Microsoft OneDrive - How to Manage OneDrive File Versions


Introduction

This article describes how to configure the number of file versions that are stored in your OneDrive. These file versions - especially for large files that are frequently modified - can quickly take up valuable space within your OneDrive quota (100 GB).

Deakin OneDrive automatically saves versions of your files to help you recover from accidental edits or deletions. By default, it retains 500 versions of each file, but this can be customised to better manage storage and compliance needs.

Note: Outlook .pst files must not be synced with OneDrive as they will become corrupted and can take up a significant amount of your quota. For more information, please refer to Microsoft article Choose which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer.

Steps to configure version limits

  1. Access OneDrive Settings:
    • In a web browser, go to your Deakin OneDrive
    • Select the gear icon in the top-right corner.
    • Select OneDrive > One Drive Settings.
      Access OneDrive settings
    • Select More Settings.
    • Scroll down and select Return to the old Site Settings page.
  2. Navigate to Library Settings:
    • In Site Settings > Site Administration select Site libraries and lists.
      select Site libraries and lists
    • Select Customize "Documents".
      select Customize Documents
  3. Configure Versioning Settings:
    • In General Settings select Versioning Settings.
      select versioning settings
    • In Document Version History, choose:
      • Create major versions.
        document version history - major versions
    • In Version time limit, choose
      • Automatic
        Version time limit - Automatic
        Automatic is the recommended setting for managing file versions. It retains more versions for frequently modified files and fewer for rarely changed ones, optimising storage use.

        If you have specific requirements you may instead choose to:
        Delete file versions based on their age by selecting Manual, and insert the number of days until they are deleted; and/or
        You can choose to only keep a specific number of file versions by selecting Version count limit > Keep the following number of major versions. The minimum number you can keep is 100.
  4. Remove previous file versions