When does Google delete all the data of inactive accounts?

If you have an account with multiple Google cloud services such as Photos, Drive or Gmail, the main content is the object of deletion. Inactive accounts will have their data deleted after a certain period of time.

Google’s storage policy often tends to delete inactive Google accounts to improve the experience for other users. In other words, Google doesn’t want people who don’t use its services to “get in the way” of loyal users.

The good news is that the time that Google gives out for inactive accounts is quite generous. So you don’t need to worry too much if you don’t log in daily or monthly.

What content counts in Google storage?

As usual, Google Drive, Google Photos and Gmail all count in Google storage.

Starting June 1, 2021, the following will be counted in memory:

New photos or videos uploaded to Google Photos (including high-quality ones).
Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings or Jamboard files.
However, anything uploaded to these services before June 1, 2021 will not be counted, only files edited after this date will be counted.

How long does it take for data to be deleted?

Starting June 1, 2021, Google will introduce some new policies for data deletion of inactive accounts. Google may delete data in the following cases:

Your account hasn’t had any of this activity for 2 years.
Your account exceeds the storage limit for 2 years.
The 2-year period will start from June 1, 2021. So, if there is no activity on that account, 2023 will be the earliest time all the data in the account is deleted. Google will send you lots of warnings before removing anything.

How to keep Google account active?

Wondering how to keep your Google account active? The answer is actually very simple. You just need to sign in and Gmail, Google Drive or Google Photos, every once in a while, not too often, and waive the two-year Google limit. Just login, no need to use any services.

In general, this is not something that regular users of Google’s services have to worry about. These policies only target the subset of users who no longer use Google accounts at all.