- Microsoft will no longer change the storage usage policy for OneDrive.
- The company was planning to count images in the Gallery and Albums as separate items.
- This could have negatively impacted customers’ storage quota.
- After user backlash, Microsoft will keep the storage experience the same.
Microsoft won’t count your pictures in your gallery and albums twice for the overall storage quota in OneDrive. According to an update published on the official documentation, the company says that based on feedback, it won’t roll out the update that could potentially reduce cloud storage usage for users.
Originally, on October 16, 2023, the software giant was planning to change how files count for the total usage by counting the images uploaded to the OneDrive Gallery and the same files available in the albums as separate items against the total storage quota in OneDrive.
In an effort to mitigate the side effects of this change, Microsoft was also planning to provide additional space for one year to minimize the number of complaints. However, the storage policy ended up causing a backlash, and now the company says that the update won’t roll out and the storage quota policy will remain the same.
As part of the official announcement, Microsoft said on “August 31, 2023, we began to communicate an upcoming update to our cloud storage infrastructure that would result in a change in how OneDrive photos and photo albums data is counted against your overall cloud storage quota.” The update continues noting that this “change was scheduled to start rolling out on October 16, 2023. Based on the feedback we received, we have adjusted our approach. We will no longer roll out this update.” Furthermore, the company notes that it’ll maintain the current photo album policy unchanged for the foreseeable future.
The welcome storage quota rollback comes just after the company announced a massive overhaul for OneDrive. As part of the changes, the new version of OneDrive introduces a new Home page with recommendations powered by AI, Copilot integration for Microsoft 365 subscribers, a new offline experience for the web, updates to make it easier to share files and collaborate with others, and much more.
Some of the new features and changes to the interface are rolling out now, but some improvements are expected to become available in the coming months and others in 2024.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].