Maintaining your WSU cloud-based Microsoft storage usage within your available storage capacity reduces the risk of losing untimely access to important files and facilitates a more efficient online workflow.
To effectively manage and reduce your WSU Microsoft storage usage while staying compliant with university records retention policies, please follow the guidelines provided in this resource.
WSU Records Retention Procedures
All WSU personnel are responsible for retaining and disposing of university records in accordance with retention periods approved by the Washington State Records Committee. (RCW 40.14)
Please review approved university records retention schedule to ensure compliance before deleting or archiving any records from the WSU Microsoft environment.
All employees must review all Microsoft documents and determine what records must be kept and for how long prior to appropriate disposal in accordance with Chapter 90: University Records–Retention and Disposition (90.01) of WSU’s Business Policies and Procedure Manual.
It is important to understand who the responsible owner of certain content is as the average employee records retention requirements within an individual WSU Microsoft account are often minimal. For example, many employees are not required to retain duplicate records if there is an original copy of the content in a separate application such as Workday, Percipio, or myWSU.
Learn more about WSU records retention and disposition.
Unless otherwise noted, most of the following records can be destroyed once they are no longer needed for university business:
| Type of Record | Amount of Time |
|---|---|
| Brainstorming and Collaborating | Retain until no longer needed |
| Business/Work Plans | 2 years after completion/expiration |
| Calendars (Employee) | 1 year after calendar year end |
| Client/Customer Feedback and Complaints | 3 years after received/resolved |
| Contact Information | Retain until no longer needed |
| Drafting and Editing | Retain until no longer needed |
| Electronic Communications | Retain in accordance with the records series that is applicable to the informational content of the message |
| Electronic Documents Used To Create Signed Paper Records | Retain until no longer needed |
| Informational Notifications/Communications | Retain until no longer needed |
| Internet Browsing | Retain until no longer needed |
| Meeting Arrangements | Retain until no longer needed |
| Meeting Materials (Members' Copies/Notes) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Meetings (Staff and Internal Committees) | Retain for 2 years after end of calendar year and until no longer needed for university business |
| Organizing/Monitoring Work In Progress | Retain until no longer needed |
| Provision of Advice, Assistance, or Information | Retain for 2 years after communication received or provided, whichever is later |
| Reference Materials | Retain until no longer needed |
| Reporting Internally (Routine Program/ Project/Work Unit Reports/Statistics) | Retain for 2 years after end of fiscal year |
| Requests for Basic/Routine University Information | Retain until no longer needed |
| Scheduling (Appointments/Meetings) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Unsolicited Additional Materials | Upon receipt, return to sender or destroy |
| Work Instructions/Desk Manuals | Retain until superseded |
| Applications/Systems -- Implementation Projects | Retain for 6 years after end of project |
| Applications/Systems -- Technical Design | Retain until application or version is no longer needed for University business and all records within the application have been migrated/ deleted/ transferred in accordance with a current approved records retention schedule, then destroy |
| Audit Trails and System Usage Monitoring | Retain for 1 year after date of activity |
| Authorization (Systems/Telecommunications Access) | Retain for 6 years after end of fiscal year in which user account/access was terminated |
| Automated/Scheduled Tasks and Work/ Intermediate/Test Files | Retain for 30 days after date of document |
| Backups for Disaster Preparedness / Recovery | Retain until no longer needed |
| Helpdesk Requests | Retain until finalization of request |
| Network (Design and Build) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Server Logs | Retain for 1 month after date of daily record |
| Inventories (Supplies, Commodities, and Parts) | Retain for 6 years after end of fiscal year |
| Celebrations/Ceremonies/Events (Routine) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Celebrations/Ceremonies/Events (Significant) | Retain until no longer needed for University business, then Transfer to Archives for appraisal and selective retention |
| General Information (External) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Online Content Management | Retain for 1 year after online content removed |
| Training (Arrangements) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Training (Development) | Retain until no longer needed |
| Training (General) | Retain for 3 years after training provided |
| Training (Mandatory or Certification/Hours/Credit Provided) | Retain for 6 years after training provided |
| Security Incidents and Data/Privacy Breaches | Retain for 6 years after matter resolved |
| Security Monitoring (No Incident) | Retain for 30 days after date record created or until determined that no security incident has occurred, whichever is sooner |
Monitor Your Microsoft Storage Use
Create a streamlined, uninterrupted Microsoft experience during your time at WSU by regularly checking your storage usage for Outlook and OneDrive to help you stay within your provided limits.
