Optimizing Gmail storage space

[thejoeinme]

Without going crazy, I've searched the forums and haven't found many topics to address this. Apologies in advance if such topics, in face, exist.

I've had my Eris for nine months, and I've never really messed with the Gmail app/storage settings much. But I'm noticing that it's taking up around 50MB of storage on the phone. I have it set to sync 2 days. I have five labels that get synced. My Inbox, and one other label, are set to "Sync all;" the other three labels are set to "Sync 2 days."

Any time I try to change the settings or how many days to sync (like changing everything to 2 days, or 1 day), it winds up eating more of my phone's internal storage, but for an app to use a third of the total storage seems a bit extreme to me.

My Gmail app is showing 332KB, of which, 52KB is data and 280KB is the app. There is no option to clear the cache. I can Manage Space or Clear Data, though. My Gmail storage is showing 49.89MB, of which, 276KB is the application. There is no option to clear the cache or manage space, only clear the data.

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

Also, while I'm on the topic, is there any reason for the discrepancy between how much space the Market says a given app occupies, versus what the phone says? Example: The Market says Maps uses 4MB, or so. My phone shows it occupying twice that much space. Facebook is allegedly 1.5MB in size, but it takes up four times as much space on the phone. There is no cache to clear, and I have everything disabled that can be disabled. What's using up so much space in these apps? Thanks again!

 

[Frisco]

Welcome to the forums.

APK files are compressed; the size you see announced in Market will be about 80% (or less) of the size you see once unpacked into your device.

Here's the APK files wiki:

APK (file format) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't like gmail much at all, except for the account needed to use Market. That whole system has off-and-on seemed wiggy to me, even calendar.

Those sizes you're reporting sound normal to me, with the sync regimen you have enabled: lots of stuff to retrieve or to try to retrieve even when none is there.

Why can't you clear the cache? Is it greyed out?

 

[thejoeinme]

Thanks for replying.

The Clear Cache option is greyed out, yes.

Is there a better sync regimen than what I have? I'm not sure what it means to "Sync 1 day," for example. I love the Gmail app, aside from this one issue.

 

[mistaj33]

Your Gmail Storage is waaay too big. Mine shows 484kb. 49+ megs is insane. Something is wrong there.

I would clear the data on both gmail and gmail storage and let it re-sync. After "clearing data" on the gmail app, you will need to go back into gmail's settings and tweak everything back to your liking. Clearing the data sets the program back to its default settings. No big deal though, since it only takes a few seconds to get through that.

Before doing any of this, you may want to consider cleaning up your inbox a bit from a pc. I have my gmail app setup similarly to you. I "sync all" on my inbox and leave other labels at "4 days." Here's the thing though. I try not to keep more than 20-50 emails in my inbox at any given time. When they come in, I either delete them or archive them or label them. This makes things run snappy and makes it easier to find important saved messages.

 

[thejoeinme]

Thanks so much. I'm trying that now. Hopefully it helps!

EDIT: Do I Clear Data from the Gmail app, or the Gmail Storage? Or both?

 

[mistaj33]

Thanks so much. I'm trying that now. Hopefully it helps!

EDIT: Do I Clear Data from the Gmail app, or the Gmail Storage? Or both?

I usually clear both whenever I have any issues.