Google moved our Drew “Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals” accounts to a pooled storage policy effective July 22, 2022; as of that date, we no longer had unlimited storage. 

It is everyone's role to clean up data they no longer need stored, so we wanted to offer some quick tips for determining what digital clutter you may have (some of which you will want to save, and some of which can most likely be deleted).

     Instructions for Alumni Accounts

  • Start out by logging into only the account you want to take a look at (if logged in to multiple accounts, you may see data for the wrong one!).
  • Review your Drive storage at https://drive.google.com/drive/quota.
    • PLEASE NOTE: Google Drive will become inaccessible to Drew Alumni accounts on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. 
  • Review your Photos storage at https://photos.google.com/quotamanagement.
    • PLEASE NOTE: Google Photos will become inaccessible to all Drew accounts on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. 
  • Reviewing your Gmail storage can take a bit more effort. Please focus on your Photos (if you have any) and Drive storage first.
    • This article has a nice list of steps you can take, even though it was published in 2021.
    • Search for something like "size:30mb has:attachment" (any email threads over 30mb in size with an attachment) and see if you can delete some of those.
  • We have instructions written specifically for our alumni available at Google Storage Cleanup Information for Alumni.

   Instructions for All Drew Accounts

  • Start out by logging into only the account you want to take a look at (if logged in to multiple accounts, you may see data for the wrong one!).
  • Review your Drive storage at https://drive.google.com/drive/quota. 
  • Review your Photos storage at https://photos.google.com/quotamanagement.
    • PLEASE NOTE: Google Photos will become inaccessible to Drew accounts on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. 
  • Reviewing your Gmail storage can take a bit more effort. 
    • This article has a nice list of steps you can take, even though it was published in 2021.
    • Search for something like "size:30mb has:attachment" (any email threads over 30mb in size with an attachment) and see if you can delete some of those.
  • We wrote step-by-step instructions specifically for our alumni, but the steps can be applied to all Drew accounts (keeping in mind the Records Retention Policy; see below). 

Where can I save my files?

Please review Drew's Records Retention Policy to see if anything 

For personal files:

  • Use Google Takeout. You can see a step-by-step on Google Takeout at the bottom of the Google Storage Cleanup Information for Alumni page.
    • Go to takeout.google.com.
    • Select the appropriate product (such as Google Photos) from the list of products.
    • Choose your desired file type, file size, and destination (e.g., download link via email). DO NOT select “Add to Drive” as a destination.
    • Then delete unneeded files, messages, and attachments and empty your trash to free up storage space.
  • Consider Google’s One storage plans, on a personal account for personal data.
  • Check to see if you have OneDrive or iCloud storage available.

For University files:

  • Please reach out to University Technology after you've identified what is essential to store based on the University's retention policy.


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