How to clean up Gmail storage: 4 ways to free up space

Just seen the dreaded Gmail storage almost full banner? Knowing how to clean up Gmail storage properly suddenly becomes a top priority when faced with a storage shortage,

It’s amazing how quickly that 15 GB of storage can get consumed by thousands of accumulated newsletters, giant PDFs, and forgotten Slack notifications from 2019.

I think a lot of people forget that your 15 GB is actually shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and your Google Photos. In my experience, cleaning Gmail alone reclaimed a surprising amount. Freeing up just 500 MB-2 GB can buy you some extra free tier time,

I’ll show you everything you need to know on the subject, from how to check your storage categories to how to bulk delete and find specific types of attachments.

Check why your Gmail storage is full

There’s literally no point deleting stuff randomly, knowing where your storage is being consumed means you can not only clean up quicker, but you really remove what is no longer needed, instead of deleting things you might actually need at a later date.

You can simply go to one.google.com/storage and check where and how your storage is currently being divided. You get a nice little overview there that quite clearly shows you what’s eating space.

For me, my GDrive is full of important work-related stuff, not really an area I can reclaim a lot of space from, but Gmail, on the other hand, is usually the biggest opportunity; there are hundreds of emails with attachments sitting there, and freeing up space here means I’ll then get more availability in my GDrive too.

Find large emails in Gmail for the fastest gigabyte win

I’m always amazed by how many people still don’t know about Gmail's search feature; you can use it to find all kinds of stuff, not just senders or specific emails.

1. Log in to your Gmail account and in the search bar type in the following:

• has:attachment larger:10M

This is going to bring up anything with attachments over 10 MB, you can even go bigger, 25M or more. Just select them all, and hit delete.

I also use these search terms quite regularly too:

• filename:mp4

• filename:zip

• filename:pdf (I’ve almost always saved these on my Mac)

One thing you need to do is make sure, when you’re deleting any files you find, that you select all conversations that match this search checkbox at the top; that bypasses the default 50-at-a-time deletion, meaning you can really remove thousands of threads in one go.

How to free up Gmail storage: promotions, social, and updates in bulk

Gmail also has a couple of useful built-in filters or tabs for removing promotional emails, social media-related emails, and even updates.

The tabs sit at the top of your Gmail main dashboard view, and often hold a treasure trove of dead weight; don’t forget to select again all conversations that match.

You can also use the search bar to get specific:

• category:promotions older_than:1y

• category:social older_than:1y

• category:updates older_than:2y

Another good tip here is to unsubscribe as you go — this will help to stop those repeat offenders from filling up your inbox again.

Empty Gmail trash and spam

Deleting tons of emails sure feels good, but if you then don’t empty your Gmail Trash, they still sit there for 30 days taking up space.

Go to your Gmail Trash folder and click Empty Trash now. Gmail may ask you to confirm because this permanently removes the messages from Trash.

Do the same with Spam. Open the Spam folder and click Delete all spam messages now or Empty Spam now, depending on what Gmail shows you.

Don’t skip this step, because deleted emails still count toward your storage while they’re sitting in Trash or Spam. So, if you’ve just removed thousands of old promotions, newsletters, or large attachment emails, don’t stop there. Emptying Trash and Spam is what actually frees the space immediately, rather than waiting for Gmail’s 30-day automatic cleanup.

Prevent Gmail build-up again

A little bit of regular cleaning, like seriously 15 minutes every few months, can help you keep under that 15 GB barrier. This is the routine I follow now:

1. I’ve set quarterly calendar reminders, and then run all the search terms I mentioned above.

2. I always unsubscribe aggressively, like every promo that comes in.

If manual cleanup and the thought of sifting through all those categories just isn’t for you, then I understand, but you do need a backup plan, because it will build up again. The Email Cleanup tool from CleanMyMac is a good alternative; you can find it in My Tools in the sidebar.

Once you’ve connected your Gmail account securely, it can get to work, grouping your inbox by type, sender, even year, and attachment size. Then, you can review and remove stuff like newsletters, promotions, spam, drafts, and heavy attachments in bulk, or unsubscribe from senders without opening every message.

Basically, you choose what to clean, and nothing is removed without your confirmation. I also really like the fact that any removed items go to Gmail Trash, so you do get that extra layer of security, as they’re all recoverable for 30 days. Try CleanMyMac for free — you really do get to test all the features during the 7-day trial.

Well, that’s it; you've got all the info on how to delete emails to free up space in Gmail. My biggest piece of advice is don’t let this become a once-a-year panic job; bring it into some kind of regular routine, and you’ll never see that storage warning again.