Google is changing how its Google Drive product handles deleted files and documents.
Up until now, Google Drive would keep files in the trash indefinitely. That unless users manually opened the trash and chose to delete them for good. In other words, 'trash' is just another way of hiding files users don't want to see.
Starting October 13, 2020, things are changing.
According to Google on its announcement, its Google Drive cloud storage is going to automatically delete files in the trash after 30 days.
What this means, Drive’s trash will work the same way as other Google products, like Gmail, for more consistent behavior across all of Google’s products.
"This will help ensure behavior is consistent and predictable for users across G Suite products, and will help make sure that items users trash are actually deleted as expected," said Google.
Once Google Drive's updated policy goes into effect, G Suite administrators can still restore items that are deleted from the trash for up to 25 days for active users.
So if they accidentally lost animportant file or document, they have a little than a month to save it.
While the automatic trashed files delete can frustrate some users, they should know that Google counts those trashed files toward users' Drive storage quota.
To make sure everyone is aware of the feature, Google is adding a banner notification within Google Drive, as well as on specific Google apps, like Docs and Forms.
"As this policy takes effect, we will show a banner to users with details of the change. The policy change will take effect regardless of whether a user sees or acknowledges the banner.