Project background

Effective June 1, 2023, UW-Madison My Drive and shared drive accounts will have a minimum 25 GB storage quota. This change is in response to Google introducing a new storage model that eliminates free, unlimited storage and will enforce a service-wide storage cap on July 1, 2024.

My Drive and shared drive accounts exceeding the minimum 25 GB quota will be given a temporary quota until May 31, 2024. Temporary quotas consist of an individual's existing storage usage plus a small additional storage to allow continued access and collaboration for the interim. Individuals can request a long-term storage exception to override the minimum 25 GB by submitting an exception request form. This form will be available starting June 1, 2023.

Below is an example of a temporary quota:

• Current storage usage: 276 GB
• Storage buffer: 14 GB temporarily added to the account
• Temporary quota: 300 GB until May 31, 2024 or a long-term exception is submitted

Important dates

• June 1, 2023:
  • Temporary quota goes into effect for those using more than 25 GB of data.
  • Form to request a long-term quota exception goes live.
• May 31, 2024:
  • Deadline to reduce storage usage below 25 GB OR request a quota exception.
• July 1, 2024:
  • Google enforces campus-wide storage quota.

Over the quota? Here's what to do.

My Drive accounts 

• View your temporary quota.
• View your existing My Drive storage usage.
• Move My Drive folders to a shared drive, if needed.
• Understand changes to file access after moving content from My Drive to a shared drive.
• Review files and delete items that are no longer needed.
• Move backup/archival files to another storage provider.
• Request more storage, if needed.
• Understand what happens when you meet or exceed your storage quota.

Shared drive managers

• View Shared drives that you manage.
• View Shared drive storage usage.
• Review files and delete items that are no longer needed.
• Delete unwanted shared drives
• Move backup/archival files to another storage provider.
• Request more storage, if needed.
• Understand what happens when you meet or exceed your storage quota.

Service account managers

• View the service account’s existing My Drive storage usage (Note: You must be logged in to the service account when using this link). 
• Review files and delete items that are no longer needed.
• Move backup/archival files to another storage provider.
• If you'd like a list of service accounts that are using more than 0 GB of storage, please email the project team. In your email, please include the domains you administer.  

Google Drive user experience after June 1, 2024

• My Drive and Shared Drives

• Microsoft 365 (M365) service account

Storage request overview for My Drive and Shared drives

Eligibility for a long-term storage quota or quota increase

• My Drive
  • The requester must be a current faculty, staff, or student and eligible for the UW-Madison Google Workspace service.
  • Service accounts are not eligible.
  • All data must be removed from Google Photos. 
  • Storage cannot be used for backup or archival purposes.

• Shared Drive
  • The requester must be a manager of the Shared Drive, a current faculty, staff, or student, and be eligible for the UW-Madison Google Workspace service.
  • The Shared Drive membership needs to include at least one manager who is a current UW-Madison faculty, staff, or student. 
  • Storage cannot be used for backup or archival purposes.

Request form

If you need a long-term storage quota or a quota increase for your UW-Madison Google Workspace My Drive or a shared drive, please submit your request here. 

Submitting a request for a long-term storage quota updates your account's quota status from temporary to long-term to prevent a disruption to your workflow after June 1, 2024.

Note: Before requesting additional storage, please try to identify and delete files that are no longer needed to free up more space. Google Workspace is most valuable when used for real-time collaboration and file sharing. If you need to back up or archive files, please consider using another storage provider.

Quota right-sizing

Effective November 2023, the UW-Madison Google Workspace will start adjusting quotas for accounts that decrease their storage usage to optimize the amount of storage that is allocated to an individual account. This ensures we are managing shared campus storage responsibly.  

Example 

Before quota right-sizing:

• User A Google usage: 380 GB
• User A Google quota: 400 GB

After quota right-sizing:

• User A Google usage: 219 GB (decreased)
• User A Google quota:  250 GB (decreased) 

Support

• Email the project team at google-workspace-project-feedback@g-groups.wisc.edu .
• View the Reshaping the Google Workspace Service project page.