Request to Keep 15 GB Free Cloud Storage in Microsoft OneDrive (Personal Account)

There are two different types of OneDrive accounts. Many, but not all, EMS ISD employees have a personal Microsoft OneDrive account. Although your district email address is likely your username, it is no longer associated with the district at all, but it is now a personal account. The OneDrive for Business cloud storage option that is part of our Office 365 accounts is your official district cloud storage.

If you have a personal Microsoft OneDrive* account, you need to know that Microsoft recently announced that the amount of free online storage would be decreased from 15 GB to 5 GB for all users. This, understandably, created a bit of a backlash from OneDrive users. 

On December 11, Microsoft announced a limited-time offer that allows current OneDrive users to keep their existing 15 GB of free storage. Users must request to be grandfathered in by clicking this KEEP YOUR FREE STORAGE link before the end of January 2016. 

We've heard the feedback from our fans. You'll be able to keep your free storage when the changes happen in 2016. https://t.co/WLxKcCRrQe

— OneDrive (@onedrive) December 11, 2015

*This does NOT affect our EMS ISD Office 365 OneDrive for Business accounts. At this point, we all have 1 TB of free storage, but there are rumors that it could be unlimited space at some point in the future.

If you have questions about the two different accounts, please contact your district Instructional Technologist.

OneDrive Changes in PERSONAL Microsoft Accounts

EMS ISD district employees have an Office 365 account that includes email, calendar, OneDrive, and more. The OneDrive in this account is technically called OneDrive for Business and is a very powerful tool that allows us to create, share, and store documents and files online. 

Many district employees also have a personal Microsoft account that includes many of the same tools as our Office 365 account, including a cloud storage solution that is also called OneDrive. Although district employees that have been here for several years may still access this personal account using a district email address, this account is a personal account and is no longer managed by the district.

If you got an email from Microsoft this week about Groups in OneDrive, this means that you are part of one or more groups in your personal Microsoft account. This email announced that GROUPS in the personal Microsoft account will no longer be available after October 16, 2015. This means that you will no longer be able to access any of the files shared in one of these groups.

If you would like to save any of these files, you can follow these steps from Microsoft to move them from Groups into your own files in your personal Microsoft account. Or, you can download them from your personal Microsoft account and upload them into your district Office 365 OneDrive account.

The following video gives a quick overview of the differences of the two OneDrives, and what you must do prior to October 16, if you want to save files in your personal OneDrive account.