I have a 365 account with myself and my parents - but can't use all of the 6T storage?

Question

I am paying for a family 365 account but there are only 2 members - my parents and myself. How can I access & use the rest of the 6Tb I am paying for?

Answer 1

With Microsoft 365 Family, the 6 TB is not a single shared pool. It is split as up to 1 TB per person, for a maximum of 6 people.

In a setup with only two members (for example, one account for the subscriber and one for parents sharing a single account), only those two individual accounts each get up to 1 TB of OneDrive storage. The remaining potential storage is only available if more people are added to the subscription; it cannot be combined into a larger quota for a single person or reused by existing members.

To use more of the 6 TB included with Microsoft 365 Family:

1. Add more people (up to 5 others) to the Family subscription so each has their own 1 TB of storage.
2. Each person can then store their own files in their personal OneDrive and optionally share folders with others.

The per‑user storage amount does not increase beyond 1 TB, and unused capacity from other “slots” cannot be reassigned to a single account.

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References:

• What happens if I add another Microsoft 365 for home subscription to my account?
• Microsoft storage FAQs
• What is Microsoft cloud storage?

Answer 2

Hi Amanda,

For the Microsoft 365 Family plan, the advertised 6TB of storage is not a single shared pool, instead, it allocates 1 TB of OneDrive storage per person, and the plan allows to six people.

Since you only have yourself and parent, the remaining 4TB is only accessible if you invite more family members to join the plan. There is no way to combine or claim unused storage for one account, its strictly divided per user.