Microsoft storage

1. 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.

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.

   • 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.

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

1. Sign in to Outlook.com and go to Settings > Account > Storage.
   ​​​​​​​Sign in

2. 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.

   

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3. 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.

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

5. Empty your Junk Email and select Empty Folder.
   Open your Junk Email

6. Permanently delete email by selecting or highlighting the messages, then press Shift and 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.

7. 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.com Sent 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.

1. Go to loop.cloud.microsoft and delete any Loop Workspaces, Pages and Ideas you no longer need.

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, 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.

4. 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:

1. Close the app (swipe it away)

2. Open the app again

3. Tap your profile avatar in the top left

4. Tap on the Settings

5. Tap on your Account 

6. 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.

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.

1. Open  File Explorer or  Finder.

2. Select the files or folder you wish to move.

3. Drag the selection to its new folder and release.

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.

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.

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.