Back in November, Google announced that Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other Workspace files will count toward storage caps. This is set to start for personal accounts on June 1, but Workspace users will be given an extension into 2022.
Google Workspace accounts, like free personal users, are still set to have their High-quality uploads in Google Photos count toward their Drive quota in June. There is no change to this milestone.
However, newly created Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files by Workspace users won’t count toward storage until February 1, 2022. Meanwhile, existing files from those products will similarly not count toward storage “unless they’re modified on or after February 1, 2022.” Google Keep and Sites remain exempted from these rules.
Administrators today can check the Apps usage user report (General > Photos and Drive sections) for a “comprehensive look at storage usage” across their organization. However, Google is working on new space management tools.
This delay is born out of Google waiting to make sure these “new admin tools to identify and manage how storage is used and allocated” are in place before the policy comes into effect.
We’ve decided to delay the count of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files count toward storage quotas until that tooling is in place.