Everyday Computer Skills · Cloud Storage · Lesson 3 of 5

When the Cloud Is Full

How much free cloud space you get, what fills it, and how to make room.

How much free space you get

Every cloud service gives you some space for free. Space is measured in gigabytes, written GB. A gigabyte is a unit for how much a file or a drive can hold. A bigger number means more room.

Here is what each one gives you for free today:

• OneDrive: 5 GB. It is shared with your Outlook.com email attachments.
• iCloud: 5 GB. It also holds iPhone and iPad backups, photos and iCloud Mail.
• Google: 15 GB. It is shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos.

Letters and other documents are small. You can keep thousands of them in 5 GB. Photos and videos are much bigger. A few minutes of phone video can use as much space as a whole year of letters.

The things that fill cloud space fastest are:

• Photos and videos, since many phones upload them on their own.
• Phone backups, especially on iCloud.
• Email with large attachments.
• Files in the cloud's recycle bin. They still count until they are gone for good.

To see how full yours is, sign in to the service's website. Look for Storage or Manage storage. On a Mac, open Apple menu, then System Settings, click your name, then iCloud.

Make room or pay for more

When cloud space runs out, things quietly stop working. New files and photos stop syncing. With OneDrive or Gmail, your email may stop sending or receiving too.

You have two choices: clean up, or pay for more.

Cleaning up

1. Open the service's storage page. Most of them list your biggest files first.
2. Delete large videos you no longer need, and copies of the same photo.
3. Delete old emails with big attachments.
4. Empty the cloud's recycle bin. Until you do, deleted files still use space.

Be careful with one thing. Deleting a synced file removes it from every device. If you want to keep a big video, copy it to an external drive first. An external drive is a small box that plugs into your computer and stores files.

Paying for more

Each company sells bigger plans for a monthly or yearly fee. Microsoft 365 plans add OneDrive space. Apple sells iCloud+. Google sells Google One. Prices change and differ by country, so check the company's own website.

One warning. Scammers send fake emails saying your storage is full and asking you to pay through a link. Never pay that way. Open the service's website or settings yourself and look there.