Google Workspace for Education includes limits on Storage Usage. You likely have questions about this change, and we have answers as a premier Google partner. Here are the top questions our customers are asking about this Google for Education update regarding its impact on your Storage Usage.
Has anyone heard if the 100 GB for G Suite Enterprise for Education licenses is permanent, or will you lose that storage when the new licenses kick in?
With Google Workspace for Education Plus, you will have 100 TB of pooled storage shared by your organization, plus 20 GB added to the shared pool per license. If you choose Google Workspace for Education Teaching and Learning Edition, you will have 100 GB added to the shared pool with no cap. Should you need additional storage, you can purchase 10 TB at a time by contacting our Sales Team.
Will there be any management tools to allocate storage, such as quota-based?
Yes, we have compiled these resources to help with storage limits in this article: Getting Google Workspace Storage Usage.
Will Google Native files count against storage (ie. Google Docs, Sheets, Slides)? If so, how do we estimate their impact on storage?
Yes, Native files do count towards total domain storage. Google says this tool makes the amount of storage these files account for more visible.
Pooled storage is storage shared across your users for everything in their accounts and shared drives. This includes, but is not limited to, Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photo files. It's also important to note that according to this article:
- Any files not modified after June 2021 do not count toward total domain file storage.
- Starting May 2, 2022, new and updated Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, and Jamboard files count toward your organization's storage quota.
Note: Deleted messages and files retained by Google Vault don't count against the user's storage quota or your institution's total pooled storage.
About the change to the Native files article, is it possible that files of suspended users which are no longer used do not count against your storage limit? Also, does Google count access to old files as a change or only if the document is modified?
That is correct. We are working to verify this with Google, but it reads that way. We are not sure what the definition of “modified” is yet, but we are working to find out.
Will a suspended account’s data count toward the total domain storage?
Yes, it will count towards the total domain storage, but a reminder that this article states that after June 2021, if a file is not modified after June 2021, then it will not count towards your total storage.
Are Shared drives included in the pooled storage?
Yes, pooled storage includes Shared drives. Therefore, controlling the creation and usage of Shared drives in your domain is essential. Create a plan for managing and controlling the creation of Shared drives.
What happens if you pay for an edition of Google Workspace for Education, have a certain amount of data, and choose not to renew your subscription? If you exceed the storage limit, will you lose functionality in Drive, Gmail, and Photos?
According to the information we have from support articles, if you switched from a paid version which has additional storage to Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which does not provide additional storage, then your domain would lose additional storage and would revert back to the standard 100 TB total. However, this is unconfirmed at this time and we are simply basing this off of the logic presented in support articles and release notes.
What does this mean for those of us who have multiple domains? Does each domain get the 100 TB starting point for storage?
We want to clarify this as multiple domains could mean sub / additional domains. Each Admin console allows 100 TB for those users as a standard pooled storage. If you have subdomains within the same Admin console, those do not qualify for additional storage.
Will the 20 GB per license provided by the Google Workspace for Education Plus license be part of the whole organization’s storage (100 TB shared), or does it apply to each user’s license?
It will be applied to the pooled storage for everyone. All additional storage is added to the shared pooled storage.
If we shut off Google Photos, for example, for all accounts, do the previously stored photos still count toward the limit? Do they need to be deleted before shutting off the service?
Yes. Like other services, if you turn the service off, the data is still part of the user's profile in case the service gets turned back on.
| Document Version | Date | Description of Change |
| 1.0 | 3/18/2024 | Removed link in last sentence to legacy AIR site |
| 1.1 | 5/28/2024 | Removed author block |
| 1.2 | 8/27/2024 | Text revisions, reverify, asked Jay to review |
| 1.3 | 9/4/2024 | Added J. Strumwasser's edits, reverify |