Google Workspace Users Get Deadline for Storage Restrictions Extended

Google has extended the deadline for restricting its cloud-based Workspace storage from June 2021 to Feb 2022 to allow web users ample time to adjust.

Google’s generous unlimited storage offers were admittedly too good to last.

Whether or not some people took advantage of that, it was only a matter of time before it became unsustainable, at least as a business.

In November 2020, the search engine giant announced a couple of changes to its formerly unlimited options for Workspace and Google Photos users. It was that it would say Goodbye to unlimited, free storage for Workspace users because they really didn’t use it and because it’s getting tight on storage space.

The search engine brand gave schools and businesses until June 1, 2021, to make peace with its contentious decision and offered them the ability to upgrade for a cost in addition to their existing monthly payment.

Now, the giant tech firm has extended that date until February 1, 2022 — that’s about 8 extra months!

Google is now announcing an extension of that deadline as a way to give administrators, businesses, and users more time to prepare for the inevitable.

Nothing changes for Google Photos. Come June 1, 2021; all new high-quality photos will count towards Google Drive storage quotas. This may have been the most contentious part of Google’s announcement, but it isn’t backing down even a bit.

 “Feb-22 is the New Date”

The deadline for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, and Jamboard has also been pushed to February 1, 2022, instead of the earlier June date. That gives an 8-month extension before new files start to count towards quotas as well.

As before, existing files won’t be counted unless they get modified after that date.

Experts believe that Google’s decision has something to do with the shifting landscape of G-Suite to Workspace on top of the already stressful pandemic.

This update applies to any newly created Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files.

After Feb 2020, these will officially count toward your organization’s Drive storage quota. Files created before this date will not unless they’re modified on or after the new February deadline.

This means that the existing archival documents that you don’t mess with are essentially stored for free, but the moment you want to make them an active part of your workload again, you’ll need to consider them a paid piece of content.

Google’s sudden move last year was met with criticism, especially as it comes at a critical time when people have become reliant on cloud storage services to get stuff done.

Some experts believe that overreliance on cloud services is Google’s reason for putting caps on its pooled storage policies for Workspace and G-Suite customers.

As millions of gigabytes of data are uploaded every day, it no longer becomes financially feasible to keep offering users unlimited storage.

It is widely speculated that Google’s extension of the June-21 deadline is also due to a new tool that it is developing to help admins get more insight into how their storage space is being used.

Until that tool becomes available, Google has decided to delay the policy change, giving users a few more months to take advantage of that soon-to-be limited unlimited storage.

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