Gmail offers more than 7 GB of free storage for your messages and attachments, and we're adding more space as fast as we can. Your storage use is based on the size of all of the messages and attachments in your mail, including those in Spam and Trash. You can check how much space you're using and your storage limit at the bottom of any Gmail page.
If you approach your storage limit, the quota indicator will change from green to red. If you go over your limit, incoming messages to your account will be returned to the sender.
If you've hit your limit and need to clear space, you'll need to move messages to Trash and permanently delete them from there.
To move a message to Trash:
- Select or open the message.
- Click the Delete button.
To permanently delete a specific message:
- Click Trash along the left side of any Gmail page. (If you don't see Trash along the left side of your Gmail page, click more above Contacts on the left side of the page.)
- Select the message you'd like to delete.
- Click Delete Forever.
To permanently delete all of the messages in your Trash at once:
- Click Trash. (If you don't see Trash along the left side of your Gmail page, click more above Contacts on the left side of the page.)
- Click Empty Trash now.
- Click OK to confirm and delete all messages.
Messages left in Trash for 30 days will be permanently deleted automatically. Messages that are permanently deleted, manually or automatically, cannot be recovered.
If clearing your Trash still leaves you close to your storage limit, there is also the option to buy additional storage. Google offers a way to purchase more storage space when you run out of free storage space in Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Blogger (for photos). If you're interested in purchasing more storage, you can learn more about how it works.