Incorrect storage exceeded messages

Question

Incorrect storage exceeded messages

AJJ 10

I am receiving emails saying I am close to exceeding my storage. I am using only 10% of the extra I already pay for. This happened earlier this year and I received an email from Microsoft confirming all was fine and to ignore the messages. Well it’s now happening again plus I have messages on files and photo apps saying storage almost full and new photos and files will not be synched going forwards. I have looked at the support pages and they don’t cover this. My account all looks fine, signed in, right account connected. What do I need to do to resolve this ? Thanks

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Answer 1

Lucus-V 12,715 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi AJJ,

Based on your description, this does not sound like an actual storage capacity issue, especially if your subscription includes additional cloud storage and your account shows only a small percentage of the available quota in use.

To help isolate the cause, please check the following:

Verify your storage usage directly from:
- OneDrive storage: https://onedrive.live.com/?v=managestorage
- Microsoft account storage dashboard: https://account.microsoft.com/services
Confirm that the Microsoft account receiving the warning notifications is the same account associated with your active Microsoft 365 subscription.
Check whether the warning relates specifically to:
- OneDrive storage
- Outlook mailbox storage
- Microsoft account cloud storage
Sign out of OneDrive and the affected apps (such as Photos), then sign back in and allow the storage status to refresh.

If the storage pages show ample available space but you continue to receive "storage almost full" notifications and sync restriction warnings, the issue may be related to an account provisioning or storage reporting discrepancy on the service side. In that case, we recommend contacting Microsoft Support so they can review the backend storage allocation for your account.

For reference, could you share:

A screenshot of your storage usage page (with personal information removed).
Your Microsoft 365 subscription type.
The exact wording of the warning message.

This information will help us provide more targeted guidance.

Doug Camp 0 Reputation points

2026-09-12T18:52:22.78+00:00

I have the same problem in February I paid for 365 family which has 1tb of storage. I got an email 2 days ago that I am 75gb over my 75gb limit and you are going to start deleting my files, but I am supposed to have 1tb. When I use the link above for one drive storage it says that I have only used 0.4%. I can't make since of it so I tried to call to find out what is going on but can't talk to anybody. I turn 60 years old Monday and don't understand a lot of tech stuff so it would be nice to talk to a person to figure it out. Microsoft has very good products but the absolute worst customer service. First of all you cannot talk to a person, only the computer which sends you to the troubleshooting website with no option of a live person. Which would be fine if you are 25 years old and tech savvy but if you are not and you need to talk to a person to get through your problem you can't. Then it remembers the phone number that you called from and puts you in a loop of sending you straight to the website with no other options. I had to trick it with *67 so that it couldn't see my number. When I finally got a live person, which was almost impossible, I couldn't understand his accent, there should be tech support for most countries in their language. Then he set me up for a callback for 9am cst to make sure that the issue was resolved (which it wasn't) and now it is 1:52pm and still no call.

Please don't think that I complain much because I usually don't but I don't want you to start deleting my files ether.

Very disappointed,

Doug
AJJ 10 Reputation points

2026-09-13T14:44:17.6133333+00:00

Thanks. Have attached below my plan. I did notice when I went in to check that I have also been paying for an extra 200 GB which I have now cancelled as the M365 comes with 1 TB which I’m not even using 5% of .. have signed out and back in and will see if that resolves it
AJJ 10 Reputation points

2026-09-13T14:46:05.93+00:00

This is the message I am getting ….
AJJ 10 Reputation points

2026-09-13T14:46:34.82+00:00
AJJ 10 Reputation points

2026-09-13T14:47:40.3666667+00:00

I only have one account and it is linked to that
Lucus-V 12,715 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-13T16:04:48.6233333+00:00

Hi Doug Camp,

Since you have another problem, please consider making a new thread so we can better assist you.
Lucus-V 12,715 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-13T16:05:24.64+00:00
Hi AJJ,

Thank you for sharing the screenshot. This actually helps clarify the situation.

The notification shown is from Apple iCloud, not Microsoft OneDrive. The message specifically states:

"iCloud Storage is Almost Full. Your storage is almost full. If you run out, new photos will not be synced."

This indicates that the warning is related to your iCloud storage quota on your Apple account rather than the 1 TB OneDrive storage included with your Microsoft 365 Family subscription.

In other words:

Your Microsoft 365 Family subscription and OneDrive storage may be perfectly healthy.

The warning you're seeing is coming from Apple's iCloud service.

Purchasing or having available OneDrive storage does not automatically increase iCloud storage capacity.

If your photos are configured to sync to iCloud Photos, the warning would be expected when your iCloud storage is approaching its limit.

I would suggest checking your iCloud storage usage and contact Apple if there's any questions.
AJJ 10 Reputation points

2026-09-14T08:45:57.3666667+00:00

Thank you 🙏