On November 5, 2025, WashU IT implemented a new storage quota on all WashU Box accounts and began enforcing the current 1 TB quota for OneDrive for Business accounts, which include Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Teams.
This measure was in direct response to evolving usage patterns and aims to ensure compliance with vendor contract terms, thereby mitigating the risks associated with data overages.
The university’s contract with Box provides all users unlimited active storage, meaning data currently used in ongoing work—files that are regularly analyzed, updated, or shared to support daily workflow. However, nearly 70% of the 12 PB of data stored in Box is inactive, such as backups, operating system files, or archived data kept for reference or long-term preservation. Because our Box contract does not cover inactive storage, continuing this practice would significantly increase university storage costs.
In the current climate where being responsible stewards of our finances is paramount, WashU IT has implemented a storage threshold for all users. To ease the transition, WashU IT has taken the following steps:
- Ensuring the impacted community that no data currently stored in Box or OneDrive will be removed or lost as a result of this change.
- Temporarily increasing the quota for those who currently exceed the 1 TB quota by 10% based on their current usage (e.g., 10 TB becomes 11 TB).
- Providing users who are expecting to exceed their applied storage quota an option to request additional storage.
- Committing to contact users who still have large amounts of inactive data in early 2026 to find long term options, such as fee-based Box storage or lower-cost services offered through Research Infrastructure Services (RIS).
- Encouraging the university community to help reduce our digital footprint by following Appropriate Use Guidelines and Best Practices, like deleting non-essential or inactive data from Box and OneDrive.
- Implementing a communications plan that uses both targeted outreach and university-wide messaging across IT and partner channels to build awareness of the change and address specific questions and concerns.
To learn more about this change, please visit the Box page and the OneDrive page. If you have questions or need assistance, please visit the Box FAQs or contact the WashU IT Support Desk.