Using the cloud as a storage method for your files has become a basic part of most people’s lives. But even in the cloud storage is limited, and you may get errors like ‘I don’t have space in my PC Google Drive folder’. In this article we will explain how to fix it.
Can I have a Google Drive folder on my PC?
Yes! And it is extremely simple. Just download Drive for Windows and set it up to sync the folders you want to keep handy on your computer. This will allow you to access the files and folders that you have in your Google account without the need to be connected to the internet.
What do I do if I don’t have space in my Google Drive PC folder?
The first thing you should keep in mind to understand why this error appears is that the Google Drive PC folder is an extension of the online platform. So, if you don’t have space there, this implies that it really is in Google Drive that you don’t have any more space.
On the other hand, you should know that this storage is shared for your Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. Therefore, you may need to review these three platforms to know exactly where you are taking up the most space. Also, if you have shared files or folders, these too can take up a lot of space.
Perhaps one of the first things you should check, before deciding to delete files to free up space, is your backup settings. If you have activated any option to make automatic backups from your PC or your mobile, it is possible that this is the root of the problem.
In the following sections we will explain some of the possible actions you can take to free up space in your Google account, or to get more space if you cannot free it up.
Delete files from your Google Drive PC folder
If you no longer have much space, the most logical thing is that you delete files that are no longer useful to you. You can do this easily by going to the menu on the left, clicking on ‘Storage’, and then sorting the files by the amount of memory they take up. So you can start by deleting the files that take up more space.
Keep in mind that when you delete files or folders, they go to the trash, so you will have to delete them from there as well. You should also check for orphaned files. You can do the latter by placing ‘is:unorganized owner:me’ in the search bar.
Finally, keep in mind that even though you’ve deleted enough files, your storage may still appear full. This is because the Google Drive storage data has not been updated. Clearing your browser cache or trying to open Google Drive from another device may allow you to see the changes.
Manage apps synced to your Google Drive account
It is possible that you have linked an application, such as WhatsApp, with your Google Drive account and that you do not remember it. If this is the case, no matter how many files or folders you delete from your Google Drive, the storage will remain full. To solve it, you just have to follow the following steps:
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Sign in to your Google Drive account.
- Click on ‘Settings’ or on the cogwheel.
- In the bar that appears on the left, click on the ‘Manage applications’ option. All the applications that you have associated with your Drive account will appear.
- In the ‘Options’ on the far right of each app, you can choose to either remove the app’s hidden data or disconnect it from Drive completely so that its data will never be synced again.
Buy more storage
The free version of Google Drive gives you a maximum of 15 GB of storage. If you are unable to follow the steps above, you may want to consider purchasing more space. You can achieve this by paying a monthly or yearly fee on the Google One page for anywhere from 100GB to 2TB of storage.
That was it! We hope that this post has been useful to you, and that you will no longer run out of space in your Google Drive PC folder.
