Effective Monday, March 31, Microsoft is implementing a storage limit for Microsoft 365 across OneDrive, SharePoint and Exchange email for all educational institutions, including York University. This means that faculty, staff and students will have limits on the amount of space available for storing files and information.
New storage limits for faculty and staff
- OneDrive: 200 GB
- Teams/SharePoint: 1 TB per site
- Exchange/Outlook: No change to existing quotas, but a new archiving policy will automatically move emails over two years old to an archive mailbox.
Email Archiving Feature
The new archiving policy will help manage your email storage by automatically moving emails older than two years to an archive mailbox. Archive mailboxes do not count towards your storage quota and are easily accessible on Windows, Mac, and Outlook Web Access (OWA). This means you can keep your older emails without worrying about them taking up your primary storage space. For more information on accessing your email online archive mailboxes, please refer to the following link from Microsoft Support. . Microsoft Support offers information about managing email storage with online archive mailboxes.
New storage limits for students
OneDrive: 50 GB
- Teams/SharePoint: 1 TB per site
- Exchange: /Outlook: No change to the existing email storage quota.
Next steps
Most people will be unaffected by this change. Nonetheless, you are encouraged to review your storage to understand how much you are using and delete or archive files no longer in use (see link below for more details). Anyone who is over the quota will be contacted directly.
Once the new limits are in place, the system will send a warning notice to anyone who is using 90 per cent of their storage capacity and a second warning when their storage is full. Anyone who exceeds their storage capacity (OneDrive, Teams and Outlook) will not be able to add new files until they have removed or deleted content.
What if I need more storage?
We understand this transition may be challenging. Additional paid storage options are available for users with higher storage needs.
| Provider | 500 GB (Standard) | 1 TB (Medium) | 2 TB (Large) | 5 TB (Extra Large) |
| YU M365 (Microsoft) | $250 | $500 | $1,000 | $2,500 |
Note: these are annual prices with a minimum one-year commitment.
Learn more
Learn how to manage your OneDrive storage through this helpful guide: Managing Your OneDrive Storage.
Contact
Please direct any questions or concerns to USC Client Services at askit@yorku.ca or 416 736 5800.