Google Drive Folder Size Optimization Guide

Google Drive's folder size can quickly balloon out of control if not managed properly. This is because each file and subfolder is counted towards the total size, making it easy to accumulate unnecessary storage.

To avoid this, it's essential to regularly review and optimize your Google Drive folder size.

Google Drive's storage space is limited, and exceeding the quota can result in reduced functionality and even file loss. According to Google's guidelines, exceeding the 15 GB quota will lead to reduced functionality, and exceeding 25 GB will lead to file loss.

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You can check the size of a Google Drive folder using your file explorer app.

To do this, you'll need to have already loaded the folder contents for offline use. Once you've done that, you can open the Google Drive app, log in with your Google account, and stream your files. This will give your system a copy of your Google Drive metadata, which won't take up any space on your local disk.

You can then check the size of any Google Drive folder just like you would check your local folders. On Windows, you can right-click and select Properties, while on Mac, you can right-click and select Get Info.

Alternatively, you can use Drive Explorer to view the folder size. This highly rated tool makes it easy to retrieve detailed file information without requiring any system installation. With Drive Explorer, you can add it to your Google account and start using it right away.

If you only need the size of a single folder, Drive Explorer works well. You can also use the Google Drive Dashboard to check folder sizes. To do this, select one or more folders, right-click, and select Open with → Drive Explorer.

From there, you can scroll down and select Fetch files, which will give you access to folder sizes in one of the columns alongside other file details.

Additional reading: Google One vs Google Drive

To free up space on Google Drive, you need to locate and remove unnecessary files. Open your browser and go to Google Drive to see files sorted by size.

Locate the file you don't need anymore and right click on it. Choose Remove from the pop-up menu to move the file to the Trash folder.

You can select the file you really don't need and choose Delete forever to clear it completely. This will permanently remove the file from your Google Drive.

Here are the steps to remove unnecessary files:

When managing storage, it's essential to understand how different items take up space in Google Drive. Items in your Trash take up space in Google Drive, but aren't synced to your computer.

If you share items with others, they'll take up space on your computer, but not in Google Drive. This can be a bit confusing, especially if you're not used to it.

Consider reading: Google Drive Folder Showing Shared but Not

If you have items stored in multiple folders, they'll be synced to all folders on your computer, taking up more space. This can quickly add up and eat into your available storage.

Here's a breakdown of how different items take up space in Google Drive:

It's also worth noting that your computer may show a slightly different file size than drive.google.com due to Mac or PC requirements.

To free up space on Google Drive, start by opening your browser and navigating to Google Drive.

Click on the "Storage" tab to see your files sorted by size, making it easier to identify which files are taking up the most space.

Locate the file you no longer need and right-click on it.

Choose "Remove" from the pop-up menu to move the file to the Trash folder.

This action won't delete the file permanently, but rather temporarily relocate it to the Trash folder.

Related reading: How to Clear Trash in Google Drive

You can sort Google Drive by file size to find the biggest files and clear space to store more data. Google Drive sort by size is crucial for this purpose.

To view file sizes in Google Drive, you can click on the "Size" column in the list view. This will display the size of each file in bytes.

Sorting Google Drive by size is as easy as clicking on the "Size" column and selecting "Largest first" or "Smallest first" from the drop-down menu.

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You can view your Google Drive folder size using Drive Explorer, which is trusted by over 800,000 users worldwide.

It's free to use and doesn't require any installation, just add it to your Google account and you're good to go. With Drive Explorer, you can see not only the folder size but also other details like who has access to the file, download links, and more.

A different take: Max File Size on Google Drive

Drive Explorer is a great tool if you only need to check the size of a single folder.

If you prefer to use your file explorer, you can also check the size of your Google Drive folders by using Drive for desktop. This method works best if you've already loaded the folder contents for offline use.

Once you've set up Drive for desktop, you can see Google Drive mounted as a filesystem on your file explorer app, just like a local folder.

Recommended read: How to Access My Google Drive

Sorting by File Size is crucial when you need to find the biggest files in Google Drive for certain purposes like clearing space in order to store more data.

You can sort Google Drive by size to identify the largest files that are taking up space. This is particularly useful for clearing space in Google Drive to store more data.

To sort Google Drive by size, you can use the sort feature.