Google Workspace Storage Limits

Google Workspace Storage Limits

Saint Mary’s College of California participates in Google Workspace for Education. Google has ended unlimited storage for Google Workspace, including accounts used by higher education institutions. These accounts include access to Google Drive, Gmail, Photos, and other Google tools used for coursework and college business. Because of these changes, SMC must manage how storage is used across the campus.

Effective July 1, 2026, the college will implement storage limits on all SMC Google accounts for students, faculty, staff, and affiliates. Storage limits for new employees and students have been in place since January 2026. The majority of faculty, staff, and students are already under the new limit, so no action is required on their part.

New SMC Google Storage Limits

Starting July 1, 2026, SMC Google storage limits are as follows:

Students
15 GB

Faculty
25 GB

Staff
25 GB

How to Prepare for Storage Limits Now

Although storage limits will take effect July 1, 2026, the campus community is encouraged to begin reviewing and cleaning up files now. Taking time to organize and remove unnecessary files will help ensure your account stays within the storage limits and avoids service interruptions.

Consider the following steps:

  • Review your storage usage to understand how much space you are currently using.
  • Delete files you no longer need, especially large files such as videos, archived projects, or duplicate documents.
  • Empty your Google Drive Trash and Gmail Trash to permanently remove deleted items.
  • Remove large email attachments that are no longer needed.
  • Download and archive files locally if you want to keep them but do not need them stored in your SMC Google account.

Regularly reviewing and managing your storage will help keep your account within the limits and ensure you can continue using Google tools without interruption.

Ways to Reduce Your Storage

How much storage you are using?
Log into your SMC Gmail account and go to https://drive.google.com/drive/quota 

Use the link below to review your current storage usage. 

  1. Log into your SMC Google Account (verify your profile in the top-right corner).
  2. Go to the quota link: https://drive.google.com/drive/quota 
  3. Review files listed from largest to smallest
  4. Delete files you no longer need.
  5. Empty your Trash to permanently free the storage. Note that items in the trash still count against your quota until they are permanently deleted. (Empty your Trash Help Guide)
  1. Log into your SMC Gmail account.
  2. In the Gmail search bar, type: has:attachment larger:10M 
    You can increase the number (for example larger:20M) to find larger attachments.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Delete messages you no longer need.
  5. Open the Trash folder and click Empty Trash Now.
  1. Log into your SMC Gmail account.
  2. Go to: https://photos.google.com/storage 
  3. Select photos or videos you no longer need.
  4. Click Delete.
  1. Log into your SMC Gmail account
  2. In Gmail, select Spam.
  3. Click Delete all spam messages now.

Use Google Takeout
If you need to keep any files that don't fit in your school account, you can export an archive of your Drive, Gmail, and Photos data with Google Takeout. Then delete unneeded files, messages, and attachments and empty your trash to free up storage space. Learn how to download your data into an archive

Video: Tips for Managing Google Storage

View quick tips to free up space and stay within your Google storage limits.

What happens if I go over the storage limit after July 1, 2026?

After July 1, 2026, you need to stay under your storage limit for all of your Google tools, such as Drive, Gmail, and Photos, to keep access to these services. If your account runs out of storage, your services will be disrupted until you free up more space. Data becomes “read only” if you exceed the limit.

  • Gmail: Once over the storage limit, you cannot send or receive email, and incoming messages will be returned to the sender. You can still access existing email, but functionality will be limited.
  • Drive: You won’t be able to sync or upload new files. You will not be able to create new files in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Forms. Until you reduce the amount of storage you use, neither you nor anyone else can edit or copy your affected files. Syncs stop between your computer's Google Drive folder and My Drive.
  • Photos: You won’t be able to add more or back up existing photos or videos.

Warning Notification: When a user’s account is 80-100% full, in-app notifications will be visible in both Drive, Photos, and Drive for Desktop to warn users of disruption of these services.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your storage usage is below the limit, no action is required at this time. It’s still a good idea to periodically review your storage to stay within the limit.

Log into your SMC Google account and check how much storage you are using at: https://drive.google.com/drive/quota 

If you need to retain documents for your team and cannot delete them, we highly recommend to move the files into a Google Shared Drive and share access with your team.

  • A Google Shared Drive is different from sharing a folder in My Drive. 
  • Files in a Shared Drive are owned by the team rather than an individual, making them a better option for long-term collaboration and storage.

Learn more about Google Shared Drives

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