Microsoft OneDrive File Versioning — How to delete unused file version(s)
Last update date: 25-Jun-24.
Please note that information contained on 15-Nov-23 is no longer valid.
There is no more “More Settings” and “Storage Metrics” menu on OneDrive Settings.
But instead you can directly see “version history” on each file.
Problem is still there, a lot of history is being kept for each file.
You can then delete version history — unfortunately one by one.
And the deleted version history is still kept in recycle bin. So you need to empty your recycle bin.
Background
This article was written on 15-Nov-23.
Microsoft OneDrive file versioning cannot be disabled.
Minimum retained file version is 100.
OneDrive file version becomes an issue if you have a big file which you frequently (even unknowingly) updated.
For example is email archive. It can be 5–10 GB in size. Every time you open it, it is considered changed and OneDrive will retain a version of it.
This process will quickly reduce your storage space.
So there is no option (for now) than to regularly delete these unwanted file versions.
Precautions
There is no precaution at this moment as deleted file version can still be recovered from recycle bin.
But if you remove them from recycle bin, then there is no way to recover them.
Prerequisites
MS 365 license
Open OneDrive Storage Metrics
I am assuming that you are already on OneDrive page.
When I wrote this article, OneDrive setting is available on top right portion.
Then go to near the bottom to see “storage metrics”
Go to the objects where your files might have multiple versions.
In my case it is the “Documents” library.
Finding Version History
If your file has version(s), Storage Metrics will show “Version History” on right most column.
In my case the file size are abnormally huge, like 9–10 times the original size.
Click on each file version history to see versions of the particular file.
In my case, OneDrive has made x15 versions of the file (each 6.8 GB in size).
Deleting Unused File Versions
Since I did not need any of these file versions, I can press “Delete All Versions”
Else you have to click each file versions and select “Delete”.
Go through each of your file and clean up the versions.
I suggest to clean up the big file first to make an impact.
Deleting from Recycle Bin
As per my precaution above, deleted file versions are still kept in recycle bin.
If you need to reclaim your storage space, then you might want to delete the file versions from recycle bin.
However, there will not be anyway to recover them.
Good luck with your OneDrive file version management, happy deleting! :)
