How to Delete Files from Google Drive on Computer/Android/iPhone?

Google Drive has gained the distinction of being the default hard drive you may use to store data you frequently use across your devices. However, if you use a Google account regularly, chances are you’ve about exhausted the 15GB of Google Drive capacity.

If you don’t want to pay for more storage, the only way to keep using your Drive is to free some space on it. Therefore, if you want to delete files like WhatsApp backup from google drive across all of your devices, delete photos from Google but not on your phone, etc., check the details in this post.

What Happens If You Delete Google Drive Files?

When you delete a Google Drive file or folder that has been uploaded to your personal Google Drive folder, you will relocate it to Google Drive’s Trash or Bin folder. Similarly, when you delete an unshared folder from your Drive, all of the data contained within that folder are also deleted and relocated to the Trash.

Trash is a unique sort of folder that stores deleted data for 30 days before permanently deleting them. If you do not want to wait 30 days, you can delete the file from the Trash manually. If you delete files unintentionally, Trash can help you restore the files to Google Drive within 30 days.

1. Are Google Drive files stored on my computer?

This is dependent on whether you are using Google Drive for desktop or Backup and Sync. Drive files can be streamed on-demand or saved for offline use. When you utilize Backup and Sync, your local files will remain in your Drive folder on your computer, and a synchronized copy will be kept online.

2. Does deleting from Google Drive also delete files from the computer?

No, the files aren’t deleted as they move to trash automatically and get deleted after 30 days. One can restore the files back within 30 days. If you remove, restore, or permanently delete multiple files or directories at once, it may take some time for you to see the changes.

3. Can I delete my Google Drive folder on my computer?

Yes, one can delete the google drive folder on the computer. To do so, we suggest you scroll down below and learn by yourself how to do the same.

How to Clear Google Drive on Computer?

If you are wondering how to delete files from google drive when using it on your computer, then you are at the right place. Below we have highlighted two scenarios on how to remove a file and delete it permanently. Just scroll down and learn by yourself.

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on Computer?

Follow the steps below to delete files from Google Drive on your computer:

1. First, open Drive.Google.com from any of the browsers on your computer. After that, sign in with your Google account.
2. Once you enter Google Drive, look for the files you want to delete and then “Right-Click” on the same, and finally tap on the “Remove” option.
3. Finally, the file or folder will be deleted from your Google drive. If you wish to undo the delete, just click on the “UNDO” icon.

How to Permanently Delete Files from Google Drive on Computer?

If you prefer to permanently delete files from Google Drive on a PC, follow these steps:

1. To permanently remove the file, go to Google Drive’s left pane and select Bin.
2. Then, find the file you just removed and right-click it to select Delete forever. Google Drive will ask for confirmation.
3. Finally, tap on “Delete Forever” once you see the pop-up.

How to Clear Google Drive on Android?

A Google Drive file can be quickly deleted in just a few steps from your Android. The file can either be sent to your trash folder or removed permanently from the trash folder on Google Drive. It’s an easy process. Here’s how to go about it.

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on Android?

Most Google apps are pre-installed on any Android smartphone or tablet, and Google Drive is one of them. To delete files/ folders from Google Drive on Android, you don’t need to use any other apps or go anywhere else. Below is how to delete files from Google Drive on Android that you no longer want or need.

1. First, open the “Google Drive” app on your Android device. Once done, click on the folder icon at the bottom right of the screen to view all files.
2. Now, hit on the three-dot menu at the right of the file you want to remove.
3. Next, scroll down the menu that appears to find the Remove option and touch it. The file will be moved to your Google Drive trash.

You can delete files that you own as well as files that others have shared with you. Removing a shared file from your account, on the other hand, just removes it from your view. The file owner retains ownership and access to the file.

How to Permanently Delete Files from Google Drive on Android?

When you delete a file, it gets moved to the trash can in your Google Drive. You can permanently delete your files from the trash by following the steps outlined below.

1. First, tap on the three-line menu at the top left of the Google Drive app.
2. Now click on “Trash” and select all the items that you removed earlier.
3. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the file you wish to remove, then select “Delete Forever.” You will be asked to confirm the action and warned that there is no way to recover a deleted file. Once you tap on “Delete Forever,” all files are deleted.

How to Clear Google Drive Storage on iPhone?

With a few exceptions, deleting videos from Google Drive on the iPhone follows the same procedure as on Android. Below are two sections here for deleting videos from Google Drive on iPhone.

How to Delete Files from Google Drive on iPhone?

Deleting files from Google Drive on iOS is pretty simple. To do so:

1. None of the Google apps are installed by default on iOS, so you must download them from the App Store. Google Drive can be downloaded via the iOS App Store.
2. The app will be automatically installed, and you may launch it to sign in to your Google Account.
3. Now navigate to your file or folder that you wish to delete from Google Drive using the last tab that looks like a folder icon. It’s worth noting that you can’t delete numerous files at once from Google Drive on your iPhone.
4. Finally, to delete the files from Google Drive, tap the three dots and then tap on the “Remove” button, and you are done!

How to Clear Google Drive Permanently on iPhone?

This section will teach you how to delete the files from the Trash folder permanently. To do so, follow these steps:

1. First, tap the hamburger menu in the upper left corner, then select the “Bin” tab from the sidebar that displays on the left.
2. If your trash section only contains the files you recently moved to it, you can simply empty it and delete the files from it permanently. To do so, hit the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the trash screen and then choose the “Empty Bin” option.
3. You may also remove the files in the trash individually by tapping the 3-dots symbol next to the file name.
4. Now tap on the “Delete Forever” button from the menu.
5. Finally, click on the “Delete forever” button in the dialog.

Finally, the selected files will now be permanently deleted from your Google Drive account.

Bonus Tip. How to Restore Data from Google Account?

If you wish to extract data from your Google Account, we would like to recommend you use DroidKit – Android Phone Toolkit to restore your Android phone from Google. It’s a wonderful Android data recovery software when you want to get back the deleted data. After DroidKit helps you scan the data you stored in your Google account, you can preview all of those data and select what you need to restore selectively or fully. See what else DroidKit can do for you below:

Now, you can follow the steps below to restore the backup from Google Account to phone:

Step 1. Get the latest version of DroidKit on your computer. Go to the “Extract Needed Data” panel and choose “From Google Account”.

Step 2. Then you can view all the data types that can be restored. Here we take Contacts as an example. Select “Contacts” and click the “Next” button.

Step 3. Authorize your Google Account > Preview and select contacts you want to recover > Click “To Device” or “To PC” as your like.

Step 4. Restore data from Google successfully.

The Bottom Line

That’s all about how to delete files from google drive across different devices. If mistakenly you have deleted any of your files permanently, then we suggest using DroidKit, which can help you to restore your files back from your google account in no time!