How to Delete Emails with Attachments in Gmail (Without Losing Important Files)
When one sees a warning from Gmail, “Storage almost full”. User starts thinking how can I manage this, and starts searching how to delete emails with attachments in Gmail to manage this issue.
But inside the user’s mind, it feels scary. What if I delete an important email? Something important might disappear forever. In this write-up, we will show you a perfect way to delete emails with attachments. Where you can be sure no important email is lost.
Why Gmail Fills Up Faster Than You Expect
Gmail gives us limited free storage. But that space is not just for emails. It is shared with Google Drive and Google Photos. Whatever is inside your email, every PDF, image, and presentation quietly consumes that space. Due to this, we keep on searching how to delete emails in Gmail with large attachments.
We can think of Gmail as a garage. Emails as envelopes and attachments as the boxes packed in those envelopes. One box will not cause you issues. But now imagine 500 boxes. Now your Garage door will not close.
For small businesses, accountants, teachers, attachments quickly grow in their Gmail inbox in the form of reports, scanned id’s and client contracts. Each adds extra weight.
How to Delete Emails with Attachments in Gmail Using Smart Search
Before deleting anything. You need to find real space eaters. Gmail gives you a radar system to detect those space eaters – Search filters.
- In the Gmail search bar, type: has:attachment
This command tells Gmail to show only emails that contain attachments. Now lets refine it further
- In the Gmail search bar, type : has:attachment larger:10M
This shows only those emails with attachments larger than 10 MB.
Consider that you are moving to a new house. You will start packing up large furniture first. This search command is your moving strategy. It identifies the digital “furniture” – The emails with large attachments, so we can clean the space more effectively. This strategy should be used when finding an answer to your question of how to delete emails with large attachments in Gmail.
Step-by-Step: How to Delete Emails with Attachments in Gmail Safely
Now we will be discussing the manual procedure to clean Gmail emails with large attachments.
Manual Method to Find and Delete Emails with Attachments
- Open Gmail.
- In the Gmail search bar, type : has:attachment larger:10M
- Review the results
- Select the emails you no longer need.
- Click delete.
- Go to Trash and click Empty Trash now.
Note – Before you click the empty trash, now. Pause for a second and ask yourself. Will deleting this file hurt me six months from now? If the answer is yes, or even maybe. Don’t delete it yet. If you want to delete Gmail emails, you may find our blog on How to delete old emails in Gmail insightful.
Hidden Risks of Deleting Emails with Large Attachments in Gmail
This is where many of us make mistakes. One might delete.
| Signed lease agreement | A medical document | A client approval mail |
Deleting without a backup is like shredding paper files before checking what is inside the folder. Remember – Once the trash is emptied, recovery becomes extremely difficult.
Why Backup Comes Before Delete
Backing up means exporting your important emails and attachments to your computer and once they are offline. You can freely delete them in your Gmail because you know each and every important file is safely backed up. This process will give you peace of mind and certainty. This is the perfect approach on how to delete emails with attachments in Gmail. Now lets check how to create the backup effortlessly.
Smarter Way to Protect Emails Before Deleting
Downloading each email and its attachment one by one takes hours. We may miss something, and the folder structure can also break.
Here is where a Gmail Backup tool jumps in and helps us to back up our Gmail emails with attachments in our desired format, that too in a very smooth way.
Let’s check how this tool operates so we can easily know how to delete emails in Gmail with large attachments.
How The Professional Tool Makes It Simple
The process is straightforward:
- Download and install the tool
- Select the source of backup as Gmail.
- Select the workload station as email and select your date range.
- Sign in to your Gmail account and select the backup location path (for instance, a folder in a connected hard drive or PC)
- Start backup procedure.
Now by following these steps. You will have a complete copy of all your emails and attachments saved in a secure location. Now your query of how to delete emails with attachments in Gmail has been answered properly.
Quick Comparison: Manual vs Safer Backup Method
From the table below, we can analyse and make a decision on which method we have to adopt and execute our query on how to delete emails in Gmail with large attachments.
| FACTOR | MANUAL DELETE ONLY | BACKUP THEN DELETE |
|---|---|---|
| Risk level | High | Nill |
| Time required | Moderate | Efficient |
| Organization | Uncertain | Structured |
| Peace of mind | No | Confident |
Final Thoughts
Learning how to delete emails with attachments in Gmail is simple, but we have to do it very safely with a proper strategy. When your important emails are safely stored on your PC or another external storage device. Anxiety disappears.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.1 – How can I filter emails by size in Gmail?
Ans – It can be done by using filters, for instance, in your Gmail search bar type, has:attachment. Now you will only see emails containing attachments. You can use filters through this.
Q.2 – How do I avoid losing important attachments?
Ans – To avoid losing important attachments. Back up your important emails containing attachments before deleting them.
