Google Drive Still Full Even After Deleting Files? Here’s How to Fix It

Many Google Drive users have experienced this frustrating situation: you’ve deleted dozens or even hundreds of files to free up storage space — yet Drive still says it’s full. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry. There’s a simple explanation and an easy fix.

Why Your Google Drive Is Still Full After Deleting Files

When you delete files from Google Drive, they aren’t immediately removed from your account. Instead, they’re moved to the Trash (or “Bin”), where they continue to take up storage space until permanently deleted.

Google Drive automatically empties the Trash after 30 days, but if you need to free up space right away, you’ll need to do it manually.

How to Permanently Delete Files from Google Drive

Follow these steps to clear your Google Drive storage instantly:

Open Google Drive in your browser at drive.google.com.
In the left-hand menu, click Trash (or Bin).
Review the files you want to delete permanently.
Click Empty Trash (or Delete Forever) to remove all files.

After this step, your deleted files will be completely removed from Google Drive and no longer count toward your storage quota.

Check Storage Across Google Services

It’s important to note that Google Drive storage is shared across multiple Google services — including Gmail and Google Photos. So even if you clear your Drive, large attachments in emails or backed-up photos may still be consuming space.

Here’s how to check what’s taking up storage:

Visit Google One storage page.
You’ll see a detailed breakdown of how much space is used by Drive, Gmail, and Photos.
From there, you can delete large emails or photos directly.

Tips to Keep Google Drive Storage Under Control

Empty Trash regularly. Don’t wait for Google’s automatic cleanup — make it a habit to clear your Trash every few weeks.
Delete large files you no longer need. Sort your Drive by file size to quickly identify space hogs.
Use Google Photos settings wisely. Choose “Storage saver” mode to compress photos and videos without noticeable quality loss.
Clean up Gmail. Search for emails with large attachments using has:attachment larger:10MB and delete old ones.
Consider upgrading your storage. If you rely heavily on Google’s ecosystem, a Google One subscription starting at 100 GB might be worth it.

Final Thoughts

A “full” Google Drive doesn’t always mean you’ve used up all your space with active files. Often, the problem lies in the Trash or in other connected Google services. By cleaning up your storage properly — and keeping track of what’s stored where — you can make your Drive run more efficiently and avoid those annoying “Storage full” warnings.

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