Why Gmail is Running Out of Space and How to Fix It
“You’re running low on storage space. Try freeing up space or purchasing additional storage.” Almost every Gmail user dreads getting this message on top of their Gmail interface. Thus, if your Gmail is also running out of space? Worry not! This article discusses the top ways to fix and resolve the issue.
Gmail is a robust and widely used web-based email service provided by Google. However, some people use their Gmail account for business work. So, they exchange lots of data over Gmail, which consumes a large amount of space. But the Gmail account has a predefined limit, i.e., 15 GB. Thus, whenever the Gmail accommodation space limit is about to be reached, it displays a Gmail storage warning message on the screen saying “Gmail is Running Out of Space”.
Therefore, a user needs to delete some of the data to get more space to avoid the Google out of storage email warning. Otherwise, he or she is not able to store new data. But sometimes users do not want to delete the data stored in Gmail.
Now, the question is how to fix this space issue and how to deal with the Google email out of storage. Keeping this issue in mind, different methods to manage Gmail mailbox data are discussed in this blog.
Why Is My Gmail Out Of Storage?
There are numerous reasons you might be facing storage issues in Gmail. In this segment, we have covered the most common ones.
- Gmail is an email client, i.e., it stores and manages emails. These emails are what become one of the primary reasons why users face storage issues in their Gmail mailboxes. Emails, especially large ones, occupy maximum space in the mailbox, causing it to overfill and run out of space.
- Users get 15 GB of storage space with their standard Gmail account. The storage space is shared amongst two other Google applications. Therefore, the older your account is, the older emails it has, which quickly tends to fill up the storage space.
- As mentioned in the previous point, Gmail has shared storage space. Therefore, if Google Photos and Google Drive hold a plethora of images, videos and attachments (Doc, PDF, and other files), it will directly affect your Gmail storage.
These reasons are commonly behind the “Gmail is running out of space” issue. Thus, let’s move on and see how to resolve the problem. But first, let us the consequences of Gmail mailbox overflowing.
What Happens When Gmail Runs Out of Space?
If Gmail is running out of space, then it is clear that new data will not be stored on it anymore. Before this, if the account storage is full message will be displayed as a warning. Apart from this, there are some other problems also, which are most likely to be faced by Gmail account users. For example, syncing and uploading new files is not possible.
In addition to this, it stops the syncing process between Google Drive folders and My Drive. Thus, to overcome all such problems, it’s better to download Gmail emails to computer. After that, delete it from Gmail account. This way, it is easy to overcome Gmail is out of space issue.
How to Fix Gmail Account Storage Full?
It appears simple, but recovering storage requires removing spam, unwanted emails, junk, and other items. If we examine this, it will be impossible to discriminate between crucial communications and useless information. We have several useful solutions to help you avoid this.
- Clear the trash and spam folders
Emails take up space, whether in the trash or spam folder, which contributes to the Gmail inbox being full. - Transfer emails from Gmail to a new account.
Sending every email from Gmail to a new account is one solution to the problem. This will help you resolve the issue with your Gmail Inbox being full. - Check Storage
The first step is to examine the accessible storage and use. To achieve this, go to Gmail’s Settings, then Storage, and look for the storage utilisation. To view the storage details, simply scroll down to the bottom of the Inbox settings. - Clear the recycling bin
After you’ve deleted emails, empty the trash bin. The trash folder occupies space in the bin after it is emptied, contributing to the Gmail storage full issue. - Delete any extraneous emails and attachments
Every day, you’ll receive a large number of emails, but they take up too much space. Thus, you can free up space in your Gmail account by frequently reading through your inbox and deleting any superfluous emails and files. Either don’t overlook the bin. - Purchase a paid storage package
Choosing a premium plan is one method to address this. Google offers a variety of subscription plans, including basic, standard, and premium options, for both monthly and annual rates.
The biggest difficulty is that you must pay for storage on an ongoing basis. If you don’t want to archive or delete your emails, keeping a backup on your local machine is a good idea. This will save you money while also allowing you to save a copy of your emails locally.
