Curious how other admins deal with SharePoint Online storage once you're past the tenant quota (1 TB + 10 GB per license). Extra storage from Microsoft isn't cheap, and in our experience a lot of it is old files and version history nobody opens.

What's your approach?

1. Deleting old content or trimming version history
2. Buying more storage
3. A simple archiving tool, such as Microsoft 365 Archive, or a scheduled script that moves old files out
4. Something else?

What's worked and what hasn't?

Disclosure: I'm the founder of Meguri (meguritech.io). Rather than a single archive tier, it manages files through lifecycle stages based on actual usage: active content stays in SharePoint, moderately-rarely used files move to lower-cost storage but still open normally, and retention or compliance-only records go to into a deeper archive and then eventually delete all in the same platform. Mainly interested in how people are solving this today, and happy to answer questions.

Case Study: Excel 365's Removal of Practical Local AutoSave Creates Unnecessary Operational Risk

Executive Summary

I recently lost several hours of accounting work while using Microsoft Excel 365 on a Mac.

The file was stored on my local SSD.

There was no crash, no power failure, no operating system fault, and no hardware issue.

The work was lost because Microsoft Excel 365 does not provide true AutoSave to locally stored files, despite the fact that periodic saving to local storage has been a standard desktop software capability for decades.

This is not primarily a technology issue.

It is a product-design decision.

Background

I am a Microsoft 365 subscriber with access to 1 TB of OneDrive storage.

I deliberately do not use OneDrive for certain workflows because I work offline for significant periods of time and prefer local storage for operational reasons.

The issue is therefore not a lack of cloud storage.

The issue is that Microsoft appears to have tied modern AutoSave functionality to cloud-based workflows while failing to provide an equivalent mechanism for users who store files locally.

The Incident

I was preparing accounting journals for upload into an accounting system.

Several hours were spent editing and validating data.

When I attempted to upload the journals, validation errors were reported.

I reopened the Excel file to investigate and discovered that a substantial portion of the work performed during the session had not been saved.

No crash occurred.

No warning was issued.

No usable recovery file was available.

Several hours of work had to be recreated.

The Fundamental Problem

The problem is not OneDrive.

The problem is not cloud storage.

The problem is not version history.

The problem is that Excel 365 does not provide a straightforward mechanism to automatically save changes to a file that already exists on a local SSD.

A local SSD is:

• fast
• reliable
• writable
• always available when the computer is running

There is no obvious technical reason why Excel could not save changes to a local file every 30 seconds, every minute, or every five minutes.

Desktop software has been performing this function for decades.

Historical Context

Prior generations of desktop software routinely provided periodic saving and recovery mechanisms for locally stored files as a normal part of application design.

Saving data automatically to:

• a local hard drive
• a file server
• a network share

has never been a technically difficult problem.

The concept predates cloud computing by many years.

Microsoft's current approach therefore appears to be a deliberate product decision rather than a technical necessity.

Risk and Compliance Implications

This issue should concern:

• accountants
• auditors
• risk managers
• compliance professionals
• governance professionals
• legal practitioners
• users operating in offline environments

Many organisations intentionally maintain local-first workflows due to:

• confidentiality requirements
• regulatory considerations
• operational resilience requirements
• unreliable connectivity
• cybersecurity policies

The ability to protect users from losing work should not depend on cloud adoption.

Questions for Discussion

1. Why does Excel 365 not provide true AutoSave to local SSD storage?
2. Why should protection against data loss require a cloud-based workflow?
3. Is tying AutoSave functionality to cloud services an acceptable design decision for professional users who work offline?
4. Should risk and compliance teams reassess the operational risks associated with cloud-dependent productivity software?

Conclusion

The issue is not whether OneDrive is useful.

The issue is whether a professional desktop application should be capable of automatically saving changes to a file stored on the same computer on which it is running.

That capability existed in practice long before cloud computing became commonplace.

The inability of Excel 365 to provide true local AutoSave represents an unnecessary operational risk and, in my case, resulted in the loss of several hours of accounting work.

I'm preparing to permanently retire a Microsoft 365 tenant.

I've already handled the obvious aspects:

• OneDrive and SharePoint data exported or reviewed
• Email migrated elsewhere
• Domains moved away from Microsoft-hosted services
• Teams and collaboration content assessed
• Backups preserved

My concern is no longer data. It's identity.

Over the years I have used a work/school Microsoft identity as the default sign-in for a large number of Microsoft and third-party services. The tenant will eventually be deleted, meaning the underlying Entra ID identity will cease to exist. I use my own registered domains so I will keep the exact same email address (simply it won't be managed by exchange/M365 anymore).

