It is a good habit to check your storage every so often, the same way you might check how much food is in your fridge before going shopping. Knowing how full your storage is can help you catch a problem before it causes your email or device to stop working. This article will show you how to do that.
The exact steps for checking your email storage will depend on which email service you use. Below are instructions for the most common ones.
Open your Gmail in your internet browser.
Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
Near the bottom, you should see a small line of text that says something like: "X GB of 15 GB used."
This tells you how much of your total storage you have used and how much you have in total.
For example, "8 GB of 15 GB used" means you have used just over half your storage.
If it says "14.5 GB of 15 GB used," your storage is nearly full and it is time to clear some space.
Open Outlook in your browser or as a program on your computer.
Click on the Settings icon (it looks like a small cog or gear, usually in the top right corner).
Look for an option called "View all Outlook settings" or "Storage."
You should see a bar or percentage showing how much of your mailbox you have used.
Look at your email address. If it ends in @gmail.com, you use Gmail. If it ends in @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, or @live.com, you use Microsoft's email service. If it ends in something else, please contact our support team and we can help you check your storage directly.
Knowing how full your computer or tablet is can also be useful, especially if you save a lot of photos, videos, or documents.
Click the Start button (the Windows logo in the bottom left corner of your screen).
Click on "File Explorer" or "This PC."
You should see your hard drive listed, usually called "Local Disk (C:)."
Underneath it, you will see a coloured bar and text showing how much space is used and how much is free. For example: "120 GB free of 500 GB."
Click the Apple logo in the top left corner of your screen.
Select "About This Mac."
Click on the "Storage" tab.
You will see a coloured bar showing what is taking up space on your Mac and how much free space remains.
When looking at storage figures, here is a simple guide to what they mean:
Plenty of space free (more than half remaining): No action needed right now, but keep an eye on it.
Getting full (less than a quarter remaining): It is a good time to start clearing out old files and emails before problems arise.
Almost full or completely full (less than 10% remaining): Action is needed soon. Please read the article: "My Storage Is Full — What Should I Do First?"
If you are having difficulty finding your storage information, or if you are not sure what the numbers mean, please contact our support team. We are happy to check it for you and explain exactly where things stand.