# Manage storage space

> See how much room photos and files take in Settings → Storage, set the company's storage limit and limits for people, and on Railway, move files from the volume to a cheaper bucket.

Every photo and file in Crewtavo takes up room: plans, visit photos, receipts, résumés, what's in the Trash. **Settings → Storage** shows how much room they take and who's using it, and sets a limit so Crewtavo never runs out of room or runs up Railway's bill by surprise. On Railway, **Settings → Hosting** also lets you move your files to a bucket, which costs a tenth as much.

## See what's using space

Open **Settings → Storage**. Owners see it, and so do admins whose role can change settings.

- **Storage** at the top: how much your photos and files take up, against your limit, and how many files there are. The bar shows what's **In use** and what's **In the Trash**. Files in the Trash still take up room until they're deleted for good. On Railway, it also shows whether files are on the **Volume** or in a **Bucket**, and what Railway charges a month for what's stored now.
- **Who's using it:** what each person added that's still in use, and their limit if they have one. Files nobody in particular added, like booking form uploads, are at the end.
- **By area:** what each part of Crewtavo holds, such as **Drive and plan files**, **Visit photos** or **Receipts**.

Everyone who uses Drive also sees the company's total under Drive's title. See [Keep every file in one place with Drive](https://crewtavo.com/docs/connections/drive/).

## Set the company's limit

Under **Limit**, choose one:

- **Default:** a size Crewtavo picks for where your files are kept (see below). It's the starting choice.
- **No limit:** uploads are never turned away for space. Keep an eye on Railway's bill, and on how full the volume is if your files are on one.
- **Custom:** a size of your own, in GB.

Then choose **Save limit**. On Railway, the page says what storage would cost a month if files filled the limit you chose.

The default stops a little short of what Railway allows:

| Where your files are | Default limit |
| --- | --- |
| On the storage volume (Railway) | 90% of the volume's size: 4.5 GB of the Hobby plan's 5 GB volume. If you make the volume bigger in Railway, the default grows with it. |
| In a bucket, on Railway's Hobby plan | 900 GB. Hobby's buckets hold 1 TB across your whole Railway workspace, so this leaves room for your other projects. |
| In a bucket, on Railway's Pro plan | 1 TB. Pro doesn't cap buckets, so this is a safety net: 1 TB costs about $15 a month. |
| Not on Railway, or Railway not connected | No default limit. Choose **Custom** to set one. |

A GB here is a billion bytes, the way Railway counts it.

:::caution
On a volume, a **Custom** limit bigger than the volume doesn't help: files stop when the volume is full, whatever the limit. Make the volume bigger in Railway first, or [move your files to a bucket](#move-files-to-a-bucket).
:::

## Warnings before it's full

When your files reach **80%** and then **95%** of the limit, owners and admins get a notification in the bell, an email and a push to their phone. They also get one when storage is full. Each warning is sent once. If use drops back under, because the Trash was emptied or the limit raised, it's sent again the next time it's reached.

To change how these reach you, go to **Settings → Profile → Notifications**. On Railway they're under **Railway**; anywhere else, under **Storage**.

## What happens when storage is full

Crewtavo checks each upload's size before it's stored. Once the limit is reached, it turns away new files in Drive and on plans, guide covers, résumés, chat pictures and equipment photos, including files copied from Google Drive. The person sees why, like "This 240 MB file doesn't fit: 44.9 GB of the 45 GB storage limit is used." Owners and admins also get an **Open storage settings** button.

Crews can always finish a job. These always go in, even when storage is full (they still count toward it):

- visit photos, quote photos, ticket photos and Measure pictures
- receipts and sub paperwork
- files sent through a booking form or a one-time upload link
- profile photos, your logo, letterheads, and package and price list pictures

To make room, raise the limit, or [empty the Trash](https://crewtavo.com/docs/connections/drive/#the-trash). Either one counts straight away.

## Limits for people and roles

An owner can give a person a storage limit of their own, so one person can't fill the company's space.

1. Open **Settings → Storage** and find the person under **Who's using it**.
2. Choose **Set limit…** (or **Change…**).
3. Choose **Limit**, type a size in GB, and choose **Save**.

