Reminder: Today is the Last Day to Claim Free OneDrive Storage

Just as a reminder, today is the last day when OneDrive users—which is to say, most Windows users—can claim their free 15 GB of online storage before Microsoft reverts to the new level of 5 GB.

You may recall that Microsoft in November infamously stepped back from its previous OneDrive promises. It dropped plans to offer unlimited storage to Office 365 customers and, as bad, dropped the amount of free storage on offer from 15 GB to 5 GB.

But after customers predictably reacted with outrage, Microsoft stepped back from the cliff a month later and offered some concessions.

Key among these concessions was grandfathered free storage. That is, customers who are disappointed about the reduction in free storage could opt-in to continue using it going forward. So if you were receiving 15 GB of free OneDrive storage and/or 15 GB from a previous camera roll promotion, you could opt-in and retain that storage.

That offer was temporary, however. And today–January 31, 2016–is the last day you can take advantage of it. So if you don’t opt-in today, it’s over, and the amount of free storage your OneDrive account will revert to 5 GB, from whatever level you’re at today.

To opt-in, visit the Microsoft web site. It’s a fast and simple process.

I’ve received a few questions about Microsoft’s other OneDrive concessions, but I’ve not heard anything new since December. For example, Microsoft said that customers who were actually utilizing over 5 GB of OneDrive storage would be given one free year of Office 365 Personal (which includes 1 TB of OneDrive storage). At the time, Microsoft said it would email those customers with redemption information in early 2016. But to my knowledge this hasn’t happened yet.

As alluded to above, customers who pay for Office 365 Home or Personal will continue to receive 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user. (Microsoft also later said that “non-premium” OneDrive for Business customers would continue to get 1 TB of free storage per user, but that enterprise-level plans would get unlimited storage.)