Manual Approach to Manage Gmail Space
In order to make some room in a Gmail account, a user can export Gmail emails containing attachments and then delete them from the mailbox. In this way, a user can easily get a large amount of space without wasting much time and eliminate the Google email out of storage issue. Now, to do this task conveniently, both manual and professional solutions are discussed below:
One thing that a user can try to save time is to download only emails containing attachments, and after that, delete them from the Gmail mailbox. For the same, follow the steps mentioned below:
Group All Emails with Attachments Together
- First of all, login to Gmail account using valid credentials to fix the Google email out of storage issue.
- After that, go to the Search bar and click on the drop-down arrow.
- Then, check the Has Attachment option and click on the Search button.
- All emails containing attachments will be listed. Now, Select All of them.
- Now, click on the Labels icon >> Create new label option.
- After that, give a unique name to this new label and click on the Create button.
A new label is created containing all required emails. Now, it’s time to archive all of them using Google Takeout.
Archive Emails via Google Takeout
- First of all, sign in to Google Takeout via your Gmail account credentials
- After that, click on the Create Archive option
- In the Select data to include dialogue box, enable the Mail option
- Then, click on the drop-down arrow in the Mail option and choose the Select Label option
- After that, all Labels present in your Gmail account will appear. Now, check only the Label (Attachment) that you have created in Step 1.
- Now, click on the Next button to customise the archive format.
- Here, choose ZIP file as the archive file format.
- In the Archive size (max) section, choose a 2 GB size limit.
- Now, choose Send download link via email as the Delivery Method.
- After that, click on the Create Archive button to start the archive process
- As the process is completed successfully, go to Gmail and check the mailbox for the download link
- Open the email from Google Takeout and click on the Download Archive button
- From here, you will be redirected to Google Takeout. Now, you can download the archived label in ZIP format and save it on the local machine.
Delete Emails from Gmail
After downloading all emails with attachments on the local machine, a user can easily delete them from Gmail. Now, to do the same, follow the steps below:
- Sign in to your Gmail account and go to the Search bar
- After that, click on the Has Attachment checkbox and click on the Search button
- Then, all emails containing attachments will be listed in front of you
- Simply select all of them and choose the Delete option.
And, all those emails get deleted successfully. In this way, you can easily fix the Gmail running out of space issue.
Why is My Gmail Storage Full After Deleting Everything?
If you have performed all other methods for email removal and still can’t get the storage full alert to turn off, then it means something other than Gmail is responsible for storage consumption.
Emails are mostly text data, so don’t take up much space (75 KB on average). That’s why, even after deleting a lot of them does not show much impact.
Apart from regular emails and attachments, Gmail also contains a chat application. It has the potential to swell up as multiple users converse and share attachments. All of which count towards the storage of the chat owner.
To see if this is the case, perform a deeper investigation.
As you might know, Google offers pooled storage for all the apps. This means Google Drive, Google Photos, and other apps also use the same 15 GB (for free versions).
Visit https://one.google.com/storage/management/
There you will find a horizontal bar indicating how much storage each app consumes. Moreover, as soon as 85–95% of your available storage is full, you start to receive alerts on Gmail and other apps.
Some users who ask, “Why is my Gmail storage full after deleting everything?” believe it is a tactic by Google to push people into subscribing to premium storage. However, the evidence for it is largely anecdotal.
There is a chance that recently deleted residual data (inside the bin) may also be responsible. As the storage continues to count until permanent removal.
Inside the Google One portal, you get some intelligent recommendations on what to delete. The usual culprits are large files that are unused for a long time and take up a lot of space. Nevertheless, perform the final deletion only after reviewing the contents.
What To Do When Gmail is Out of Storage? Choose this Expert Solution
The manual solution discussed above is very lengthy and time-consuming. Moreover, it is not a direct solution and requires lots of modifications. Thus, to have an easy, quick, and direct solution by SysTools Gmail Email Backup Tool, which is one of the popular solutions to overcome the “Gmail is running out of space” problem. It provides users with an option to save only selective labels from Gmail.
