It’s frustrating to clean out your Gmail and still get the “storage full” message. Why Gmail showing storage full even after deleting everything? The reason could be unemptied Trash, Google Drive usage, or auto-saved files. Here's what might be going on and how to solve it:
- Shared Storage with Drive and Photos
Gmail shares your storage with Google Drive and Google Photos. Large files or backups there might be using up space.
What to do:
Visit Google One Storage to see what’s using your space.
Delete large files from Google Drive or reduce photo backups.
- Emails in Trash or Spam
Deleted emails go to the Trash and stay for 30 days. Spam messages also take up space.
What to do:
Open Gmail.
Go to Trash > click “Empty Trash now.”
Go to Spam > click “Delete all spam messages now.”
- Large Attachments Still Stored
Some big attachments (especially in Sent or other folders) might still be using space.
What to do:
Search for large emails (use search: larger:10M in Gmail).
Delete them and clear the Trash.
- Google Photos Backup Settings
If photos are saved in Original quality, they take more space.
What to do:
Open Google Photos.
Delete unnecessary backups.
Switch to Storage saver in settings.
- Large Files in Google Drive
Big files or files shared with you may still count towards your storage.
What to do:
Open Google Drive and delete unnecessary files.
Check the “Shared with Me” section and remove access to large files.
Still full after all this?
Use Advik Gmail Backup Tool to download your entire Gmail mailbox to your computer. After that, you can delete the emails from your account and free up space safely.
