KI 3757 Exceeded Storage Space OneDrive

2026-10-21

If OneDrive reports that your storage space is full, file version history may be the cause. This is particularly common if you have large Word or PowerPoint files that have been edited frequently over a long period of time.

Why does version history use so much storage space?

When you make changes to a file, previous versions of the file may be stored as separate versions in OneDrive. Version history makes it possible to go back to or restore an earlier version if something is changed or deleted by mistake.

For large files that are updated frequently, however, previous versions can eventually use a significant amount of storage space.

For example, a Word or PowerPoint file may be 300 MB in its current version, but if hundreds of previous versions have accumulated over several years, the file may use tens of GB of your storage quota in total.

This means that the files you see in OneDrive may appear to use considerably less space than OneDrive reports as being used.

Check what is using your storage space

You can use Storage Metrics to find folders and files that use a lot of space.
Go to:
https://universityofbergen-my.sharepoint.com/?p=22&setting=1
and select Storage Metrics.

Go through the folders to identify files that use a disproportionate amount of storage space. For some files, you may see that the total storage usage is significantly larger than the size of the current file. In these cases, previous versions are often responsible for much of the storage usage.

Delete old versions

If you find an Office file that is using a large amount of space, check its previous versions:

Open Version History for the file.
Delete previous versions that you no longer need.
If you do not need to keep any of the previous versions, you can select Delete all versions.

Delete all versions does not delete the current version of the file. Only the previous versions are deleted.
For large files with many versions, this can free up a significant amount of storage space.

Empty the Recycle Bin

When previous versions are deleted, they may still use storage space because they remain in the Recycle Bin.
To fully free up the storage space, they must therefore be removed from both:

Recycle Bin
Second-stage recycle bin

You can access the OneDrive Recycle Bin here:
https://universityofbergen-my.sharepoint.com/recycle

At the bottom of the Recycle Bin, you will also find a link to the Second-stage recycle bin.
Important: Once content is deleted from the Second-stage recycle bin, you should consider it permanently deleted from OneDrive. Make sure that you no longer need the previous versions before deleting them. UiB does, however, take daily backups of OneDrive.

Check your largest files

You can view the largest files stored in your OneDrive here:
https://universityofbergen-my.sharepoint.com/largestfiles
This can help you identify large files that may be contributing to your storage usage.

If OneDrive is still full

If you have deleted old versions and emptied both recycle bins but still do not have enough available storage space, contact the IT Service Desk for further assistance.