What is Microsoft cloud storage?

About storage | Storage quotas | Storage FAQs

What is Microsoft cloud storage and what is my quota?

• Your Microsoft storage includes OneDrive files and photos, Outlook.com pictures and attachments, and other files you store when using Microsoft apps and services with a personal account.
• Your Microsoft personal account or a Microsoft 365 subscription sets your storage quota.

Check how much storage you have used

Sign in to check your Microsoft storage usage and quota.

Buy more storage

To renew or upgrade your Microsoft 365 subscription, select Buy now:

Free up OneDrive storage space

1. Sign in to OneDrive and see what's taking up space.

   View files

   Tip

   • Look for large files, ZIP files, or other archives that you no longer need.
   • Your recycle bin also contributes to your cloud storage usage.
   • Move unwanted files out of OneDrive. See the following section for storage housekeeping tips.

2. 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.
   • After you delete unwanted files, it might take up to 24 hours for your quota to update.
   • If you've removed as much as you can and you're still over quota, you need to buy more storage.

3. Review your usage. Check that your OneDrive camera roll isn't full of unwanted videos, screenshots, or images saved from social media.

Reduce Outlook.com storage

1. Sign in to Outlook.com and go to Settings > Subscription.

   ​​​​​​​Sign in

2. Select Email storage to expand the section. A breakdown shows how much space each folder in your mailbox uses.

   

   The list of folders includes an option to permanently delete all items (or those older than 3, 6, or 12 months) to free up space.

   

3. Review the largest emails and attachments in each folder. Sort each folder by size to find items that use the most space.

   Open your large folders

   Tip

   Emails sent with large attachments use more cloud storage. You need to delete the email to delete the attachment.

4. Review your sent items and sort them by size. Don't forget to check your other folders too.

   Open your sent items

5. Select Empty Folder to empty your Junk Email folder.

   Open your Junk Email

6. Select or highlight the messages, then press Shift and DEL on your keyboard to permanently delete them.

   Tip

   • The Deleted Items folder counts against your mailbox storage quota until you empty it manually or the emails are automatically deleted after 30 days, whichever happens first.
   • When you delete items from the Inbox or other folders, they're sent to the Deleted Items folder by default.
   • Items in the Junk folder are automatically deleted after 30 days.

7. Delete email messages that include files or photos. To delete an attachment, you must delete the email message that contains it:

   • To delete All images, find the corresponding message in your mailbox and delete it.
   • For Sent images, go to your Outlook.com Sent Items, find the corresponding message, and then delete it.
   • After you delete the message, also delete it from your Deleted Items folder. Go to Deleted Items, select the messages to remove, and then select Delete.

Reduce Loop storage

1. Go to loop.cloud.microsoft and delete any Loop workspaces, pages, and ideas you no longer need.

Reduce Designer storage

1. Go to designer.microsoft.com and sign in.

2. Select My projects from the top of the page.

3. Review the size of your Recent projects and Generated images, and delete any items you no longer need.

   Warning

   Designer doesn't have a recycle bin. When you delete a project file, you can't recover it.

4. Go to OneDrive > My files > Apps > Designer to see content that you generated or saved.

Other Microsoft storage hints and tips

If your storage doesn't update

If your storage quota doesn't update, check the OneDrive website or go to Outlook.com and select Email storage.

You can also check the storage usage for your personal Microsoft account in the Outlook mobile app:

1. Close the app by swiping it away.
2. Open the app again.
3. Select your profile avatar in the upper-left corner.
4. Select Settings
5. Select your account.
6. Under Storage, select the subscription type to refresh the storage information.

Storage best practices

Before you start deleting files, note that some files shouldn't or don't need to be backed up in OneDrive.

Outlook data files

Outlook data files aren't suitable for storing in your OneDrive because the app often holds them open. Trying to sync these files can slow down your computer and block syncing. 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 only save space if you remove the original contents. If you have both original files and a compressed archive, consider deleting one or the other.

Downloads

Downloaded files are stored on your computer. Unless you specify a different location, they go to your Downloads folder. You can safely remove some files, such as application installation and setup files, because you can download them again from their original source.

Other files

If you don't want to include all of your files and folders in OneDrive, move them to a location outside your OneDrive folder.

1. Open File Explorer or Finder.
2. Select the files or folders you want to move.
3. Drag the selection to its new folder and release.

Mobile storage tips

It's easy to back up every photo, screenshot, messaging image, and social media meme, but not cleaning up your camera roll can waste a lot of storage space.

Help, I deleted files by mistake

Don't worry if you accidentally delete OneDrive files. We'll email you if we notice that you've deleted a lot of files. You can restore them for up to 30 days. Learn how.

When you delete an Outlook.com email, it moves to the Recoverable items store. To permanently erase all of your Deleted Items, you also need to purge all of your Recoverable items. Learn how.