Storage & quotas in Microsoft 365
How storage works in Microsoft 365 — how much you get, what counts toward your quota, and what to do when you're running low.
Every Microsoft 365 account comes with a generous amount of storage. Understanding how it's divided — and what uses it — helps you plan ahead and avoid any surprises.
Quick summary
Each Microsoft 365 business user gets 1 TB (terabyte) of OneDrive storage for personal files. Your organization also gets a pool of SharePoint storage shared across all team sites. Email storage in Exchange (Outlook) is separate, typically 50 GB or 100 GB per mailbox depending on your plan.
How storage is divided
Microsoft 365 storage comes in three separate buckets:
| Storage type | What it's for | Typical allowance |
|---|---|---|
| OneDrive | Personal files, documents, photos | 1 TB per user |
| SharePoint | Team document libraries | 1 TB + 10 GB per licensed user (shared pool) |
| Exchange (Mailbox) | Outlook email and calendar | 50 GB (Business Basic) or 100 GB (Standard and above) |
These pools don't overlap — your OneDrive storage doesn't affect your mailbox, and vice versa.
Checking your OneDrive storage
Open OneDrive at onedrive.com.
Look at the bottom left of the screen. You'll see a storage indicator showing how much you've used and how much remains (for example, "50 GB used of 1 TB").
Checking your mailbox storage
In Outlook on the web, storage usage is shown in Settings → View all Outlook settings → General → Storage. You can see how much of your mailbox you've used.
Managing storage when you're running low
Freeing up OneDrive space
- Delete old files you no longer need. Don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin afterwards (files in the Recycle Bin still count toward your quota for a period).
- Remove large email attachments that have been saved to OneDrive — sometimes files are auto-saved and accumulate over time.
- Archive old projects — if there are files you need to keep but won't use, consider compressing them into a zip file to reduce space.
Freeing up mailbox space
- Delete emails with large attachments — these are the biggest space users.
- Empty the Deleted Items and Junk folders regularly.
- Use the Cleanup tools in Outlook — look in Settings for options to delete duplicate or old emails automatically.
Freeing up SharePoint space
SharePoint storage is shared across your organization. If it's running low, your admin should review which sites are using the most space and archive or clean up old content.
Getting more storage
If you genuinely need more than the included allowance:
- OneDrive add-on storage is available for purchase from the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing.
- Additional SharePoint storage can also be purchased.
- If multiple people are running out, it may be worth upgrading to a plan with more included storage.
Deleting a user doesn't automatically free up their storage
When you remove a user, their OneDrive files don't disappear immediately — they are transferred to another user (if you set that up) or retained for 30 days. Their storage quota is freed once their account is fully deleted. See Removing a user safely for details.
Common questions
Related guides
- OneDrive basics
- SharePoint basics
- Removing a user safely
- Microsoft 365 billing explained
- Storage & quotas in Google Workspace
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