Google Drive offers a large amount of free storage for your documents, photos, videos and other files. But even though you have up to 15 GB to use, eventually it will become full and you will have to delete some files to keep using Google Drive to store your files and documents. Here is how to delete files from your Google Drive from any device:

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on a Computer

  • You can remove a file from your Google Drive by putting it into your trash. It will still remain on your computer and you will be able to access it until you empty your trash bin.
  • If it is a shared file and you don’t own it, it will only be removed from your Drive if you place it in the trash.
  • If you are accessing your Google Drive on the web, you can click the file that you would like to delete, and select the “remove” option. The icon for the “remove” option looks like a trashcan.
  • Your files are now deleted from your Google Drive, and you should see more space open up on your storage bar. Your storage bar can be viewed on your Google Drive at the bottom of the tool bar at the left hand side of your screen.

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on an Apple Device

  • Just like on a computer, you can move your files to the trashcan on your iPhone, iPad or other apple device.
  • To do this, open your Google Drive app. It looks like a yellow, green and blue triangle.
  • Next to the file that you would like to delete, you should see three dots stacked vertically. This opens the “more” tab. Tap those three dots.
  • At the bottom of the “more” tab, you will see an option labeled “remove”. Select that option to move your file to the trash.
  • To permanantly delete the file from your Drive on your Apple device, open the trash by tapping the “menu” tab and selecting “trash”
  • In the top right side of your screen, select “more” and then “delete forever” to delete a single file, or delete all files in your trash can by selecting “empty trash”.

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on an Android Device

  • To delete a file from your Google Drive on your Android device, open the Google Drive app by tapping the yellow, green and blue triangle.
  • Find the icon that looks like a folder at the bottom right of your screen. It should be labeled “files”.
  • Next to the file that you want to delete, find the “more” tab which looks like three vertical dots. Tap the dots to open more options, and select “remove”. This will move the file from your Google Drive to your trash.
  • To permanently delete the file, open the “menu” in the upper left corner of your screen. It looks like three horizontal lines.
  • From the “menu” select “trash”, then select the file that you would like to permanently delete.
  • Open the “more” tab for that file by tapping the three vertical dots, and then tap “delete forever” to permanently get rid of your file.

How do I permanently delete files from Google Drive?

Delete an individual file forever
  1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
  2. On the left, click Trash.
  3. Click a file.
  4. At the top, click Delete forever .

How do I delete selected files in Google Drive?

Hold down the Ctrl key, then click each file you want to delete. Right-click on one of the selected files, then choose the “Remove” option.

How do you free up space on Google Drive?

Clear space in Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos to make room for new items. Use a computer to see your files listed from largest to smallest. Put files you don’t want in your Trash, then permanently delete them.

How do I clean up my Google storage?

If you need to clear storage space in your account, you can do it through Google One. Use the Storage Manager in the Google One app or on the website to preview and delete large Photos and Drive files. You can also discard or permanently delete items in Photos, Gmail, and Drive from Google One web.

Why is my Google Drive so full?

Empty Trash

When you delete files from Google Drive, they are not deleted permanently. They are taken to the Trash or Bin folder where they stay until you empty your trash bin manually. So, if Google Drive is showing full, you need to empty the bin to clear the storage.

Why is my storage full after deleting everything?

If you’ve deleted all the files you don’t need and you’re still receiving the “insufficient storage available” error message, you need to clear out Android’s cache. (If you are running Android Marshmallow or later, go to Settings, Apps, select an app, tap Storage and then choose Clear Cache.)

Why is my Google Storage full after deleting photos?

You might not see an immediate reduction in your available storage capacity after deleting pictures or videos from Google Photos. This is because those files get moved to the Photos trash bin, where they will remain for 60 days.

What is taking up my Google Drive storage?

To find out what’s taking up so much space on your Google Drive, go to Google’s Drive storage page. Here, you’ll see a pie chart that shows you how much space you’re taking up; roll over the chart to see a breakdown by platform.

Which cloud storage is free?

Details: Apple iCloud Drive comes with 5GB of free cloud storage. Users looking to bump up their storage can do so for $0.99/month for 50GBs; $2.99/month for 200GB; $9.99/month for 1TB and $19.99 for 2TB. ICloud is meant for Apple users, but there is an iCloud app for Windows.

How do I delete files from Google Drive on Android?

Put a file in trash
  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Drive app.
  2. At the bottom right, tap Files .
  3. Next to the file you want to delete, tap More. Remove.

Why can’t I delete files from Google Drive?

Go to google drive from your Gmail account, select the file that you want to delete. press right button of your mouse, Select remove from the bottom of the appeared side menu. If it doesn’t work, check internet connection, reset your chrome browser, use CCleaner to clean cache and cookies. Hope it will work better.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Drive app.
  2. At the bottom right, tap Files .
  3. Next to the file you want to delete, tap More. Remove.

How do I permanently delete files from my Android phone?

How do I permanently delete files without recovery?

Right-click on the Recycle Bin and choose “Properties”. Select the drive for which you want to delete the data permanently. Check the option “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.” Then, click “Apply” and “OK” to save the settings.

How do you permanently delete files so they Cannot be recovered?

To make sure that a single file can’t be recovered, you can use a “file-shredding” application such as Eraser to delete it. When a file is shredded or erased, not only is it deleted, but its data is overwritten entirely, preventing other people from recovering it.

How do you permanently delete files?

To permanently delete a file:
  1. Select the item you want to delete.
  2. Press and hold the Shift key, then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
  3. Because you cannot undo this, you will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the file or folder.

How do I delete a file that won’t delete?

How to delete files that won’t delete
  1. Method 1. Close apps.
  2. Method 2. Close Windows Explorer.
  3. Method 3. Reboot Windows.
  4. Method 4. Use Safe Mode.
  5. Method 5. Use a software deletion app.