Free up space in Google Photos It's as simple as deleting some of the snapshots we've uploaded to this cloud. However, when it comes down to it, it's hard to get rid of our photos.
Now that most of them are in digital format rather than physical, it's difficult to decide which ones to delete forever. So, let's look at some tricks to gain space without having to delete anything important.
How many photos can you have in Google Photos?
Google Photos shares storage space with Google Drive and Gmail and currently offers us 15 GB for freeBeing a shared service, what we have in Drive and Gmail also takes up space for storing photos.
An average photo takes up between 3 and 5 MB, so we could save between 3.000 and 5.000 photos in Google Photos if we used the storage space only for snapshots. Since that's not the case, we can save a few fewer.
A trick to be able to save more photos is compress them or keep them at lower resolutions, so we could fit between 7.500 and 15.000 photos.
If you need more space and don't feel like tinkering with it to free it up, you always have the option of signing up for one of Google's paid plans.
How to free up space in Google Photos?
Here are a few useful tips that may help you:
Use the "Free up space" tool
If what happens is that It's your mobile phone that's full of photo files, this functionality is very practical.
Open the Google Photos app, tap on your profile picture, and then tap "Free up space." This will delete all the photos and videos on your phone in one step. They have their corresponding backup in the cloud.
Don't be afraid because under no circumstances will you delete the photos stored in the cloud.
Review your photos
It's a slow and tedious process, but essential for "cleaning" without removing anything important.
To speed up the task, click on Cleaning Suggestions to show you blurry photos, screenshots, memes and other image files that are taking up space and are not really needed.
For a more in-depth selection, you'll have to go through the photos one by one and decide what you want to do with them. Take your time.
Reduce the quality of the photos
It's simple if you follow these steps:
- Go to Google Photos > Manage storage.
- Press the option «Convert photos and videos to original quality to save storage.»
This will cause Google to reduce the size of your images and make them appear smaller. However, keep in mind that this is irreversible, so make a local copy to keep the originals intact.
Download photos to a backup
There are probably many photos you don't look at often, so you don't need to have them in Google Photos.
Download them to a backup like another cloud or an external hard drive and you can now delete them from the application.
Delete items from the trash
The photos we delete do not disappear immediately from the phone, They stay in the recycling bin for a while and they still take up space (although less).
If you urgently need to free up space in Google Photos, remember to empty the trash:
- Open Google Photos.
- Go to Library > Trash.
- Click on “Empty Trash.”
Check out Google Drive and Gmail
As we mentioned before, the 15 GB of free space Google gives us is shared between Photos, Drive, and Gmail. Therefore, to have more space for our snapshots, we can also review the files we have in Drive.
Documents created with Docs, Spreadsheets, and others don't take up much space. Still, Consider eliminating those that you are sure you will no longer need for anything.
Plus, if you take a closer look, you might find you have some pretty large files that you no longer need, like that presentation you prepared for class or that someone sent you at work.
We can do something similar with our email account. The easiest way is to find and delete messages that contain large, unnecessary files. To simplify the search for large files, use filters like “larger:10M” or “larger:20M”.
Tips to get more out of Google Photos
Now that you know how to free up space when needed, here are some tips that can help you get more out of this tool:
Organize your photos in smart albums
With the help of AI, you can create themed albums about travel, family, pets, etc.
Create an album and hit Add people and pets, select the faces and Google will automatically organize your photos.
Find anything
While it's always a good idea to label photos to identify the content, you don't have to.
Google Photos is able to recognize people, places, objects, and text in imagesTell it what you want, and it'll search for it in all your albums. For example, "bicycle" or "birthday."
Automatic OCR
If you have a photo with text, you can take advantage of Google Photos' automatic OCR. Just click on «Copy text from image», an option that appears automatically or by clicking on the three dots in the options menu.
Try taking a photo of a sheet of paper with notes and you'll be surprised by the results.
Share collaborative albums
At weddings, birthdays, and all kinds of events, everyone takes their own photos, and sharing them becomes a hassle of files being sent back and forth. You can simplify this task by creating a shared album and sharing them with your friends. access to other people so they can view and edit it. This way you make sure everyone gets the photos.
To improve privacy, you can revoke access to the folder or prevent photos from being downloaded or added.
Freeing up space in Google Photos and getting more out of this tool is much easier when you put into practice tricks like the ones we've seen. Are you up for trying them?