Google Drive removes controversial file limit days after announcement

In a tweet posted on Monday night (3), Google Drive contacted its users It rolls back what it calls a “system update to Drive item limits”. to maintain stability and optimize performance.” The restriction was noticed by Reddit user 13 on Friday (31).

Without specifying a five million file limit, The storage service stressed that the measure only affects a few people. Then, in a follow-up tweet, the company assured users that any such change would be notified ahead of time.

We recently released a system update to Drive item limits to maintain stability and optimize performance. While this has only affected a small number of people, we are reversing this change as we explore alternative approaches to ensure a great experience for all.

—Google Drive (@googledrive) April 4, 2023

What did Google say about the 5 million file limit?

talk to Border, Google spokesperson Ross Richendrfer explained that the five million file limit refers only to the number of files a user creates in Drive, not the total number of files shared in the cloud. So, in practice, you can have over five million files unless all created by you.

According to Richendrfer, the idea behind the change was to “maintain strong performance and reliability” and to prevent “abuse” of company systems. Thus, the person who reaches the maximum file limit allowed will get a notification to contact Google support to fix the problem.

Regardless, the biggest problem with setting the five million limit was the lack of communication: Google Drive never mentioned the new limit in any of its supporting documents. Besides, the limit will affect both free and paying users, even those who pay 105 BRL per month. For 5TB of storage.