Microsoft is Changing How OneDrive Photo Storage Works in October

Microsoft is about to introduce changes to how OneDrive photo storage works in October. According to a report from the German blog DrWindows, Microsoft has started sending emails to OneDrive users to warn them that adding a photo that’s already been backed up to OneDrive to an album will soon make it count twice against their total storage quota.

“Soon, data from photos saved in your Gallery and in your albums will each count separately against your total Microsoft storage quota. This change will gradually roll out across accounts starting on October 16, 2023,” the email reads.

I personally use OneDrive to back up my photos, but I find the browsing general experience so bad that I’ve never bothered to create any albums. If you’re like me, this change apparently isn’t going to affect you and OneDrive won’t take any extra storage to store the same photo that’s been added to one or multiple albums.

Still, if this upcoming change leaves you scratching your head, you’re not alone. Other services like Apple Photos and Google Photos let you add pictures to multiple albums without taking any extra cloud storage, as far as I know. And they also offer many more features to organize your photo library.

Anyway, Microsoft said that it will help users who end up reaching their OneDrive storage limit due to this upcoming change. Once this OneDrive photo storage change starts applying to user accounts, OneDrive users will receive a storage bonus that will expire after a year.

In other OneDrive-related news, Microsoft announced yesterday that a OneDrive digital event will take place on October 3. The company plans to showcase “the next generation of file management across Microsoft 365,” as well as some new AI-powered features.