I am trying to avoid discovering, months later, that I can no longer access a service because it was silently relying on that identity.

Examples of services I know are currently associated with the work identity include:

• Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Certifications / Credentials
• Microsoft Fabric Community
• Microsoft Tech Community
• Partner Center

The larger challenge is identifying the services I may have forgotten.

So far I've looked at:

• MFA registrations
• Enterprise applications / service principals
• Browser profile information
• Browser history and authentication traces

Those sources provide hints, but none provides a definitive list of every service where the identity has been used.

For those who have already retired a Microsoft 365 tenant:

1. How did you identify all external services still dependent on the tenant identity?
2. Which Microsoft services required special handling before tenant deletion?
3. Which services allowed you to move or associate the account with a personal Microsoft account?
4. Is there any reliable way to inventory where a work/school Microsoft identity has been used for authentication?
5. What were the most common "I wish I had checked that before deleting the tenant" surprises?

My objective is not to preserve tenant resources.

My objective is to preserve access to any accounts, profiles, certifications, communities, subscriptions, reputations, or services that currently depend on the work identity before the tenant is permanently removed.

I am of course one of those who had E3 Developer and is moving away (already planned because I want to own my data, but that gave it a boost ;) ).

Thanks!

I used to use Microsoft Threat Intelligence to look up domains and get information like associated subdomains and WHOIS records, but I can’t seem to find that functionality anymore.

Has it moved into another Microsoft product or become part of a separate licence, or has it been retired completely?

If it’s still available, where do I access it, and what licence do I need? Mainly interested in the domain investigation features rather than threat intelligence feeds.

Thanks!

Hello,

I am looking into migrating a single business email account from Network Solutions to Exchange Online.

• Current situation:
• own domain; one user and one mailbox;
• Network Solutions with only 1 GB;
• Outlook Classic configured via POP3;
• a single local PST file containing approximately 15 GB and 50,000 messages;
• PST backups already in place;
• Microsoft 365 Personal, renewed annually;
• Outlook Classic and 1 TB of OneDrive included in the personal plan;
• three years’ subscription to the Network Solutions service still paid for;
• need to retain the same email address.

I understand that Microsoft 365 Personal does not include Exchange Online for a business domain. I am considering keeping the Personal plan for the applications and OneDrive, and subscribing to Exchange Online Plan 1 solely for the business mailbox.

Questions:

1. Would Exchange Online Plan 1 be sufficient for this scenario?
2. Is it sensible to combine Microsoft 365 Personal for the applications with Exchange Online Plan 1 for email?
3. What is the best method for importing a 15 GB PST file containing around 50,000 messages?
4. Would you use the Outlook Classic import feature or Microsoft’s PST import service?
5. How would you avoid duplicates between the PST and messages still on the server?
6. Does an IMAP migration make sense if most of the archive is already in the PST?
7. How would you handle contacts, the calendar and sent messages?
8. What checks would you carry out on the PST before importing it?
9. How would you validate the migration once it’s complete?
10. How would you configure MX records, Autodiscover, SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
11. Would you keep the domain with Network Solutions and just migrate the email?
12. Would you migrate now or wait for the remaining three years of the contract?
13. For a single mailbox, would you carry out the migration yourself or engage a Microsoft partner?

I’d appreciate hearing about practical experiences with similar migrations.

We’ve got Entra Hybrid join working reliably and the enrolment to Intune takes place afterwards, so I know the Entra Device Settings and Intune Enrolment is configured correctly.

But I want to start moving away from this and natively joining Entra during OOBE or via Autopilot.

Here’s the rundown and the issue….

Windows 11 25H2 fresh image from ISO

During OOBE we select Join Work or School

Enter M365 username and password

Choose the account to join Entra

Just get spinning blue dots forever. No error message, no timeout.

Note: the user has a Business Premium licence, max number of devices is set to 50, no Device Registration Service entry appears in sign in logs. We have also excluded this user from Conditional Access and tried another user with the same result.

Note: I can join the exact same device without changing anything locally, to another tenant in exactly the same way and it works perfectly.

I think there is something wrong with the Device Registration Service on our tenant.

Anyone experienced the same issue and resolved it?

This has been logged with Microsoft but I’m not getting anywhere - they keep asking me the same basic questions and I’ve provided logs from the device. Not getting much help.

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/sbtjzpcqqgth1.jpg?width=8064&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b11df1bb3a102b3396d8403531fa132b4a912cf