Managing File Versions within OneDrive and SharePoint


Introduction

This article describes how to access the Versioning feature within OneDrive and SharePoint for management and configuration.

Instructions

 

By default, OneDrive and SharePoint automatically save versions of your Microsoft 365 documents indefinitely. This feature is invaluable for safeguarding your files against accidental changes and for tracking edits, so you can see who made changes and when. However, these versions do consume storage space. Given storage quotas, it's crucial to understand this feature and how to configure it to optimize storage use while still ensuring your data is protected. The specific configuration options will vary depending on the type of data you're safeguarding.

Accessing the Versioning feature in OneDrive

  1. Log into OneDrive in a web browser.

    The Copilot panel in OneDrive in a browser (when starting at office.com or the Copilot app) is mainly for interacting with your files—summarizing, comparing, or asking questions. It doesn’t expose full OneDrive settings directly. To adjust OneDrive settings, you have to go to OneDrive directly. To do so, 

    • If you have the OneDrive app downloaded on your computer, you can click on the icon in the lower right taskbar and select View Online.
    • In your Windows Explorer, right click on your OneDrive, select OneDrive, select View Online.
    • From any Windows 365 application in a web browser, click on the waffle in the upper left and choose OneDrive.
  2. Click on the Gear icon to open your OneDrive settings.
  3. Click on OneDrive settings.
  4. Click on More Settings on the left.
  5. At the bottom of the page, click on Return to the Old Site Settings page.
  6. Click on Site libraries and lists.
  7. Click on Customize "Documents". Note, this is just one Customize location in this list where versioning can be configured. It is the most likely one that will impact your storage. 
  8. Click on Versioning Settings.
  9. The important configurations are, "What kind of version time limit do you want to set?" and "Keep the following number of major versions:" 
  10. Click OK when done.

Accessing the Versioning feature on a SharePoint site

  1. Log into SharePoint in a web browser.
  2. click on the SharePoint site you wish to configure. You will need to do this for every SharePoint site you wish to configure.
  3. Click on Site Contents in the left navigation pane.
  4. Click on the Gear icon, Site Settings, in the upper right.
  5. Click on Site libraries and lists.
  6. Click on Customize "Documents". Note, this is just one Customize location in this list where versioning can be configured. It is the most likely one that will impact your storage. 
  7. Click on Versioning Settings.
  8. The important configurations are, "What kind of version time limit do you want to set?" and "Keep the following number of major versions:" 
  9. Click OK when done.