The Google Storage Project (2025-2026)
Who this is for:
Current Whitman employees and students
This article provides provides announcements and information that has been shared over email, as well as additional details about addressing the challenge Whitman faces in running out of storage space on our Google Workspace.
Announcement (email): "Deletion Pending" label in Google-- DON'T PANIC
Hello Whitman community,
Early this year (February 7th announcement, follows this one on this webpage) we let you all know that Whitman is running out of storage space on our Google Workspace (drive, docs, email– all of it.) We’ve been working behind the scenes to figure out how we will address this problem. As part of our work, we will conduct a test run of a process that will help us understand how to make sure we don’t lose any of “our” (yours, mine, the college’s – any of it) data that we need to preserve.
In the test run, – starting very soon – you might notice that some files/folders in your Google Drive (not Shared Drives) have an ominous red label that says “Deletion Pending”.
If you see a “Deletion Pending” label:
Don’t panic.
No really, don’t panic: we are not actually going to delete those files/folders at this time.
During this test run, you need take no action if you see the label.
In the future, when we’re live and not in a test run, you will need to take action – but rest assured, we’ll have instructions/help and plenty of communication with the Whitman community about how the labeled data can be copied, downloaded, or otherwise saved.
The Deletion Pending label looks like this in a Google Drive:
And looks like this in a Google file (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. Shown here in a Sheet):
If you want to learn more about what we’re testing with the “Deletion Pending” label, please refer to our Google Storage Project knowledgebase article [the webpage you are currently reading, please refer to “Additional details (not in the email)”].
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you for your patience and support!
On behalf of the team,
David
Additional details (not in the email)
What files/folders are going to receive the Deletion Pending label during the test run?
All the files/folders used in the test belonged to former WCTS staff members who are no longer employed by Whitman. If you see a Deletion Pending label, it means one of those former staff members owned the file/folder and shared it with you. Since we have made their account inactive (instead of deleting it), you still retain the access they gave you.
The email mentions forthcoming instructions on what will happen in the future with files with “Deletion Pending.” Is there a “sneak preview” of what those instructions might be?
No, unfortunately there isn’t. There are too many variables and questions we still have, which is a driving factor in doing the test run. Throughout this project, we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that members of the Whitman community do not lose data unnecessarily, and the instructions, information, and support we provide reflect this commitment.
Announcement February 7, 2025 (email): Changes to Google: Whitman’s storage is now limited
To: faculty, staff, students
From: Dan Terrio
Faculty, Staff and Students:
I am writing to inform you of a significant change to our Google Apps for Education license that we use for email, calendaring, document storage, shared drives, etc. This email is not a call to action, but rather to provide information.
As of February 2021, Google no longer provides unlimited storage for its educational customers. Storage is consumed by email, calendar data, documents (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Photos, etc.) and more. Collectively at Whitman, we are currently utilizing about 90% of our allotted space. If we reach 100%, some or all services will stop functioning unless we purchase more storage space. Even if we do purchase more space, that will only be a “band-aid solution” before we again find ourselves needing to purchase even more space. A long-term solution is necessary: Whitman needs to create a strategy to manage and share this now limited resource.
Again, this email is not a call to action by any community member, rather it is just a note to say that we will be working on finding a solution to our situation. You should not feel compelled to do anything in the short term to address storage that you might be utilizing in the Google space. We will solicit ideas and feedback from the Whitman community throughout the process.
One important thing for you to be aware of now: The solution will very likely include implementing storage quotas that will limit how much data you can store in Google. I do not have more details on these quotas at this time.
I have assembled a team in WCTS to develop strategies to manage and share Google storage space across the Whitman community. If you have any ideas, we would certainly welcome them.
In the next several months we will provide recommendations for how we manage and share the now limited resource from Google.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Dan