1.Introduction
The usage of SharePoint Online has increased since it was integrated into Microsoft 365. For many users, this expanded usage has resulted in storage space depletion. In this case, the customers can either limit their individual SharePoint usage or purchase additional SharePoint storage.
Unfortunately, both options have their pitfalls. Firstly, it is almost impossible to limit (or stop) the usage/growth of SharePoint Online, especially if you use it to store your data. Secondly, the second option may help you, but Microsoft limits the storage of a single SharePoint Online site to 25TB. Once you reach that limit, you cannot buy more SharePoint storage for your site.
These problems lead to the solution we offer for you. The storage limitation could be solved by archiving the rarely used documents and replacing them with shortcuts by contentACCESS or cleaning up the version history. (Read more about the contentACCESS archiving here.)
Before archiving and replacing the items with shortcuts – and cleaning up the version history – it’s necessary to analyze the specific SharePoint environment and suggest plans for how to free up some of the SharePoint storage space. For this purpose, we have developed a Storage Optimizer application, which can help to find the most storage-intensive, but rarely used parts in SharePoint. These documents are good candidates for archiving.
The Storage Optimizer application is free, but it requires registration through the TECH-ARROW App Store to download and a license key to use the product.
The following sections will introduce you to the application and its functionality.
For a quick review, check out Andy Malone’s video about the Storage Optimizer: