How to find and export your OneDrive data.

OneDrive storage shows in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Reports > Usage > OneDrive, on the Usage tab, with Storage used (MB) for every account. Global Administrators, SharePoint Administrators and Reports Readers can open it. Sum the column and report the total in GB.

At a glance

Report in: GB
Category: Files and documents
Checked: September 2026

Check your data

Where OneDrive shows how much you have.

Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center as a SharePoint Administrator, Reports Reader or Global Administrator.
Go to Reports > Usage, select OneDrive under Reports, and open the Usage tab. The charts show total accounts, files and storage used.
Select Export to download the per-account table as a CSV. Sum Storage used (MB) and divide by 1,024 for GB.
If owners show as hidden, a Global Administrator can clear Conceal user, group, and site names in all reports under Settings > Org Settings > Services > Reports.
Check the Deleted column. The report only includes users with a valid OneDrive license, and deleted users stay in reports for 180 days, so confirm with your SharePoint admin whether older former employees' OneDrives still exist.

Plan and role. Any Microsoft 365 plan that includes OneDrive. Viewing usage reports needs a role such as Global Administrator, SharePoint Administrator, Exchange Administrator or Reports Reader.

What to report on the Polyshares intake.

Report OneDrive in GB. The intake also asks how many years the company has used it and how many seats it has.

Report the summed OneDrive storage in GB. It is separate from SharePoint site storage, so put the two on separate lines on the Polyshares intake.

For years in use, use the year your company started using OneDrive for work or school. The oldest files in long-tenured users' OneDrives are a good check.

Seats are users with a OneDrive license plus former employees whose OneDrives are still retained. The Files column in the export gives a file count you can mention in your notes.

Export the full history.

Before more users are deleted, check access delegation. In the SharePoint admin center, open More features > User profiles > Open, then Setup My Sites, confirm Enable access delegation is selected, and set a secondary owner.
Keep deleted users' OneDrives longer while you export. In the SharePoint admin center, go to Settings > Retention and enter up to 3650 in Days to retain files a deleted user's OneDrive.
For the full export, add the admin to the eDiscovery Manager role group in the Microsoft Purview portal. Then open eDiscovery > Cases, create a case, and add a search that targets all people and groups or the users whose OneDrive you want.
Select Export, turn on the option to include departed users, choose Export items with items report, and set Select document versions to the depth you want.
Download the packages from Process manager within 14 days, before they expire.
For one user, that user, their manager or the secondary owner can sync the OneDrive with the OneDrive sync app and copy the files, or select files in the browser and choose Download.

Microsoft says the account running an eDiscovery export needs a Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3 or E5 license, plus a SharePoint E3 license when exporting SharePoint content. eDiscovery (standard) for sites and files is included in Office 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E3 and above.

When a user is deleted, their OneDrive is kept for 30 days by default. It then moves to the site collection recycle bin for 93 days, where eDiscovery cannot search it and it can only be restored with PowerShell. Retention policies and holds override this schedule.

OneDrives without a valid license are archived on their 93rd unlicensed day. After 12 months in unpaid archive, the data might be deleted regardless of retention settings or holds.

Browser downloads are limited to 250 GB per file and 10,000 files, and multi-file zip downloads are capped at 20 GB overall. Microsoft recommends syncing no more than 300,000 files. Use eDiscovery if you need earlier file versions, since download and sync give current files.

The intake only needs the size, so you do not have to run an export to fill it in. You also do not need to clean or scrub an export. Polyshares handles anonymization before anything moves.

Why OneDrive data has value for AI training.

OneDrive holds each employee's working files: drafts, personal trackers, exported reports and attachments saved from email. It shows work in progress that never reached a shared site.

Because every OneDrive belongs to one person, the files line up with a role, such as an analyst's pricing sheets, a recruiter's candidate notes or a coordinator's schedules. That shows how the work is actually done from the inside.

What stays private.

You choose which users' OneDrives are included, and personal folders that are not business records can stay out of the export.

We anonymize identifying details before anything moves. Polyshares does that work, so your team does not have to scrub records first.

Your company keeps ownership of its data. The license is bounded to defined material and a defined use.

Polyshares is the buyer and pays your company directly. There is no fee or commission, and Polyshares reviews the record before it makes any offer.

Common questions about OneDrive data.

Can we get OneDrive files from employees who already left?

If the account was deleted within the retention period, the manager or secondary owner has access to the OneDrive, and the default period is 30 days. After that it sits in the recycle bin for 93 days and can be restored with PowerShell. Retention policies or holds may keep it longer.

Why are some users missing from the OneDrive usage report?

The report only includes users with a valid OneDrive license. It also takes at least seven days for an account to be marked deleted, and deleted users stay in reports for 180 days.

Does blocking sign-in or removing a license start the deletion clock?

No. Only deleting the user account from Microsoft Entra ID starts the OneDrive retention period. Unlicensed OneDrives are still archived on their 93rd unlicensed day.

Is OneDrive part of our SharePoint storage number?

Report them separately. Microsoft's SharePoint allowance of 1 TB plus 10 GB per license does not include the OneDrive created for each licensed user, and the OneDrive usage report gives its own storage total.

Source: OneDrive Usage report, OneDrive retention and deletion, Set the OneDrive retention for deleted users. Checked September 2026.

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List your systems, their sizes and your headcount in one intake. Polyshares reviews the record and prices it. There is no fee or commission to your company.