This Gmail trick will keep your messages and clear your storage

If you find yourself running out of Gmail storage, you might not need to shell out cash to Google for more gigabytes.

The folks over at CNET came up with an ingenious solution to get inbox zero while still holding onto your old emails — just in case you might need them down the line. (Disclosure: CNET is owned by Ziff Davis, which is the same parent company as Mashable.) In short: You create a second, free Gmail account to archive all your old emails. You migrate the old messages there while getting your primary account back to zero.

CNET has the full steps over at its site, but in Gmail you can use the "Forwarding POP/IMAP" tab to forward all your emails and have them automatically deleted from your original account. From there, you can set up your new account to import all the emails. It's a relatively straightforward way to clear up your inbox without deleting everything.

Gmail accounts come with 15GB of free storage and, frankly, while that used to feel like a ton of storage, nowadays it can be filled quite quickly. Heck, we were writing about running out of Gmail storage at Mashable all the way back in 2018. CNET's method to beat the system is pretty smart and Reddit is also full of similar hacks.

You can also just choose to pay for more storage, should these steps prove too confusing or time-consuming. Even CNET's hack requires hours of waiting, at minimum. Google's cheapest option is $20 per year for 100GB of storage, with rising storage and costs from there.