Many years in the past, Google promised that you simply’d by no means have to fret about working out of Gmail storage. That was earlier than the corporate stopped increasing Gmail’s free space for storing in 2013 and gave everybody a flat 15GB to make use of throughout all Google companies. Hitting Gmail’s storage restrict has began to really feel inevitable in consequence. You might even run out of area even quicker now that Google has stopped offering unlimited Google Photos. If you’re nonetheless backing up your smartphone pictures with Google, these uploads will eat into your Gmail space for storing as effectively.
Fortunately, there’s a method to release a considerable amount of Gmail storage with out deleting any emails:
- Set up a secondary Gmail account for the only goal of internet hosting outdated emails.
- Duplicate emails from the primary Gmail account to the secondary one.
- Remove the duplicated emails from the primary Gmail account.
Admittedly, this elaborate scheme—which I consult with as “Operation Free Gmail”—will not be for the faint of coronary heart, because it does have one notable draw back: You’ll now not be capable of entry your complete message historical past by means of a single inbox. Instead, you’ll must load the secondary account everytime you wish to search by means of older emails.
Still, I carried out this operation a few years in the past and it’s uncommon that I’ve wanted to load that secondary inbox in any respect. In the meantime, I’ve saved about $50 on cloud storage prices.
If you’d like to hitch me in getting off the Gmail cost treadmill, right here’s what it’s essential to do:
Set up a secondary Gmail account
This half’s straightforward. In Gmail, click on in your profile icon within the top-right nook, choose “Add another account,” then “Create account” on the following web page. You can change between the 2 accounts by clicking your profile icon from inside Gmail or you may simply use an incognito/non-public browser tab to handle your second account in a separate window.
From now on, I’m going to consult with your precise e-mail tackle as your “main account” and your new tackle as your “secondary account.” Keep that in thoughts as you’ll be switching backwards and forwards quite a bit.
Duplicate emails on the secondary account
Lifewire has a great step-by-step guide (with photos) on tips on how to accomplish this, however the brief model is that you simply’ll head into Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP in your primary Gmail account, then allow POP for all mail. Make certain “keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox” is chosen from the drop-down checklist on this part.
By enabling POP on your primary Gmail account, you may enable a separate account to retrieve all of its emails.
Jared Newman / IDG
Then, on the secondary account, you’ll head into Settings > Accounts and Import and add your common e-mail below “Check mail from other accounts.” This will begin the method of pulling in outdated emails out of your primary account.
On your secondary account, the “Check mail from other accounts” setting enables you to seize all mail out of your primary account.
Jared Newman / IDG
Some further issues to remember:
- Duplicating all of your emails can take a number of days, however you don’t must are likely to your pc whereas this occurs.
- Emails switch from oldest to latest, so you may refill your secondary inbox with older emails till it runs out of area.
- Some of your outdated emails may find yourself in Spam on the secondary account. Once the switch is completed, head to your Spam folder, hit the “Select All” checkbox within the top-left nook, then “Select all conversations in Spam.” You can then drag them into your inbox or the folder the place your outdated emails are saved.
- Gmail might refuse to switch some outdated e-mail attachments if it suspects viruses. You’ll obtain an e-mail at any time when this occurs, so you may obtain the attachment out of your authentic account if it’s essential.
Remove outdated emails out of your primary account
Once your secondary Gmail account is filled with emails, you must disconnect the 2 accounts to stop additional transfers.
On your secondary account, head to Settings > Accounts and Import, and delete your primary tackle below “Send mail as” and “Check mail from other accounts.” You’ll see a scary-looking “Confirm delete email account” message, however this may merely take away the hyperlink between the 2 accounts.
Next, return to your primary account and head to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Select “Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.”
Finally, it’s time to delete outdated emails out of your primary account. Set a cutoff date primarily based on the quantity of outdated e-mail you’d nonetheless wish to entry by means of your primary inbox, then use the search time period “before: dd/mm/yyyy” (with out quotes) to find all emails from earlier than that date. (I used “before: 02/01/2017” as my cutoff after I did this two years in the past, figuring I’ll seldom have to see any emails various years outdated.) Hit the “select all” checkbox within the top-left nook, set off “Select all conversations that match this search,” then click on the trash button.
Use the “before” search time period to seek out and delete outdated emails after you’ve transferred them to a separate Gmail account.
Jared Newman / IDG
Those messages will keep in your trash for 30 days, taking on space for storing, however you may wipe them instantly by heading to the trash folder and choosing “empty trash now.” You might have to pick out “empty trash” a number of instances to totally wipe all the pieces. Now, reload Gmail in your primary account and check out the underside of the web page. Make certain it’s effectively below the 15GB restrict, then cancel your Google Drive storage subscription if you happen to had beforehand began paying for one.
One extra somewhat-related tip: If it’s essential to filter out some Google Drive area as effectively, this hyperlink will take you straight to a listing of your information, from largest to smallest.
Why hassle?
You may marvel if that is value all the difficulty. Paying Google a pair bucks monthly to not fear about space for storing is actually simpler. But which may be precisely what Google needs you to suppose because it devises new methods to eat into your free storage allotment. Whether you think about the financial savings vital or not, not less than you’ve received a small victory on precept.
This column initially appeared in Jared’s Advisorator publication. Sign up to get a tech tip in your inbox each Tuesday.
Jared Newman covers private know-how from his distant Cincinnati outpost. He additionally publishes two newsletters, Advisorator for tech recommendation and Cord Cutter Weekly for assist with ditching cable or satellite tv for pc TV.