How to Clear Gmail Storage Without Deleting Anything?
How to Clear Gmail Storage Without Deleting Anything
If you’re running out of space in Gmail but don’t want to delete emails or files, you can use these methods to free up storage while keeping everything intact.
1. Download and Archive Emails
Instead of deleting emails, you can back them up to your computer and remove them from Gmail.
✅ How to Download Emails Using Google Takeout:
- Go to Google Takeout
- Select Gmail and click Next
- Choose .MBOX format (compatible with email clients like Thunderbird)
- Click Create Export and download your emails
- Once saved, move them to an external hard drive or cloud storage
- Remove old emails from Gmail to free up space
📌 Tip: Use an email client like Thunderbird or Outlook to access downloaded emails offline.
2. Transfer Emails to Another Gmail Account
Instead of deleting emails, move them to another free Gmail account.
✅ Steps to Transfer Emails:
- Create a new Gmail account
- In your main Gmail, go to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP
- Enable POP Download
- In the new Gmail account, go to Settings > Accounts and Import
- Click Import mail and contacts
- Enter your old Gmail address and follow the steps to transfer emails
📌 Tip: Use Google Takeout to download emails before removing them from the main account.
3. Move Large Files from Google Drive
Gmail storage is shared with Google Drive. You can move large files from Drive to another cloud storage service.
✅ Alternative Free Cloud Storage Options:
- MEGA – 20GB free
- pCloud – 10GB free
- Sync.com – 5GB free
- Dropbox – 2GB free
📌 Tip: Move files from Google Drive to one of these services to free up Gmail storage.
4. Compress Large Attachments
If your Gmail has emails with large attachments, you can download and compress them.
✅ Steps to Compress Attachments:
- Search for large emails using larger:10M in Gmail
- Download attachments and save them on your device
- Compress files using WinRAR or 7-Zip
- Upload the compressed files to Google Drive, MEGA, or Dropbox
- Remove attachments from Gmail while keeping the emails
📌 Tip: Use “has:attachment” in the Gmail search bar to quickly find emails with attachments.
5. Convert Google Photos to Storage Saver Mode
If your Google Photos is using up Gmail storage, compress them.
✅ Steps to Free Up Space in Google Photos:
- Open Google Photos
- Go to Settings > Storage Saver
- Click Recover Storage to compress large photos and videos
📌 Tip: Use Google Takeout to download original photos before compressing them.
6. Use Google One Free Storage Cleanup Tool
Google provides a free tool to clean up storage without deleting important emails.
✅ Steps to Use the Google One Cleanup Tool:
- Open Google One Storage Manager
- Click Review and Clean Up under Gmail, Drive, and Photos
- Remove unnecessary duplicate files, spam emails, and hidden storage files
📌 Tip: Google One occasionally offers free storage promotions—check for any available offers!
7. Use Multiple Gmail Accounts for More Storage
Each Gmail account gets 15GB of free storage. You can create multiple accounts to increase storage.
✅ How to Manage Multiple Accounts:
- Store old emails in a secondary Gmail account
- Use Google Drive sharing to distribute files across accounts
- Forward incoming emails to a different account
📌 Tip: Use a password manager to keep track of multiple accounts.
Final Thoughts
To clear Gmail storage without deleting anything, try these methods:
✔️ Download & archive emails using Google Takeout
✔️ Transfer emails to another Gmail account
✔️ Move large files from Google Drive to other cloud services
✔️ Compress large email attachments
✔️ Convert Google Photos to Storage Saver mode
✔️ Use Google One’s free cleanup tool
✔️ Create multiple Gmail accounts for more free storage
Would you like help finding your largest Gmail files? 😊