Over the past 18 months, we’ve engaged university leaders, budget-unit IT and administrative leaders, campus advisory groups, high-storage users, and other stakeholders to discuss how the university should adapt its use of My Drives and shared drives following Google’s shift away from free and unlimited storage.
During this time, we've gathered insights from community members regarding their use of the Google Workspace platform and concerns about proposed changes. This valuable feedback has highlighted the significance and complexity of this matter, prompting us to reconsider and adjust our approach.
We recognize that Google Workspace is essential for supporting our administrative, academic, and research efforts at Stanford. Therefore, we are pleased to announce that we will implement a much more generous storage limit than previously communicated.
This new limit significantly exceeds the offerings of other universities and aligns with Stanford’s position as a pioneering research institution.
- Starting September 1, 2025, a storage limit of 5 terabytes (TB) will be applied to each My Drive and shared drive.
- This new threshold supersedes any previously announced storage limits.
- For individuals with exceptionally large storage needs (over 5 TB), additional storage can be purchased through the university at a rate of $0.15 per GB annually.
- An email will be sent to those who own or manage a My Drive or shared drive that exceeds the 5 TB storage limit when the process to purchase more storage becomes available in March.
- For more information, please visit the Google Workspace Optimization Project website.
Next steps for Google Workspace
We must continue to be mindful of what we keep in My Drives and shared drives. To support this goal, we’ll share best practices and new lifecycle management processes in the coming months. These new processes will be designed to optimize our storage resources and ensure that essential information stays accessible, even when team members transition to other roles or leave Stanford.
Update on Microsoft storage
Additionally, Microsoft OneDrive and Teams/SharePoint will have similar limits. More details will be provided soon.
Questions and feedback
Your questions and feedback are always welcome. Please feel free to contact the project team. If you’d like a personalized storage consultation, just submit a request.
