click the Delete button in the top-right corner — or choose Delete all to remove everything at once.
- Confirm that deleted files can’t be recovered.
- Click Permanently delete.
Use the Google One Storage Manager on your mobile device:
- Open the Google One app.
- Tap Storage → Clean up account storage.
- Select the category you want to manage
- Select the files you want to remove.
- Tap the Trash can icon in the top-right corner.
- Acknowledge that deleted files cannot be recovered and then click Permanently delete.
4. Delete Emails with Large Attachments
Large attachments can take up the most space in your Gmail account. Use Gmail’s built-in search filters to quickly find and remove them:
- In the Gmail search bar, type: has:attachment larger:3M.
- To narrow results by age, add older_than:1y.
- Select all matching emails and click the Trash icon.
- Open the Trash folder and empty it to permanently free up space.
5. Use Gmail Search Filters to Find Unnecessary Emails
Gmail supports powerful search operators that help you uncover emails you no longer need — like old notifications, newsletters, or promotional messages. Combine filters to find large batches of emails worth deleting:
📌 Try these useful search combinations:
- older_than:2y is:read – read emails older than 2 years.
- from:(noreply@*) – auto-generated messages.
- label:promotions before:2022/01/01 – old promotional emails.
- subject:(event OR invitation) – past invites and reminders.
- category:updates is:read – read updates from services.
🔍 After running a search:
- Click the checkbox to select emails on the page.
- If Gmail shows the option, click “Select all conversations that match this search.”
- Hit the Trash icon to delete them.
- Don’t forget to empty your Trash to reclaim the space.
Quick Fixes to Free Up Gmail Storage Fast
If you're out of Gmail storage and need to fix it right away, here are a few quick wins that don’t require much setup:
- Empty your Trash and Spam folders
- Search has:attachment larger:10M
- Use Clean Email for an instant bulk cleanup
- Clear Google Photos and Drive trash
- Delete emails in categories like Social and Promotions
Deleted emails still take up space until you clear them manually.
Find the biggest emails fast, delete them, then empty Trash.
If Gmail lags or you need to clean up thousands of emails, Clean Email lets you do it without scrolling or selecting page by page — unlike the Gmail mobile app, where you can only remove visible messages and have to scroll to load more. Try Clean Email for free!
Old backups, large videos, or outdated files might take up more space than Gmail itself.
Click on Gmail’s category tabs (e.g., Promotions or Social), select all, and delete. These folders often hold thousands of marketing emails that take up space for no reason.
These actions can buy you time when Gmail stops receiving messages — and they’re a great first step before doing a full cleanup.
Do Received or Sent Emails Take Up Space in Gmail?
Yes, both received and sent emails take up space in your Gmail account. Every email, whether in your inbox, sent folder, or archived, counts towards your 15 GB of free storage shared across all Google services.
How much space do emails consume?
- Plain text emails: These are very small, usually less than 100 KB per message.
- Emails with attachments: Emails containing files, images, or other media can range from a few MB to over 25 MB per email, depending on the size of the attachments.
- Newsletters and promotional emails: These tend to include images and heavy formatting, often taking up 500 KB to 2 MB each.
Over time, these emails accumulate, especially if you don’t delete outdated or unnecessary messages. Regularly cleaning up your inbox is essential to avoid running out of space.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve explained five methods to clean up Gmail storage, enabling you to reclaim valuable space. This ensures you can continue receiving emails without purchasing a Google One plan to unlock extra space. We recommend you clear Gmail storage regularly so that you always have at least 1 GB left and don’t have to hastily delete old emails, Google Drive files, or photos and videos stored in Google Photos.
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Have specific questions?
Why is my Gmail out of storage?
You may find Gmail storage full because you have accumulated too many emails in your inbox or large files in Google Drive. Additionally, an extensive collection of photos and videos in Google Photos can also contribute to maxing out your Gmail storage space.
How to check Gmail storage?
To see how much space you have left, go to Google Drive, click on the gear icon in the top right corner, and select 'Storage'.
How to free up space in Gmail?
To free up Gmail space, you should first get rid of unwanted and unnecessary email messages using a bulk email organizer like Clean Email. Then, go through Google Drive and Google Photos and delete all files, photos, and videos that you don’t need.
What do I do when my Gmail storage is full?
The first thing you should do when you run out of storage is to learn how to clean up Gmail space by familiarizing yourself with the techniques described in this article. To avoid spending hours on manual cleanup, opt for a bulk email organizer rather than tidying up Gmail storage space by hand.
Do emails take up storage?
Yes, and deleting emails will free up your Gmail storage, especially if they contain large attachments or are accumulated in large numbers.
How much storage do I have in Gmail?
All users get to enjoy 15 GB of free space. Users can purchase additional storage by subscribing to one of several available Google One plans.
Does deleting emails free up space on Gmail?
Yes, deleting emails, especially those with large attachments, can free up significant storage. Be sure to empty your trash folder after deleting emails to permanently reclaim the space.
How to reduce Gmail space?
You can reduce Gmail space by deleting old or unnecessary emails, cleaning out spam and trash folders, and using tools like Clean Email to automate cleanup tasks.
What takes up Gmail storage?
Gmail storage is used by emails (including sent, received, and archived), attachments, and cached data. Additionally, Gmail shares storage with Google Drive and Google Photos.
What are Google storage cleanup apps?
These are tools like Clean Email and Google’s own Storage Manager that help you organize and delete unnecessary emails, files, and media across Google services.
How to clear Google memory?
Clear Google memory by deleting large and unnecessary files in Google Drive, emails in Gmail, and photos/videos in Google Photos. Use Google’s Storage Manager for a guided cleanup.
How do I retrieve Gmail emails not received due to storage full?
Once you free up space in your Gmail account, any emails blocked due to lack of space will automatically be delivered if they were recently sent. Otherwise, you may need to request the sender to resend them.
How to get Gmail storage for free?
Stick to the 15 GB free storage limit by regularly cleaning up Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Use tools like Clean Email to automate email management and avoid hitting the limit.
How to clear Gmail storage without deleting anything?
Move large attachments to a local drive or cloud service outside Google (like Dropbox), then delete the original emails. This way, you free up Gmail space without losing your data.
Why is my Gmail storage full after deleting everything?
Deleted items may still be in your Trash folder. Clear the Trash folder to permanently delete emails and free up space.
Does archiving emails in Gmail save space?
No, archiving emails doesn’t free up space as archived emails remain stored in your account. To reduce storage, you need to delete emails instead.
How to decrease storage in Gmail?
Delete emails with large attachments, clear out old emails, and empty your spam and trash folders. Use filters like size:10MB to locate storage-heavy emails.
