How can I reduce the size of my preservation hold library when my organization's subscription level does not include advanced compliance management features?

Question

My 1Tb storage is 92% preservation hold library. I was working on some very large files and every save was preserved as a separate version, quickly filling my storage with multiple versions of the same few files.

I have disconnected my account, removed the files causing the issue and emptied both recycle bins. The preservation hold remains full, even with versions that are >6m old. I cannot access the preservation hold library, as when I try I get "An unexpected error has occurred".

IT admin cannot help because their subscription level does not include advanced compliance management features and they cannot view or change the specific retention policies affecting my account, nor can they directly clean up the library.

So, how can I delete the redundant files in the preservation library and free up space?

And what is the default preservation period? Waiting this out 6months does not appear to have helped. Thanks

Answer 1

You need to work with your admin to check what retention policies apply to your OneDrive, they do not need a license for that. The period is defined in the policy, plus 30 days for cleanup:

A timer job periodically runs on the Preservation Hold library. For content that has been in the Preservation Hold library for more than 30 days, this job compares the content to all queries used by the retention settings for that content. Content that is older than their configured retention period and isn't awaiting disposition review is then deleted from the Preservation Hold library, and from the original location if it's still there. This timer job runs every seven days, which means that together with the minimal 30 days, it can take up to 37 days for content to be deleted from the Preservation Hold library.