About storage | Storage quotas | Storage FAQs
What is Microsoft cloud storage?Your Microsoft storage includes OneDrive files & photos, Outlook.com pictures & attachments, and other files you stored when using Microsoft apps and services with a personal account.
Your storage quota is set by your Microsoft personal account or a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Sign in below to check your account to see your storage usage and quota.
Sign in
Tips:
Once signed in, select the Microsoft storage section to show details.
If your cloud storage is full, to prevent your account becoming over quota, you'll need to either reduce the number of files you have stored (see below) or renew/buy more storage.
If your Microsoft 365 subscription has expired, you'll need to renew to get the same amount of storage again.
To renew or upgrade your Microsoft 365 subscription, select Buy now:
Buy now
Tip: If you are already a Microsoft 365 Personal & Family subscription holder, you can add even more file storage to the 1 TB already included with your Microsoft 365 subscription. Only the subscription account holder can extend their storage.
How to reduce your Microsoft cloud storageTo learn how to reduce your storage, follow the steps below.
Sign in to OneDrive and see what's taking up space.
View files
Tips:
Look for large files, ZIP or other archives that are no longer required.
Your recycle bin also contributes to your cloud storage usage.
Move unwanted files out of OneDrive – see below for good storage housekeeping tips.
Go to your OneDrive Recycle bin and select Empty recycle bin.
Open your OneDrive Recycle bin
Important:
Emptying your computer's Recycle bin or Trash is not the same as emptying your OneDrive Recycle bin - you need to empty your OneDrive Recycle bin online.
Once you have deleted unwanted files, it may take 24 hours for quotas to be updated.
If you've removed as much as you can, and are still over the quota, you'll have to buy more storage.
Review your usage. Check that your OneDrive camera roll isn't full of unwanted videos, screenshots or images saved from social media.
Sign in to Outlook.com and go to Settings > Account > Storage.
Sign in
Select Email storage to expand the section and you will see a breakdown of how much space each folder in your mailbox is taking. The list of the folders shown includes an option to permanently delete all items (or those older than 3, 6, or 12 months) in these folders to free up space.
Note: If you are not a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you also have the option to upgrade to get 100 GB of space as well as other premium Outlook and Office features.
Review large emails in each account folder. Check largest emails with attachments and review each folder sorted by size.
Open your large folders
Tip: Emails sent with large attachments use more cloud storage. You need to delete the email to delete the attachment.
Review your sent items and sort them by size. Don't forget to check your other folders too.
Open your sent items
Empty your Junk Email and select Empty Folder.
Open your Junk Email
Permanently delete email by selecting or highlighting the messages, then press Shiftand DEL on your keyboard.
Tips:
The Deleted Items folder does count against your mailbox storage quota until it is manually emptied, or the emails are automatically deleted after 30 days, whichever happens first.
When deleting items from Inbox or other folders, items are sent to the Deleted Items folder by default.
Items in the Junk folder are automatically deleted after 10 days.
Delete email messages that include files or photos. To delete the file or image, you must delete the message it's attached to:
For All images, find the corresponding message in your mailbox and delete it.
For Sent images, go to your Outlook.comSent Items, find the corresponding message, then delete it.
After deleting the message, you also need to delete it from your Deleted Items folder. Go to Deleted Items, select the item or items to remove, then select Delete.
Learn more about how to organize your inbox with Archive, Sweep, and other tools in Outlook.com.
Go to loop.cloud.microsoft and delete any Loop Workspaces, Pages and Ideas you no longer need.
Tip: Each workspace has its own Recycle bin. To empty your Recycle bin, select Empty all in the top right corner.
Go to designer.microsoft.com and sign in.
Select My projects from the top of the page.
Review the size of your Recent projects and Generated images, deleting any items you no longer need.
Warning: Designer does not have a recycle bin. When a project file is deleted, it cannot be recovered.
Go to onedrive.com> My files > Apps > Designer to see content that has been Generated or Saved.
If your storage quota hasn't updated, check either the OneDrive website, or go to Outlook.com and select Email storage.
You can also check your storage using the Outlook mobile app:
Close the app (swipe it away)
Open the app again
Tap your profile avatar in the top left
Tap on the Settings
Tap on your Account
Under the heading Storage tap on the subscription type (it will either be Free plan or Premium) to force a refresh with the most recent storage.
Note: If your account is locked, it can take up to 2 hours after purchasing additional storage for your new quota to show. If your quota hasn't updated after 4 hours, get in touch with us.
Before you start deleting files, note that some files either shouldn't, or don't need to be backed up in OneDrive.
Outlook data files
Outlook data files are not suitable for storing in your OneDrive because they are often held open by the app, and trying to sync them can slow down your computer and block sync. Learn how to remove an Outlook.pst data file from OneDrive.
Compressed archives
Compressed files such as 7Z, RAR, TAR and ZIP can take up less space than their contents, but you will only save space if you have also removed the original contents. If you have both original files and a compressed archive, consider deleting one or the other.
Downloads
Every time you download a file from the internet, it is stored on your computer. Unless you specify a different location, it will be stored in your Downloads folder. Some files can be safely removed because they can be easily found again from the download source, for example application installation and set-up files.
Other files
If you don't want to include all of your files and folders in your OneDrive, you can move the folders to a location out of your OneDrive folder.
Open File Explorer or Finder.
Select the files or folder you wish to move.
Drag the selection to its new folder and release.
Notes:
Take your time moving files to prevent releasing in the wrong place. Press CTRL + Z to undo the last file move.
If you move a file, the app associated with it may not be able to find it if it's in your Recent list.
Files moved out from OneDrive are not backed up or protected. If your computer fails, content may be irretrievably lost. Files removed from OneDrive are held in your OneDrive Recycle Bin for up to 30 days - learn how to restore them.
Mobile
It can be too easy to just back up every photo, screenshot, messaging image and social media meme, but backing up everything without a little cleaning now and then can lead to huge amounts of wasted space.
Tips:
Consider if you need to include all images in your Android camera roll backup. Learn more.
Have a monthly purge of your backed up camera roll - use OneDrive.com photo viewer, not the camera roll on your mobile.
It can be too easy to just back up every photo, screenshot, messaging image and social media meme, but backing up everything without a little cleaning now and then can lead to huge amounts of wasted space.
Tips:
Consider if you need to include all images in your Android camera roll backup. Learn more.
Have a monthly purge of your backed up camera roll - use OneDrive.com photo viewer, not the camera roll on your mobile.
Don't worry if you delete any OneDrive files by mistake, we'll email you if we notice a lot of files have been deleted, and you can always restore files up to 30 days later. Learn how.
Once you have deleted an Outlook.com email, it moves to a Recoverable items store. To permanently erase all of your Deleted Items you need to also purge all of your Recoverable items. Learn how.
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