Updated OneDrive storage allocations

From 3 February 2026, default OneDrive storage allocations will be:

  • Students: 500GB
  • Staff: 50GB

These allocations apply to both new and existing OneDrive accounts. Accounts that are already above these allocations will not have their storage reduced.

You don’t need to take any action for the update to take effect.

Keeping your OneDrive organised

Your University OneDrive is intended for work and study-related files. Organising files, including removing those that are no longer needed, helps keep OneDrive easy to manage over time.

This can include:

  • deleting files or older versions you no longer need
  • emptying your OneDrive Recycle Bin
  • moving shared or collaborative files to a Teams site or SharePoint

For step-by-step guidance, Microsoft provides up-to-date instructions on how to manage your OneDrive for work or school.

If you’re approaching your storage limit

For most people, good housekeeping should be enough to stay within their OneDrive storage allocation.

If you need additional storage to support your work or studies, you can request support via the Self-Service Portal.

Background to this update

Microsoft recently changed its education licensing model, affecting how storage is provided.

As part of this change, Microsoft has reduced the storage allocation per user. Storage is now managed at an organisational level and shared across OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint. This means we need a more structured and consistent way to manage storage, so that we can continue to support staff and students across the University.

While this update focuses on storage allocations, it also marks a starting point for future improvements to help staff and students manage their files more easily. For example, this could include:

  • clearer visibility for people of files that haven’t been accessed for a long time
  • greater confidence about what’s safe to clean up
  • more consistent information across OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint

Get help or support

For step-by-step guidance on managing your OneDrive storage, Microsoft provides up-to-date support information on how to manage your OneDrive for work or school storage.

If you’re unable to resolve an issue using this guidance, you can request support via the Self-Service Portal using the ‘Report an issue’ form.