Sharepoint storage running out of space

I'll add some additional points.

SharePoint storage allocation - SharePoint Online storage operates on a shared organizational pool. Your base limit is 1 TB plus 10 GB per licensed user. Frontline licenses (F plans) do not contribute to the storage pool.

So at 2000 users, your total SharePoint storage might get you a total of 21TB, assuming your 2000 user licenses are all eligible to contribute to the pool.

That's not a lot in an environment of 2000 users. So you might need to do some information lifecycle management, like offloading cold data, and aggressively managing version history.

3rd party tools can help, like AvePoint Opus, which can help you scan your data repositories.

You can also increase storage space, but this can be expensive, priced around USD0.2 per GB per month.

Do you record teams meetings? these can take up a lot of storage too.

Hope this helps

Hello @Raju, Apoorva (893)

I understand that your SharePoint site is showing a storage warning indicating the space has been exceeded, and since this is a critical site used by over 2000 users, you want to know how to address it as soon as possible. I can imagine how important it is to keep everything running smoothly for your team.

Why this usually happens

This type of message typically appears when the storage allocated to your SharePoint environment has been fully consumed. SharePoint storage is shared across all site collections in your tenant, so even if one site looks fine individually, the overall storage pool might already be used up.

Some common situations that lead to this behavior include

• Large files or many versions of files being stored in document libraries
• Recycle bins holding deleted content (which still counts toward storage)
• Multiple sites collectively consuming more space than expected

To double the situation which is happening with your organization, you can try these safe check and we can consider what we can do next:

1/ Check overall storage usage

To confirm if the entire tenant storage is full.

• Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center
• Go to Reports > Usage.
• The Usage page appears.
• From the left navigation pane, select SharePoint.
• Select the Storage tab.

Expected result: You will see how much total storage is used vs available.

Microsoft 365 Reports in the admin center - SharePoint storage

2/ Review Site Storage in SharePoint Admin Center

To identify which sites are using the most space.

• Go to SharePoint Admin Center
• On the left side, select Sites then Active sites
• Look at the Storage column

Expected result: You can spot which sites are consuming the most storage.

Manage site storage limits in SharePoint in Microsoft 365

3/ Check Document Libraries with large files

Large files or many files can quickly fill storage.

• Open the affected SharePoint site
• Go to Documents (or other libraries)
• Switch to Details view or sort by File size

Expected result: Identify unusually large files or folders.

4/ Empty both recycle bins

Purpose: Deleted files still occupy storage until permanently removed.

-First-stage recycle bin:

• Go to the site
• Click Recycle bin in the left panel
• Delete items permanently

-Second-stage recycle bin:

• At the bottom of the recycle bin page, open the second-stage bin
• Clear it as well

Expected result: Immediate recovery of storage space

*Note: Please make sure to review everything carefully to avoid any risk of data loss, especially for your important data.

Manage the Recycle bin of a SharePoint site

5/ Consider storage expansion

If cleanup is not feasible or sufficient:

An admin can increase storage from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center by purchasing additional SharePoint storage.

This is common for large organizations with active usage like yours.

Add more OneDrive and SharePoint storage to your Microsoft 365 subscription

For your reference:

SharePoint Online out of storage space

SharePoint limits - Service Descriptions

However, since this is a main site and is critical for your organization, with over 2000 users relying on it, it is important to carefully review everything to ensure it works smoothly and does not cause any disruption to your operations. Therefore, as a final recommendation, I kindly suggest reaching out to Microsoft Engineering Support by submitting a ticket. This will allow you to receive tailored guidance that best fits your organization’s needs and concerns.

Please follow the detailed steps below.

(If you are not the global admin, please kindly ask your IT Admin to do it for you)

• Sign into the "Microsoft Admin Center"
• After clicking on "Help & Support" button like this image, you can type "I need agent support via phone or email". After that, you can click on "Contact support"
• Choose contact method: "Phone"
• Fill all the information in this contact support details, please describe your situation carefully so they will have enough information to help you.
• Finally, clicking on "Contact me"

After completing them, you will receive an email appointment for a meeting to review this issue professionally together.

Wishing you all the best!

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in "our documentation" to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.