There’s a brand new feature in Google Photos that enables users to know how much space each image is taking up in the cloud. It’s located in the “backed up” category of the image’s metadata.
The new information metric is found in the info section of each photograph, listed along with the current day/date, location, device, EXIF, and image size, and shows whether the image was saved at full resolution or the “high quality” storage saver option. The pane will also indicate how much of the available allotment is being taken up if any.
Though the feature is still being rolled out to Google Photos users in a phased manner, the feature will certainly be helpful for those who are using the 15GB free tier to manage their storage without having to pay for additional space. In 2021, Google ended its long-standing free unlimited storage policy in favor of 15GB of free storage for every user.
The storage allotment is spread out across all Google platforms including Drive, Docs, and email, as well as Google Photos. So while 15GB seems like a healthy amount, it can fill up pretty quickly when backing up photos, documents, emails, videos, and everything else that users archive of their online life.
Though the feature is available through the Google Photos mobile app, its information is limited to just the photo’s image quality at the time it was backed up. The web-based interface, however, offers more comprehensive data points for review.
Users can manage storage under the storage pane, by choosing from a variety of categories and selecting the preview and delete option. There are categories including images, blurred images, screenshots, and more. Users can also select recover storage and concert their full resolution images to a lower resolution, but still high-quality option to save even more space.
There are plenty of options to clear out additional space, and this new backed-up category is sure to help determine what photos can be downscaled to save space, and what others can simply be downloaded to another archival option before deleting altogether. Of course, there’s also the option of buying more storage space, which Google makes a point of reminding of quite regularly.
Information is power, and this additional tool is sure to help when it comes to managing space while accumulating even more photos in the cloud.
Author: James DeRuvo
Source: Petapixel
