Information Technology Services

Google Storage Updates

Cloud Storage Limits

Carol Fierke and Stew Uretsky sent communications to the Brandeis community on June 27, 2025 announcing new limits on Google Storage. An update has been posted, changing the implementation date from September 30th, 2025, to January 12, 2026.

As of January 12, 2026, the following storage limits will be implemented:

Your role is automatically determined by your Employee Type in Workday. This information is listed under your profile. 

Google storage limits includes Gmail, Photos, and Google Drive. Please review your current Google storage usage by following these instructions.

Important Notes

• These Google storage limits apply only to individual Brandeis accounts and do not affect Shared Drives used for collaborative file sharing (more information on Shared Drives).
• Research teams should plan for moving their data to Shared Drives for continued collaborative file sharing.
• Your files will not be deleted if you are over your storage limit.
• If your storage usage exceeds your storage limit, you will temporarily be unable to create new files in Google Drive until you reduce your consumption below the limit.

Reducing Storage

Reducing storage in Gmail, Google Drive, and Photos can feel overwhelming. Here are some best practices:

Gmail

The best way to reduce email storage is to individually review and delete unnecessary emails. Increase your efficiency by taking the following steps:

• Search for large attachments. Removing large attachments from your email can reduce the amount of storage in your Gmail account. (Find Emails with Large Attachments PDF)
• Search email for outdated information. You can search your Gmail account by keywords, date, sender, size and other search terms. For instance, if you have completed a project and wish to delete the emails related to the project, you can search by the project name. (Searching Emails PDF)
• Delete by label. Use Gmail's filter feature to create a filter or label and then delete the items within the label with minimal clicks or searching. (Creating Email Filters PDF, Deleting Emails Using Labels PDF)
• Review your sent folder. Gmail sent folders will sometimes retain copies of emails of emails you have already deleted. You cannot mass delete emails from your sent folder. You can only delete emails on a page by page basis. For example, if your email shows 50 emails a page, you will only be able to check a box to delete 50 emails at a time. We strongly recommend you review your sent folder, as many emails are being stored there.
• Unsubscribe to mailing lists and newsletters. If you are no longer participating in mailing lists or reading newsletters, unsubscribing will decrease the amount of emails you receive and therefore need to delete.
• Regularly empty your trash and spam folders. Set aside time once a week to review your spam emails and delete them. Empty your trash once a week to reduce the amount of storage in your account.

Reviewing your email takes time. We recommend you take an hour a day to review older email throughout this process.

Google Drive

Your Google Drive storage is used or files you’ve uploaded, like PDFs, images, and videos, as well as documents you’ve created with Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other Google apps. To free up space, you should identify and delete the larges files you no longer need.

• Sort by size. You can sort your Google Drive files by size. Access your Google drive storage page (drive.storage.com/storage/quota) to see all your files sorted from largest to smallest; this is the most efficient way to find what's using the most space.
• Move files to Shared Drives. Google Shared Drives are not "owned" by an individual user and the files in Shared Drives do not count towards individual storage limits. You can read more about Shared Drives.
•  Empty the trash folder. Deleted files remain in your trash bin until you have permanently removed them by emptying the trash.

Once you've deleted and moved files, it will take 24 hours for your storage amounts to update in Google.

More Information

We understand you may have questions about these changes. For questions or concerns related to the updated storage policy, please email storagepolicy@brandeis.edu.

If you are looking for technical help regarding your Google storage (such as how to delete emails, create shared drives, or find your storage levels), please contact the Technology Help Desk (help@brandeis.edu or 781-736-HELP). The Technology Help Desk is not currently able to grant individual exceptions to the policy.

Drop in Sessions

ITS will host a series of one hour drop-in sessions in to assist members of the Brandeis community with any questions about reducing email storage, setting up Shared Drives, transferring file ownership, and reviewing your current storage levels. 

FAQ About Google Storage Limits