How Much SharePoint Storage You Get by Default & Optimize Your Usage

SharePoint Storage Limits in Microsoft 365

SharePoint is a powerful tool for collaboration, but one of the key questions for businesses is how much storage is available by default. Understanding these storage limits helps organizations manage file organization and sharing effectively. Microsoft 365, which includes SharePoint Online, allocates storage depending on your plan. In this tutorial, we bring a breakdown of the limits and their impact on your operations.

How Much SharePoint Storage Do You Get by Default in Office 365?

When you sign up for Office 365, your SharePoint storage is allocated as follows:

• Baseline Storage: 1 TB for the organization
• Additional Storage: 10 GB per licensed user

For example, if your company has 50 users:

Plan	Baseline Storage	Additional Storage	Total Storage
Office 365 Plan	1 TB	500 GB (50 users)	1.5 TB

This storage allocation can fill up quickly, depending on your organization’s data usage. Monitoring how much SharePoint storage you get by default allows you to plan for future storage needs.

Manage SharePoint Storage for Businesses

Efficiently managing SharePoint storage is crucial, especially for businesses with multiple teams. Here are key tips for managing storage effectively:

Monitor Usage Frequently

Regularly check storage reports in the SharePoint Admin Center. To keep track of your storage:

1. Access the SharePoint Admin Center: Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and navigate to SharePoint.    

2. View Usage Reports: Check storage usage for each site collection to identify where most of your space is being used.

Configure alerts to notify when nearing storage limits

Set alerts to receive notifications when you approach 90% of your allocated storage. This proactive monitoring prevents unexpected storage shortages. If you need automated alerts when approaching the storage limit, this will require using PowerShell scripts. Microsoft does not provide built-in email alerts for storage limits, so administrators often use custom scripts. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Windows PowerShell as an Administrator.

2. Install the SharePoint Online Management Shell by running:  Install-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell

3. Connect to your SharePoint tenant using: Connect-SPOService -Url https://

4. Monitor storage using this script, which checks a site’s storage and sends an email when it exceeds a specified percentage (e.g., 90% of the storage limit):

$siteUrl = "https://.sharepoint.com/sites/"$site = Get-SPOSite -Identity $siteUrl $threshold = 0.9 # 90% threshold

if ($site.StorageUsageCurrent -ge ($site.StorageQuota * $threshold)) {     Send-MailMessage -From "[email protected]" -To "[email protected]" -Subject "SharePoint Storage Limit Alert" -Body "The site $siteUrl is nearing its storage limit."}

You can also use Power Automate to send notifications when certain conditions are met (like when storage reaches a specific level). Power Automate can monitor SharePoint data and trigger alerts based on customized workflows. Go to Power Automate and sign in. Create a new flow that triggers based on SharePoint data thresholds. 

Remove outdated or unnecessary files to free up space

Review the files and folders within the document libraries. Look for:

• Old or outdated documents
• Duplicate files
• Files no longer relevant to current projects

Once you located the unnecessary files, select them by checking the boxes next to them, and click on the Delete button in the toolbar. Confirm the deletion when prompted. The files will move to the Recycle Bin. To permanently free up space, you need to empty the Recycle Bin then.

Tips for Optimizing Your SharePoint Storage

Maximizing your SharePoint storage ensures you get the most out of your allocated space. Consider these strategies:

• Archive Inactive Files: Move older files to an archive or external storage.
• Compress Large Files: Use file compression for large documents to reduce their size.
• Use OneDrive: Encourage employees to use OneDrive for personal file storage, leaving SharePoint for shared resources. If you need to transfer files between OneDrive for Business and SharePoint someday, you can use MultCloud. This multiple cloud manager enables users to directly transfer, sync or backup one cloud data to another online among around 40 cloud drives, including OneDrive for business and SharePoint.

These optimization methods help extend the life of your default storage.

Expand SharePoint Storage: What You Need to Know

When your storage needs exceed the default allocation, expanding is simple. Microsoft offers storage in increments of GB, so you can scale based on your requirements. Here’s what to consider:

• Assess Usage Patterns: Regularly review usage reports to gauge when additional storage is needed.
• Plan for Growth: Anticipate future storage needs based on user and data growth.
• Purchase Additional Storage: Easily buy more storage from the Microsoft Admin Center as needed.

By staying ahead of your storage requirements, you ensure your organization’s productivity remains unhindered.