Gmail warning issued to billions over storage: 'All of your emails may be deleted'

Gmail users are being urged to be careful about how much storage they are using or when their storage plan expires as the consequences could be shocking. Gmail account holders could have all their messages deleted if they remain over their storage quota for 2 years or more.

The warning is written in the Google terms of service and so how to check your storage status is something all Gmail users should be aware of.

Gmail storage warning

Google explains on its website the dangers of going over your storage allowance, as per Google:

If you cancel your storage plan or when your storage plan expires, your storage limits will reset to the standard, no charge levels for each product at the end of your billing cycle.

As of June 1, 2021, if you remain inactive or go over your storage quota for 2 years or longer, all of your emails may be deleted.

There would be several warning signs before this happens however. First of all you wouldn’t be able to send or receive any messages - though if you haven’t logged in for a while you may not notice this.

Currently, Google's no charge storage limit is 15GB, which is shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos.

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How to check your Gmail storage

If you are using Google Chrome simply follow these steps to check your storage, as per Tomsguide:

1. Sign into your Google account, if you haven’t already.
2. Click your account icon in the top right corner, and select “Manage your Google Account.”
3. Scroll down and find “Account storage.” This will tell you how much storage you have used. You can also click “Manage storage” to see how your storage is divided between Gmail, Photos and Google Drive.

On other browsers, you just need to go to the Google account storage page and sign in from there. You will then be able to check your storage usage and how it is spread across the different Google services.

Some tips on cleaning out files to increase your available storage include, as per CNET:

• Sorting files by size and deleting the largest.
• Emptying your Gmail spam folder.
• Cleaning up your Google photos
• Downloading all your files to your hard drive

Users can purchase more storage if necessary but if you're using a work or school account you'll need to contact whoever issued the account.

Sources used:

- The Sun 'Google issues warning to billions of Gmail users – you risk ‘permanent deletion’ if you make simple mistake'

- Google 'Purchase, cancellation & refund policies'

- Tom's Guide 'How to check Google storage usage'

- CNET 'Cleaning Out Your Google Drive or Gmail Could Save You Money'