Google Drive is a great tool for keeping all of your work in one place, but it can also be a cluttered mess if you don’t know how to clean it up. Here are four tips to help you remove orphaned files from Google Drive:
- Use the search bar to find what you need. If you’re looking for a specific document, file, or folder, type its name into the search bar and Google will display results that include that item.
- Use the “File history” feature. This option lets you see all of the changes that have been made to a file since it was last saved. This is helpful if you want to find an old version of a document or if you need to restore something that was accidentally deleted.
- Use the “Deleted items” feature. This option shows you a list of all of the files that have been deleted from your Google Drive account. You can use this list to find files that you want to keep or delete permanently.
- Use the “Move items” feature. This option lets you move files and folders from one location on your Google Drive account to another without having to save them first. ..
Google Drive is a great free service, but it has limited storage. You might notice that your account is filling up quicker than it should. That might be thanks to hidden “orphaned” files. We’ll show you how to remove them.
What Is an “Orphaned” File?
An “orphaned” file was originally included in a folder somewhere. Usually, it’s a file that you’ve added to a folder on someone else’s account. But the folder has been deleted, and that can leave the file “orphaned” on your account. It doesn’t show up in your standard list of Google Drive files, but it still takes up space on your account.
Google doesn’t have a direct method for getting rid of these files, but there’s a trick (courtesy of Workspace Tips) that you can use to clear out the majority of them.
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How to Remove “Orphaned” Files
Navigate to Google Drive in a web browser such as Google Chrome, or open the app for iPhone, iPad, or Android.
Now, type is:unorganized owner:me in the search bar and hit Enter.
You’ll see a list of orphaned files. Right-click or long-press any of the files and select “Remove” from the menu. Do this for all of the files.
To fully reclaim the storage space being taken up by these files, you’ll want to clear them out of the trash folder as well. Find “Trash” in the sidebar menu.
Right-click or long-press the files and select “Delete Forever.”
That’s it! You might not have a lot of orphaned files, but if you do, this can free up some storage space that you can put to better use. Of course, you can always buy more storage if it becomes a real problem.
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