Managing Your UA Storage: Prepare for Upcoming Changes
March 6, 2026
As previously shared, the University of Alaska is implementing storage limits for UA Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 accounts. Since UA now pays for the storage it uses, predefined storage amounts have been established in order to responsibly manage these new costs.
Now is the best time for UA users who are over their storage limits to reduce their overall storage footprint. In the future UA users or departments over their allocations may incur additional costs, so everyone is asked to start practicing good storage hygiene now. Expect details about future pricing to be communicated well in advance of any billing to ensure transparency and provide sufficient time to prepare.
How to Clean Up Your Storage Footprint
Here are some steps UA users can take now to tidy up their online storage:
- Become familiar with the newly announced storage limits.
- Check your overall storage usage to determine if you are over or under your allotted storage amounts.
- Managers or directors can request a departmental storage usage report for either Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 that includes team members and shared drives (if applicable). For information on your team’s usage include first name, last name, and the UA username for each member of your department.
- All UA users are encouraged to read through these tips on ways to reduce their individual and department’s overall storage footprint.
- For the purpose of business continuity, any document stored in an individual account (such as My Drive or OneDrive) but shared with an entire department should be moved to an appropriate departmental shared space (such as a Shared Drive, Teams or a SharePoint site) rather than remaining in the individual’s personal storage. <<Learn more about Google Workspace shared storage and Microsoft 365 shared storage.
Questions?
For additional information visit the UA Google Storage Project page FAQs or contact your local IT Help Desk (UAA • UAF/OIT • UAS) for support.