Google announced a number of new policies that are no longer free unlimited storage on Google Photos. Google will also delete unused data in Google Drive.
Specifically, Google will delete all files and documents stored in Google Drive if the user does not access Google Drive for two years (24 months).
Google’s new policy itself will take effect in June 2021. This means that Google Drive that has not been accessed for two years starting from June 2021 will be removed by Google.
The documents to be deleted include files in Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Drawings, Google Forms, and Jamboard formats.
Previously, Google never deleted files or documents stored on its cloud services. Users can also store important files on Google Drive without a certain time limit.
Google says that users must access their Google Drive if they don’t want to be deleted. This is Google’s step to clean up accounts that have not been used for a long time.
Google will also warn users that Google Drive will be removed, at least three months before the deletion is carried out. The warning will be sent in the form of an e-mail to the user concerned.
“The easiest way to prevent your files from being deleted automatically is to visit files regularly on the web or through the official Google application,” wrote Google as quoted by Mashable.
It should be noted that users will only be considered active when accessing Google Drive through official Google applications such as GMail, Google Sheet, or Google Docs. So, files that are opened via third-party applications will not be detected by the system and will be considered inactive.