To give everyone with a role the same limit, use **By role** further down. A person's own limit wins over their role's, and a custom role's limit wins over its access level's. Owners are never limited.

A person's limit counts the files they added that aren't in the Trash, so moving old files to the Trash frees up their room. It only turns away what they add to Drive and plans (Google Drive imports too) and guide covers. Everything else still goes in, as long as the company has room. Drive shows them how much of their own space they've used.

## Move files to a bucket

On Railway, photos and files start on the **storage** service's volume. A Railway storage bucket is a cheaper place to keep them. It costs a tenth as much for each GB, and it grows as it fills, so it never runs out of room. [Installing Drive](https://crewtavo.com/docs/connections/drive/#on-railway-install-makes-a-bucket-first) moves your files to a bucket for you. Otherwise, an owner or admin can do it any time:

1. Open **Settings → Hosting** and find **Files storage**. It says where your photos and files are now, with a **Volume** or **Bucket** tag.
2. Choose **Move files to a bucket**. Read what it does and costs, then choose **Move files**.

Crewtavo makes a bucket called `files` in your Railway project and copies every photo and file into it. It skips anything already there, then catches up on files added meanwhile. Once every file is there and checked, it switches storage over to the bucket and restarts it, which takes about a minute. Uploads pause for that minute and ask people to try again in a minute. Opening files keeps working. Then Crewtavo checks files open from the bucket.

**Files storage** shows each step and how many files are copied. You can leave the page: Crewtavo carries on by itself. If Crewtavo restarts partway, for an update say, the move carries on from where it was the next time an owner or admin opens **Settings → Hosting**.

**Your volume isn't touched.** It keeps every file from before the move, so you can move back any time. Railway keeps charging for what's on it, though. Once you're sure you won't move back, delete the volume in Railway to stop paying for it: open the **storage** service, then the volume, then **Settings**.

:::note
Railway's trial doesn't include buckets. If Railway says no, choose a plan on Railway first, then try again.
:::

### What a bucket costs

| | Per GB a month |
| --- | --- |
| On the volume | $0.15 |
| In a bucket | $0.015 |

Railway also counts files sent into a bucket as outbound traffic, at $0.05 per GB. So the move costs that once, for what you have now, and new uploads count the same way. For 4 GB of files, for example, the move costs about $0.20 once, and keeping them costs about $0.06 a month instead of $0.60. Before you start, the move's dialog shows these figures for your own files. Once your files are in the bucket, **Settings → Hosting** adds it to the month. See [What Railway costs](https://crewtavo.com/docs/hosting/railway-costs/).

### Railway doesn't back up buckets

Railway backs up volumes on its Pro plan, but it never backs up buckets. A file deleted from a bucket is gone for good. Crewtavo's Trash keeps deleted files for 30 days, so mistakes can be undone. For anything you can't lose, keep a copy of your own too. See [Back up and export your data](https://crewtavo.com/docs/hosting/backups/).

### When Railway says no

Railway sometimes doesn't let Crewtavo do a step itself, with a Railway sign-in that can't change the project. Then **Files storage** lists the steps to do in Railway instead, like adding the `files` bucket or pasting the variables it shows (**Copy the variables** copies them). Choose **Open Railway**, do the steps, then come back and choose **Carry on**. Some steps Crewtavo notices on its own, and it carries on by itself.

With a project token, Railway doesn't let Crewtavo make or read the bucket at all, and the move stops with **Railway said: Bad Access**. Choose **Remove access** at the bottom of **Settings → Hosting**, then **Log in with Railway**, and choose **Try again**. Logging in with Railway lets Crewtavo do every step itself. See [Railway didn't accept the sign-in](https://crewtavo.com/docs/troubleshooting/railway-sign-in/).

### Move back to the volume

1. In **Settings → Hosting → Files storage**, choose **Move back to the volume**.
2. Choose **Move back**.

Crewtavo switches storage back to the volume, which still has every file from before the move, and restarts it (about a minute). Then it copies back the files added since the move. Until each one is back, it doesn't open. If the volume might be too small for them, the dialog says so: make it bigger in Railway first.

The bucket keeps its copy. Once you're sure everything opens, delete the bucket in Railway to stop paying for it.

Source: https://crewtavo.com/docs/hosting/storage/ (last updated 2026-11-02)