How to reduce OneDrive storage

OneDrive storage cleanup can take some time as you need to look through files. Please plan to take a few hours for this task (they do not need to be consecutive).

As a reminder here are UWindsor’s OneDrive storage limits:

 

Employee (Faculty/Staff/Sessional)

Student

Retiree

Alumni

OneDrive

20GB

5GB

10GB

N/A

 

Step 1: Sign in to OneDrive and review what is taking up storage space 

University of Windsor OneDrive storage is to be used for professional and academic matters. All personal files should be removed.

1. Look for personal files

  • Personal media (photos, videos, music)
  • Personal financial, tax or benefit info
  • Personal medical info
  • Personal school or volunteer work files

These personal files may be of importance to you. Consider two options for moving them:

  • External hard drives: Opt for personal drives with independent power sources or those powered by your computer. Contact IT Services if you have questions about what types of drives can or cannot be connected to university computers.
  • Personal cloud storage: Choose from Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Dropbox or Box for secure and accessible storage.

2. Look for folders and files shared with other people. 

  • Under the "Sharing" column, you can see if a folder or file is "Shared" or Private"
  • If a folder or file is "Shared," select "Shared" to see who the folder is shared with. Then ask yourself, does this file belong on my OneDrive, or should it be stored in a SharePoint/Team so others can access it if my OneDrive gets deleted? 

3. Look in your Recordings folder (OneDrive > My files > Recordings)

  • Teams' meetings/classes are saved in OneDrive. These recordings are often big files.
  • Are they needed? If no one has watched them since they were recorded, delete them.

4. Look in your Pictures folder (OneDrive > My files > Pictures)

  • There may be several folders. Select them one-by- one.
  • Once inside a folder, the files can be sorted by File size > Larger to smaller to help identify the bigger ones.  
  • It may also be helpful to Switch view options to Tiles to see a small preview of each file without having to open it.
  • Delete any unused or unnecessary files.

5. Look in your Downloads folder, if you have one on your OneDrive (not applicable to your local Downloads folder).

  • Sort by File size > Larger to smaller to find bigger files.
  • Once inside a folder, the files can be sorted by File size > Larger to smaller to help identify the bigger ones.  
  • Do you access any of the bigger files regularly (look at the Modified date)? If not, delete them.
  • Have you saved any of these files elsewhere? If so, delete the duplicate copy from your Downloads folder.
  • Delete any unused or unnecessary files.

6. Look for other large files, ZIP or archives in your other OneDrive folders (OneDrive > My files > Folder X)

  • Sort your folders by file size (File size > Larger to smaller).
  • Start looking through the files in the larger folders. If a file is no longer required, delete it.
  • Remember a ZIP file is a compressed file. If you have extracted the files on your computer, you can safely delete the ZIP file. Keeping both means you have duplicate copies of the files.

7. Another way to approach OneDrive clean-up is to review your folders and files by date (Modified > Older to newer)

  • Open your oldest folders and determine if some or all the files are still needed. If not, delete them.
  • Think about the frequency with which you do something and then delete older related files. For example, if you teach a course, host an event or update documentation once a year, do you need the files from 5, 4, 3 and even 2 years ago or is the most recent copy sufficient?

 

Step 2: Go to your OneDrive Recycle bin and select Empty 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 for work, academic, or research purposes, you can submit a request to IT Services for review.
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