Much to the consternation of a lot who depended on the “unlimited” storage that Google offered, the tech giant announced previously that they are making some changes towards this. Google Photos is the most affected as uploads will start counting towards your Google Drive quota starting this June. The same goes for those creating Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other Workspace files. But those who are using Google Workspace will get a bit of a reprieve as Google changed the deadline to February 2022.
Google announced this change in a blog post on the changes in timeframe when it comes to Google Workspace users. Any new file that you create on Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboards will still not count toward your Google Drive storage. Initially, these files were to start counting to your Google data by June 1, 2020. But now, it will not start until February 1, 2022 so this means all files you create until then are still “free” in your storage.
But by next year, even if you just make edits to existing files, it will already count against your existing storage plan. The only exemption would be Google Keep and Sites. And unfortunately, the Google Photos deadline remains June 1, 2022, even for Workspace users. So this means everyone has just around 2 months to upload all the photos and videos that they want without worrying about their storage quota.
Google says they are delaying the inevitable for Workspace users as they want to make sure that the new admin tools that will identify and manage how storage is used will be in place before all the changes come into effect. Admins can start looking at the new tools and how it will change by next year. However, they can also expect new space management tools that will be launched before the new deadline.
As for free personal users, your deadline remains the same. Starting June 1, both your Google Photos and your Google documents will take up space in your free, allotted storage. Unless you decide to subscribe to Google One storage, that is.
