Time to have a cloud clear out as Google Drive bonus storage expires

Google is just one of many companies to offer free cloud storage, and over the years the amount of space given away has crept up. There have also been plenty of opportunities to boost cloud storage for free -- if you've bought a Chromebook, you'll have been given a bunch of extra space, and there have been various other special offers out there.

You may well have received a mysterious email from Google in the last day or so, warning you that you are about to lose 10GB of space. The email rather unhelpfully refers to an "Unknown promotion". What's it all about, and what do you need to do?

Well, you don’t need to do anything. As Google points out in the email, just because you are losing the space, it does not mean that you are going to lose the files you have stored in the cloud. What you will notice, however, is that you are unable to sync files, or upload any more. You could opt to pay for some more space, but if you want to keep it free, it's time to have a clear out.

With Google's free space shared between Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive, the most obvious places to look first are Photos and your inbox. Keep an eye out for email with huge attachments, and take the time to browse through your photos for any you can either delete or move to local storage. The longer you leave it, the longer you won’t be able to synchronize files.

Oh, and if you were wondering, it seems that the "Unknown promotion" refers to the free space that was given away to people who installed QuickOffice on iOS or Android.