How to Free Up Space in Gmail? A Comprehensive Guide

Nowadays, email is becoming a crucial part of our daily communication. Gmail, an effective email client with generous storage capacity, has become a popular choice for managing emails. Sometimes, Gmail’s storage becomes full, and that leads to some critical errors in Gmail, As a result, you need a great solution to free up space in Gmail. In this blog, we’ll see various methods to free up space and keep your inbox tidy. Moreover, you can simply opt for the Gmail Backup Tool to do the same.

Google generously offers users 15 gigabytes (GB) of free digital storage. This storage is used for all sorts of things, like your Gmail emails, stuff you save in Google Drive, and photos that you don’t let Google’s mailbox data compress. Sounds like a lot, right? It is, but here’s the thing: when you dive into Google’s world and start using its services a lot, space can get filled up quickly.

Why Is It Important to Free Up Gmail Space?

Freeing up space in your Gmail account is essential for several reasons:

1. Storage Limitations: If you exceed your storage limit, you won’t be able to receive new emails, and you may miss important messages.
2. Sluggish Performance: When your Gmail account is nearing its storage limit, it can slow down the performance of your email client or web browser. 
3. Difficulty Finding Emails: An overflowing inbox makes it challenging to find specific emails at the time of requirement.
4. Attachment Management: Large attachments, such as photos and documents, can occupy substantial space. 
5. Security Concerns: Keeping too many emails, especially with sensitive or personal information, in a Gmail account can pose security risks. 
6. Efficient Email Management: A clutter-free inbox can help you stay organized and manage your emails more efficiently. 

In summary, while Gmail provides ample storage, it’s still essential to manage your email content and space periodically to maintain smooth email performance, ensure security, and stay organized. Now, we will go through the best way to free up space in Gmail. 

How to Free Up Space in Gmail?

Is your Gmail account running low on space? Don’t worry! We’ve got some straightforward tips to help you free up storage space and keep your inbox organized.

#1. Clearing Out Unwanted Emails

The first step is removing extra emails that are clogging up your Gmail. Here’s how you can do it:

a. Delete Spam: Click on “Spam” or type “in:spam” in the search bar, and then delete all the messages there. It mayn’t free up much space, but it’s worth doing.

b. Empty the Trash: Ensure your “Trash” folder is empty to verify you’re not hanging onto deleted emails unnecessarily.

c. Find Emails with Attachments: Search for messages with attachments by typing “has:attachment” in the search bar. 

d. Identify Large Attachments: If you’re running out of space, find emails with big attachments with the help of the “larger:1M” in the search bar. You can adjust the number (like “100K”) to fit your needs.

e. Delete Old Emails: If you have emails older than a year and not needed, you can find them with “older_than:1y” and consider deleting them.

#2. Manage Attachments

Even after cleaning out your emails, you might still be running the space. Here’s an additional trick:

Search for Specific File Types

You can look for specific file types with the assistance of the search bar. For instance, you can type “filename:mp3” or “filename:images” to find email attachments you don’t want. After that, you can easily delete them which are irrelevant. 

#3. Consider POP3:

If space is a persistent issue, you can opt for the POP3 with another email client. But keep in mind that this might lead to losing some email folders or labels.

Follow the below steps to know how to consider POP3: 

• First, launch the Gmail application and go to the Settings option.
• Then, select the Forwarding and POP/ IMAP option. 
• In the “POP Download” section, opt for this – Enable POP for all mail or Enable for mail that arrives now.
• From the bottom of the Google page, hit Save Changes.

Afterwards, users can effortlessly transfer emails from Gmail to Outlook to free up their Gmail storage space. 

• Then, go to the File tab and click the Add Account option.
• After that, mention your Gmail email address and click the Connect option. 
• Outlook will try to sync the settings. If it displays the popup for more details, opt for the IMAP option as the account type.
• Follow the window and mention your Gmail password.

#4. Using Google Takeout to Fix Gmail Showing Storage Full Error

If all else fails, you can use Google Takeout to download your Gmail emails and clear up space. Here’s how:

• Go to https://takeout.google.com/ and log in.
• Choose the Gmail emails you want to download and select your preferred download size (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 10GB, 50GB).
• Click “Create Archive,” and your emails will initiate downloading in a .zip format.
• Once the download is complete, you’ll receive a message to “Download Archive.”

#5. Effortless Solution to Free Up Space in Gmail

Are you tired of seeing that Gmail space is full of messages because you don’t know how to free up space in Gmail? No worries! We’ve got a simple solution for you. The Gmail Backup Tool can help you free up space in your Gmail account, and it’s super easy to use. It allows users to remove duplicate emails from the server. Moreover, users can effortlessly take backup without losing a single piece of data. 

Steps to Remove The Gmail Space Full

• Download the Gmail Backup Tool and run it as an administrator. 
• Open the tool and click on the Google Workspace option at the top. Now, enter your Gmail email ID and click Sign In. 
• You can select the emails and files you want to back up here. Then, click Next.
• Now, from the drop-down menu, choose the MBOX option. Make sure to check the box that says Free Up Server Space.
• Select the place on your computer where you want to save the PDF file, and then click Convert.

NOTE: You can also opt for the PDF format ( instead of MBOX) if you want to save and access them locally easily. Moreover, we’ve chosen MBOX Format because this file can be simply restored email to another Gmail and any other email client you want. 

End Words

By implementing these tips and tricks, you can keep your Gmail inbox organized and prevent it from becoming a digital black hole. Freeing up space in Gmail not only enhances your email experience but also ensures that you get all the important messages due to a full inbox. Moreover, we hope you’ve got your answer on how to free up space in Gmail. Start decluttering today, and enjoy a cleaner, more efficient Gmail account!

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