Starting January 27, 2025, Microsoft will implement significant changes to OneDrive storage policies for business and enterprise accounts.
What’s Happening
Microsoft will be closing a loophole that previously allowed OneDrive data to be archived free of charge without licensing. Starting in 2025, deleted and unlicensed accounts covered by a retention policy will be automatically archived into Azure after a 93-day period.
This archival will disconnect the inactive OneDrive from Office 365, breaking any associated sharing links. The accounts and correlated data will no longer be accessible.
To re-access the archived OneDrive accounts, organizations must create an Azure subscription and link it to the OneDrive archiving service. To reactivate an account, there will be additional costs:
$0.60/GB Reactivation Fee: This will be a one-time fee for each OneDrive that is reactivated
$0.05/GB Monthly Storage Cost: A monthly cost for OneDrive data across all archived accounts.
Note: Organizations may be charged retroactively for the period that data has been archived by Microsoft
Unlicensed accounts not covered by a retention policy will be moved to the recycle bin, and eventually permanently deleted.
Who is Affected?
All business and enterprise accounts will be affected by this change, with the exception of EDU, GCC, and DoD customers.
- Business and enterprise accounts covered by a retention policy will be subject to storage and reactivation fees.
- Business and enterprise accounts not covered by a retention policy will eventually be deleted.
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Impact to Organizations
- Inaccessible data: Once archived, OneDrive accounts will become inaccessible to end users
- Broken sharing links: All existing sharing links to files in archived OneDrives will no longer be functional
- Potential costs: Reactivating archived accounts and maintaining access to data will incur additional charges.
Possible Workarounds
License critical accounts: Issue a OneDrive license to any important OneDrive accounts that organizations would like to preserve access to.
Alternative storage: Consider transferring important data to other third-party storage solutions.
Content Search: Utilize the Content Search feature within the M365 admin center to extract individual files that organizations would like to retain. These extracted files can remain accessible, without activating the full archived OneDrive account.
Please note that linking an Azure subscription to the OneDrive archiving service would automatically initiate a back charge for all previous OneDrive storage so it's important to understand the effects before doing so.
Next Steps
Steps organizations need to take to prepare for the upcoming changes.
Review accounts: Take time to identify unlicensed OneDrive accounts that are at risk of archival (available in the SharePoint admin reporting center) and move/delete unnecessary data.
Make decisions: Prior to January 27, 2025, determine which accounts can be deleted and which require persistent OneDrive licensing.
Plan for costs: If access to archival data is necessary, plan for projected storage and reactivation fees.
Establish new policies: If needed, determine new policies on OneDrive usage and data retention to minimize future issues.
How to Find Unlicensed OneDrive Accounts
Follow these steps to determine how many unlicensed accounts will be affected by this change.
- Log into the M365 administrative portal at Admin.Microsoft.Com
- Select the Admin Center menu on the left hand navigation menu and expand it until the SharePoint Admin Center is located.
- Click to enter the SharePoint Admin Center.
- Within the SharePoint admin center, go to Reports → OneDrive Accounts
- Under OneDrive Account, view the summary of unlicensed accounts and the storage amount they total up to, along with any retention policy considerations that apply.
- Download the report as a CSV file for a full manifest of each account to better determine whose data needs to be kept and whose can be purged.
By taking proactive steps before January 27th, organizations can be prepared to navigate this transition effectively: without undue cost or data loss.
More Information: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/unlicensed-onedrive-accounts