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OneDrive Folder Size Discrepancy (20 GB Externally vs. 76 MB Internally)

Anonymous
2025-03-09T20:02:01+00:00

Hello Microsoft Support Team,

I’m experiencing a significant discrepancy in my OneDrive folder size:

  • Externally, the folder shows 28 GB (as reported by OneDrive storage management).
  • Internally, when I open the folder on my Mac (macOS [version]) or via the OneDrive web interface, it only displays 76 MB of visible files.

Steps I’ve already taken:

  1. Checked for hidden files in OneDrive Online (web) and Finder (Cmd + Shift + .).
  2. Cleared OneDrive Recycle Bin and old version histories.
  3. Verified Files On-Demand settings (all files are set to download locally).
  4. Reset OneDrive sync (deleted cache and restarted the app).

Issue persists:

  • The storage details confirms the folder occupies 28 GB, but I cannot locate the missing files.
  • Suspected causes:
    • Hidden/system files syncing to OneDrive but not visible online.
    • Corrupted sync data or metadata.
    • Phantom files counting toward storage quota.

Request:
Could you please:

  1. Investigate the folder’s storage allocation on the backend?
  2. Identify if hidden files, orphaned versions, or corrupted data are causing the discrepancy?
  3. Provide steps to resolve this without losing existing data?

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Rishang

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | Other

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-10T00:09:34+00:00

    Dear Rishang,

    Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

    We understand that you are having issues with your OneDrive storage and have already checked hidden files, cleared recycle bins, and old version histories. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience.

    We recommend checking if there is a Preservation Hold Library in your OneDrive on the storage metrics page. The presence of files in the Preservation Hold Library typically means that your Office 365 organization's admin has enabled a retention policy to retain data for a certain period on your OneDrive for Business. During this period, any items you delete from your OneDrive for Business are moved to the Preservation Hold Library.

    As an end-user, you can't edit or disable this policy. In this situation, we recommend contacting your Microsoft 365 admin to remove the retention policy set on your OneDrive to help release the data. The admin of your Office 365 organization can exclude or remove your OneDrive for Business site from the retention policy. Once this is done, you can proceed with deleting the content in the Preservation Hold Library.

    If you need assistance finding the admin in your organization, you can refer to this guide: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

    For your and admin's reference:

    If the issue still persists or there's no Preservation Hold Library in your OneDrive that occupies storage, considering that as forum support, we may have limited resources and permission to investigate the folder’s storage allocation or hidden files from backend service, more resources need to be involved to help further.

    In this situation, we sincerely recommend you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator and follow the steps in this article to create a support ticket with Online Support. The support team there has higher permissions than we do. They can help check the situation on your side, involve more resources to collect logs, and assist you with troubleshooting. This would be a more efficient way of handling this case for you.

    For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

    Please accept our apologies for redirecting you to the related team support, as the moderators in this community have limited resources and permission to verify the backend information. To get quick and better assistance, we have requested this.

    Thank you for your time and cooperation. We hope you have a wonderful day and stay safe! 😊

    Sincerely，

    Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

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