To ensure you have the opportunity to manage your storage usage accordingly, Microsoft will also provide warning messages within Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint when you are close to or have met your storage limit.
Outlook for Windows
- Open the Outlook app on your Windows device.
- In the top ribbon, select the File tab.
- Select the Tools option.
- Select Mailbox Cleanup.
- Select View Mailbox Size to view your Outlook folder sizes.
Outlook for macOS
- Open the Outlook app on your Mac device.
- In the folders list panel, Ctrl+Click your WSU email address.
- Select Properties.
- Select the Storage tab to view your Outlook folder sizes.
Outlook on the Web
- Sign in to Outlook on the Web with your WSU credentials.
- In the top right, select the Settings (Gear) icon.
- Select the General tab.
- Select Storage to view your remaining Outlook storage and your folder sizes.
OneDrive Online
- Sign in to OneDrive Online with your WSU credentials.
- Scroll to the bottom of the left navigation menu to find the Storage section.
- Review your available storage and select your usage value to view your largest OneDrive files.
OneDrive for Windows
- Select the OneDrive icon in the Windows notification area and select Settings.
- Review your available storage and select the Manage Storage option to view your largest OneDrive files.
- Sign in to Microsoft 365 with your WSU credentials.
- In the top left corner, select the app launcher (icon with nine dots).
- Select SharePoint.
- Find and select the site to your Team or SharePoint space.
- On the left navigation menu, select Site Contents.
- Select Site Settings.
- In the Site Collection Administration section, select Storage Metrics.
Reduce Your Microsoft Storage
Remain within your Outlook and OneDrive storage quotas by regularly reviewing, clearing, and transferring documents and files. Please consider incorporating the following strategies into your workflow reduce your WSU Microsoft storage usage.
Delete Files and Messages
Prioritize deleting large, outdated, or unnecessary files, including videos, images, large data exports, or older project presentations.
If you have large amounts of data in Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint, please delete only 5 GB of data at a time or 5,000 files or messages at a time, whichever is encountered first. Before continuing to delete items, ensure that you empty the OneDrive recycle bin and purge emails from the Recover Deleted Items option in Outlook (review general online instructions for securely deleting emails).
Clear Deleted Items Folder and Recycled Bin
Permanently delete emails in your Deleted Items folder in Outlook and all items in your OneDrive recycle bin.
Deleted emails from your primary inbox or other mailbox folders are sent to your Deleted Items folder in Outlook, and deleted OneDrive files remain in your recycle bin for 93 days. These continue to occupy Outlook and OneDrive storage until Microsoft automatically deletes the items.
After deleting any large, outdated, or unnecessary items, review your Deleted Items folder and your recycle bin, and then permanently delete all data to increase available storage space in both services.
Delete Duplicate Documents
Review Outlook and OneDrive for duplicate copies of the same document. If duplicates are found, retain the original and final versions, and delete inactive or irrelevant copies.
You are not required to retain working versions of a single document that is focused on one specific topic. Delete duplicate files that are no longer being used or updated, and ensure you retain the original first version of a document and the final version of a document if applicable.
WSU Email Online Archive
WSU offers an opt-in online archive service in Outlook that automatically stores emails older than six months and does not occupy space within your Outlook storage quota.
The online archive appears alongside your other mailbox folders in Outlook. The following instructions can help you access your online archive:
Outlook for Desktop
- Open the Outlook app on your Windows or Mac device.
- In the folder list panel, locate the Online Archive option.
- Expand the Online Archive folder and select the Inbox subfolder.
Outlook on the Web
- Sign in to Outlook on the Web with your WSU credentials.
- In the folder list panel, locate the In-Place Archive option. (Note: Outlook on the Web labels the online archive as In-Place Archive.)
- Expand the In-Place Archive folder and select the Inbox subfolder.
