Will I lose One Drive files when accepting a share invitation

Question

I need to share Microsoft365 Family with my daughter, will she lose access to one drive and files when she accepts the invitation and will she need to leave the current expired subscription plus switching accounts. She is worried about losing one drive files

Answer 1

Accepting a Microsoft 365 Family sharing invitation does not delete or remove existing OneDrive files.

Key points for the scenario:

1. What happens to your daughter’s existing OneDrive files
   • Her files remain intact even if her current Microsoft 365 subscription has expired or if she is removed from a shared subscription.
   • Official guidance states that when a Microsoft 365 subscription expires or sharing stops, “your files will remain intact.”
2. What changes when she joins your Microsoft 365 Family
   • Once she accepts your Family sharing invitation, she will get the subscription benefits tied to your plan, including the 1 TB OneDrive storage and access to Microsoft 365 apps, as long as you keep sharing with her and your subscription stays active.
   • She will automatically be added to your Microsoft family group when she accepts the shared subscription invitation.
3. Impact of her current/expired subscription
   • If her own subscription has expired, she may currently be over her storage limit and unable to edit/create documents, but the files are still there.
   • When she starts using your shared Family subscription, the benefits (including storage and app access) come from your subscription instead.
4. Does she need to leave anything first?
   • If she is already in another Microsoft family group, she must leave that family group before accepting your invitation.
   • Leaving a family group or having sharing stopped does not delete OneDrive files; it only removes subscription benefits (extra storage and full desktop app editing/creation).

So, she will not lose her OneDrive files by accepting your Microsoft 365 Family invitation. The main effect is a change in where her subscription benefits come from (her own/old subscription vs. your shared Family subscription).

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References:

• Microsoft 365 subscription sharing FAQs
• Learn more about sharing your Microsoft 365 Family or Premium subscription
• Share your Microsoft 365 Family or Premium subscription
• Someone invited you to share their Microsoft 365 subscription

Answer 2

Hi Lucky!

Yes that is correct! I can't reply as a comment for some reason my apologies! And yes the files will not disappear on her account. Just make sure she joins your Microsoft 365 plan, more details on what will happen if she will not join can be found here for reference:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-does-it-mean-when-your-onedrive-account-is-frozen-5e76147b-b7d5-4bcb-ba28-b91e3eb636b6

Just to highlight the part under If you exceed your Microsoft storage: "After 6 months, we may delete your OneDrive and all files within it. Once deleted, these files are non-recoverable." Meaning if she will join your family plan then everything will be okay!

Answer 3

Hi there!

Just to add up on the above, if she has an expired or past due subscription on her account. She also needs to cancel that because she won't be able to accept the invitation you will send her as it will return an error that she still has a subscription plan.

You can ask her to cancel it via https://account.microsoft.com/services page. Once done, she will still have her files on her OneDrive, just have her accept the invitation you've sent her and she will gain the 1TB storage again to store more files. What the AI above said is also true so everything should be good!

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask the community and we fellow members will be here to help.