On Wednesday, Google announced that it will be ending free unlimited storage of high quality uploads in Google Photos, as well as free unlimited storage of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard files. This change will go into effect on June 1, 2021. Existing files and photos will remain unaffected, but editing a Google Drive file will make it count against the storage limit.
This change will not apply to Sites, Keep, Blogger, or YouTube.
Google also announced that if a user does not use Gmail, Google Drive, or Google Photos for two years, they may delete the user’s data from the product within which the user is inactive. Additionally, if a user remains above their storage limit for more than two years, their data may be deleted.
These changes align with other recent changes made by Google. For example, starting Friday, November 13, files that have been in a user’s Google Drive trash folder for more than 30 days will be permanently deleted. Additionally, Google recently replaced G Suite with Google Workspace, making unlimited storage only available on enterprise-level plans.
All the while, Google has been increasingly encouraging customers to subscribe to their new Google One service, which provides expanded storage and other Google benefits to customers.
