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Remain within your Outlook and OneDrive storage quotas by regularly reviewing, clearing, and transferring documents and files. Please consider incorporating the following strategies into your workflow reduce your WSU Microsoft storage usage. Reminder: Please ensure compliance with university records retention and disposition policies by reviewing the table to determine when data can be deleted. |
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By Feb 4 2026, WSU will implement the below storage changes for all users that will reduce the available storage capacity for Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint:
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Delete Files and Messages
Prioritize deleting large, outdated, or unnecessary files, including videos, images, large data exports, or older project presentations.
If you have large amounts of data in Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint, please delete only 5 GB of data at a time or 5,000 files or messages at a time, whichever is encountered first. Before continuing to delete items, ensure that you empty the OneDrive recycle bin and purge emails from the Recover Deleted Items option in Outlook (review general online instructions for securely deleting emails).
Clear Deleted Items Folder and Recycled Bin
Permanently delete emails in your Deleted Items folder in Outlook and all items in your OneDrive recycle bin.
Deleted emails from your primary inbox or other mailbox folders are sent to your Deleted Items folder in Outlook, and deleted OneDrive files remain in your recycle bin for 93 days. These continue to occupy Outlook and OneDrive storage until Microsoft automatically deletes the items.
After deleting any large, outdated, or unnecessary items, review your Deleted Items folder and your recycle bin, and then permanently delete all data to increase available storage space in both services.
Delete Duplicate Documents
Review Outlook and OneDrive for duplicate copies of the same document. If duplicates are found, retain the original and final versions, and delete inactive or irrelevant copies.
You are not required to retain working versions of a single document that is focused on one specific topic. Delete duplicate files that are no longer being used or updated, and ensure you retain the original first version of a document and the final version of a document if applicable.
Local Computer Storage
Store Outlook and OneDrive data locally on your WSU computer or other university-owned device.
Transfer your data out of the WSU Microsoft cloud environment by downloading information from Outlook and OneDrive to a secure, local location directly to your WSU-owned device.
Use of external, local storage devices such as flash drives is cautiously recommended as these devices can be easily misplaced or compromised.
Compress Documents and Images
Convert documents and images to different file types to greatly reduce their size while maintaining the same level of quality.
- Zipped (compressed) files take up less storage space and can be shared more quickly than uncompressed files. Review instructions for zipping and unzipping files.
- PDF files also significantly reduce the size of a Microsoft document. Learn more about using Adobe Acrobat with OneDrive.
- When compressed correctly based on the intended use, such as in web pages or e-mail, image files can maintain reasonable image quality at a relatively small size. Learn how to compress images with Adobe or compress images with Microsoft Picture Manager.
On-Premise File Servers
Offload and archive Outlook and OneDrive data in secure, physical servers located across WSU and managed by various university IT teams.
On-premise file servers allow you to store PST files of exported older emails, large or infrequently accessed files, file backups, and previous versions of a file so you can keep only the most necessary data in your Outlook and OneDrive storage.
Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance accessing a WSU on-premise server for Microsoft data management.
Project Management Services
Track and store project-related documents, files, and other data in university-approved project management services that are separate from the WSU Microsoft environment.
WSU provides access to project management software such as Jira, Confluence, and more. Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance determining which project management services best serves your needs.
WSU-Authorized Cloud Storage Services
Transition away from Microsoft services and store your documents or files in alternative, university-approved cloud storage services.
WSU provides limited access to additional cloud storage services such as Amazon Web Services and more. Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance accessing advanced cloud storage services.
WSU Email Online Archive
WSU offers an opt-in online archive service in Outlook that automatically stores emails older than six months and does not occupy space within your Outlook storage quota.