If you’re the type of person with thousands of files and documents you can’t easily let go, cloud storage such as Apple iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox can provide those files in some rooms.

Many of these services have free options that allow you to store a decent amount of files and documents, as long as they don’t take up too much room. Nevertheless, you will most likely run out of space for large files that are multiple gigabytes big.

For these free accounts, the maximum available capacity varies. What if the room has run out, though?

Choices: Free to Premium Accounts

If all of the room has been used up, you can switch to paid versions or premium cloud storage accounts. For example, Google Drive plans start at $1.99 a month, enabling you to store up to 100 GB of files. A 30 TB package is available at $299.99 a month and is ideal for companies.

Meanwhile, Apple iCloud charges $1 a month for 50 GB of storage, while the 2 TB storage plan is only $9.99 a month.

You have a free 1 TB of storage if you have a Microsoft 365. But if that’s not enough, you can upgrade to an extra 200 GB for $1.99 a month or an additional 1 TB for $9.99 a month.

Finally, Dropbox has two paid plans. The $9.99 a month 2 TB storage plan and the $16.58 monthly 3 TB storage plan. Although these could be the priciest in terms of storage space, members would have more functionality.

How to Clear Space

If you do pay a subscription fee and don’t want to add any more, here is how to free space on all your cloud storage accounts.

iCloud

Manually deleting files is always an option on your iCloud. You can uninstall the Files app from your iOS phone, or in Finder or the web, try your iCloud driver. Any file that you delete from these locations will uninstall it from other connected devices as well.

You can also go to iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups. Afterward, search at all the files you have and delete those you don’t need.

Mind also that your images and videos saved on iCloud and messages will take up some space as well. So search for and uninstall any you no longer use or have uploaded to other platforms.

OneDrive

You can only uninstall the files manually on OneDrive. There’s no quick way to do free up your cloud storage but to search what’s taking up space on the line “What’s taking up space?” Since it first reveals the smaller file, you can easily find out which larger files you can remove to create more space.

You can also clean the recycling bin of your OneDrive as deleted files always take up some room to go.

Google Drive

When logging in from your web browser to your Google Drive, you can see the Data area, which allows you to see what much of your data takes up. Like with OneDrive, it first displays the largest file, making it easy to figure out the files you can uninstall, freeing up any space.

Any apps on your computer can also use Google Drive for data backup. Check the web interface of your Drive, and choose Settings, then Manage apps.

Dropbox

To view your Dropbox‘s most massive files, open it on the web. Click the Modified button at the top and select Size. This will send you a peek at which files you submitted are the what.

It would be better if you were still keeping an eye out to duplicate files and directories because they would unnecessarily take up any space.