Moreover, it also provides a Delete After Download option, which will help in removing emails from the Gmail server. This way, a user doesn’t need to manually delete the downloaded emails from Gmail.
Steps to Resolve Gmail Account Running Out of Space Problem
- Download and open the utility, then type the login details.
- Then select “Format” and the “Category” that you want to back up and delete to resolve the Google email out of storage.
- After that, select the path to save the exported backup file by using the Browse button.
- To create the space in your Gmail account, use the “Delete after Download“.
- Now hit the Start button to create space and resolve Gmail is running out of space.
Related Post: How to Delete Gmail Account Emails in Bulk?
The Bonus: Tips to Increase Gmail Storage for Free
Previously, we learned the different approaches to take when getting an alert notification that Gmail is running out of space. Additionally, it highlights the need for managing the Gmail inbox and following the effective tips to increase Gmail storage for free.
Here are the top 3 methods to expand Gmail storage instead of investing in the upgraded plans of Gmail mailbox. Now, let’s delve into it.
1. Delete Old Gmail Emails with Attachments
- Removing redundant Gmail emails with attachments offers three major benefits: freeing up space, improving productivity, and reducing the Gmail mailbox size. Interestingly, there is a smart way to find old and unwanted emails.
- For the same, open your Gmail account and then type: older_than:4y in the search bar. It makes it easier for Gmail users to effortlessly find emails and delete them at once.
2. To Get More Space for Gmail – Remove Large Files from Drive
- It is another approach to increase Gmail storage for free. Since the free Gmail account comes with 15 GB fixed shared storage. Moreover, large media files, including documents, high-quality images, and videos, gradually eat up the storage.
- In this case, try to find these large files of data that are no longer needed on your Google Drive. After segregating the files, Gmail users can move this data to Trash and then Empty Trash. To permanently delete the unwanted Drive files and get more space for the Gmail mailbox.
3. Choose SysTools Recommended Solution
- The above expert suggested that automated software is the ultimate game-changing tool when increasing Gmail storage. This tool has an amazing feature of Delete After Download that encourages users to achieve zero Gmail inboxes without any struggle or manual work.
- Additionally, it is a simple and easy-to-operate tool that adds convenience for Gmail users to quickly free up Gmail storage space. Hence, download this software on your Windows and Mac OS as it is compatible with both operating systems.
- Overall, there are the best and most effective ways to increase Gmail Storage, providing ease for Gmail app users to easily manage their inbox. Additionally, these are the healthy habits of making your Gmail inbox clean and tidy, especially reducing the time and effort in searching the Gmail emails.
Conclusion
“Gmail is running out of space” is one of the most common issues faced by Gmail users. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible because a user will not be able to store more data in Gmail. Therefore, in this blog, we discussed what to do when Gmail is out of storage, and that too, without any loss of data. As we discussed, both manual and expert methods, Manual approaches have certain limitations because they can be time-consuming.
To fix this issue, try to use a dependable way to retrieve your data easily and swiftly. This is how you can resolve the issue of Gmail is running out of space. Additionally, follow the above effective tips to increase Gmail storage for free, helping you to manage and free up your large Gmail mailbox.
FAQs
Q1. What are the best ways to solve the Gmail is running out of space problem?
You can directly access your Gmail Account and remove the unwanted emails, or you can use the Offline Backup utility to get the backup and use it in future.
Q2. Does the tool have any limitations on backing up Gmail emails from multiple accounts
No, the tool has no such limitations; you can take backups from multiple Gmail accounts to make space.
Q3. Can I use the Mac system to use this tool to resolve the Gmail account running out of space issue?
Yes, the tool is available for users who are using the Mac system to make free space in their Google account.
Q4. How to expand Gmail storage for free?
To increase Gmail storage for free, delete unwanted emails with large attachments and remove redundant data from your Google Drive. However, opting for SysTools’ recommended software solution adds convenience for users. It facilitates users to achieve an uncluttered and zero Gmail inbox without any manual steps. Hence, it is a tested and secure approach to free up your Gmail storage.