You are strongly encouraged to manually move any emails located in your primary inbox to your online archive if they have not yet been automatically moved. This will ensure your primary inbox stays clutter-free and keeps your Outlook storage usage low.
If you are interested in gaining access to an email online archive, please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for additional information.
Compress Documents and Images
Convert documents and images to different file types to greatly reduce their size while maintaining the same level of quality.
Zipped (compressed) files take up less storage space and can be shared more quickly than uncompressed files. Review instructions for zipping and unzipping files.
PDF files also significantly reduce the size of a Microsoft document. Learn more about using Adobe Acrobat with OneDrive.
When compressed correctly based on the intended use, such as in web pages or e-mail, image files can maintain reasonable image quality at a relatively small size. Learn how to compress images with Adobe or compress images with Microsoft Picture Manager.
Transition to Microsoft Teams
Transfer files from your Outlook or OneDrive to Microsoft Teams. The WSU Teams environment offers additional storage capacity and various privacy options to protect your documents as needed.
Using Teams as an alternative, cloud-based repository for documents or files allows you to reduce your storage usage for Outlook and OneDrive.
For documents you can share, move them to an existing departmental Team. You can transfer your files to an existing location within the Team, create a new standard channel visible to all members, or create a private channel for individual access.
You can also request a new Team for your team or department, or for your personal access if you are interested in a dedicated space.
On-Premise File Servers
Offload and archive Outlook and OneDrive data in secure, physical servers located across WSU and managed by various university IT teams.
On-premise file servers allow you to store PST files of exported older emails, large or infrequently accessed files, file backups, and previous versions of a file so you can keep only the most necessary data in your Outlook and OneDrive storage.
Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance accessing a WSU on-premise server for Microsoft data management.
WSU-Authorized Cloud Storage Services
Transition away from Microsoft services and store your documents or files in alternative, university-approved cloud storage services.
WSU provides limited access to additional cloud storage services such as Amazon Web Services and more. Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance accessing advanced cloud storage services.
Project Management Services
Track and store project-related documents, files, and other data in university-approved project management services that are separate from the WSU Microsoft environment.
WSU providesaccess to project management software such as Jira, Confluence, and more. Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357 for assistance determining which project management services best serves your needs.
Local Computer Storage
Store Outlook and OneDrive data locally on your WSU computer or other university-owned device.
Transfer your data out of the WSU Microsoft cloud environment by downloading information from Outlook and OneDrive to a secure, local location directly to your WSU-owned device.
Use of external, local storage devices such as flash drives is cautiously recommended as these devices can be easily misplaced or compromised.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your available OneDrive and Outlook storage is assigned based on the type of WSU Microsoft license you have. Licensing is automatically distributed in alignment with your WSU affiliation. For any questions regarding your WSU Microsoft license, please contact your local IT support team.
If your WSU OneDrive exceeds your maximum storage limit, OneDrive will be restricted to read-only access and you will be unable to upload, edit, or sync new and existing files until your storage usage is reduced.
If your WSU mailbox exceeds your maximum storage limit, you will be unable to send and receive emails, and messages sent to your WSU email address will bounce back to the sender.
Check your storage usage for Outlook and OneDrive by following the steps outlined in the Monitor Your Microsoft Storage Use section of this resource.
Prioritize deleting large, outdated, or unnecessary files, duplicate documents, and items in your Deleted Items folder and Recycle Bin. Always ensure compliance with WSU records retention policies before permanently deleting any files.
If you accidentally delete important files or emails, check your Deleted Items folder in Outlook or the Recycle Bin in OneDrive and restore the needed item as soon as possible. Please be aware that files can be restored from these locations within a certain period.
Online archives hosted in Outlook for Mac, Outlook for Mobile, and Outlook for the Web only support the mail module. Outlook for Windows allows you to view archived mail, along with archived calendar items, tasks, or notes.
At this time, archived calendar items, tasks, or notes are not accessible via the online archive mailbox in Outlook for Mac, Outlook for Mobile, and Outlook for the Web.
Review the all-university records retention schedule or the department records retention schedules to view records series requirements. You may also contact your supervisor for assistance connecting with your unit’s WSU records coordinator.
Please contact your local IT support team or Crimson Service Desk via email at crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu or 509-335-4357.