Chromebooks have always been appreciated for being fast and simple-to-use devices but they have also been panned for not packing great functionality. However, with the arrival of Android, Linux, and also Windows apps via Wine, things have taken a wild turn. Sadly, with so many options available, now the low storage on Chromebooks have become a bottleneck. You now need a lot more storage to accommodate apps from all three ecosystems. Keeping that in mind, we are here to tell you how you can free up storage in Chromebook. So without further ado, let’s find multiple ways to free up space in Chromebook in 2021.
Before anything, you need to find out how much free storage is available on your Chromebook so for that, go through our first tutorial. After that, you can learn all the methods to clear data on Chromebook.
- Check Your Chromebook’s Free Storage
- Storage Management
- Clear Cache
- Clear Local Data
- Move Files to Google Drive
- Remove Unused User Accounts
- Powerwash Your Chromebook
Check Your Chromebook’s Free Storage
It’s important to keep a tab on the storage left in your Chromebook, so that you can try the various methods to free storage and see the changes. You can check your Chromebook’s free storage by going to the Files app. In the app, click on the three-dot menu button at the top-right corner where you should see the free storage left.
Before anything, I would recommend you to take advantage of the built-in Storage Management tool on Chrome OS. It allows you to find all the apps and services that have taken up space on your Chromebook in one place. So here is how to go about it.
- Having done that, click on “Apps and extensions” and it will list out all your web apps, Android apps, and extensions.
Clear Cache
If you regularly use Android apps on your Chromebook then you should keep a check on App data and cache. To do so, open Settings -> Apps on the left pane -> Google Play Store -> Manage Android Preferences. Now, the Android Settings page will open up.
As you might have noticed, there’s no way to delete files that the OS caches for you in the “Offline” folder. However, there’s a workaround to get rid of these local data files. You can open up Chrome and type “chrome://drive-internals” in the address bar.
Move Files to Google Drive
Chrome OS is based on the principle that users will be making use of the cloud services & internet more, rather than relying on conventional methods to store files. However, there is no way you can store Android or Linux apps in the cloud. Thus, to free up space, you will have to move your documents, media files stored locally to Google Drive.
If you have a user account of a friend or family member, who only made an account to try out the Chromebook, you should remove them, as multiple user accounts do take up a lot of storage.
You can remove user accounts on the login screen. Simply click on the arrow icon and select “Remove account”.
If none of the aforementioned ways to free up storage on Chrome OS worked for you then your last resort is power washing your device. This will factory reset your Chromebook and will give you a brand new Chromebook with a lot of storage left.
Our tutorial will work with all of the following Chromebooks. It is not an exhaustive list and is only here to serve as an example.
Free Up Space on Chromebook to Make Way for Android and Linux Apps
The aforementioned ways should make sure you have enough free local storage to install the extensive number of Android and Linux apps. So, try them out on your Chromebook, and do let us know if these methods worked out for you.
