Microsoft has introduced version history limits (currently in preview) to offer better control over file versions in both SharePoint and OneDrive at the organization and site levels.
These new limits allow organizations to optimize storage by automatically removing excess file versions, freeing up valuable space for active content.
How Version History Limits Can Improve SharePoint Storage?
SharePoint administrators can now set version limits at the organizational level, moving beyond the default setting of 500 file versions with no expiration.
Benefits of Version History Limits
- Customizable version limits: Choose how many versions to keep.
- Version expiration: Set file versions to expire after a defined period.
- Automatic versioning: Reduce the number of versions over time based on content activity and age.
This functionality helps streamline document management by reducing storage consumption while retaining only the necessary versions.
Configuring Organization-Level Version History Limits
![Configuring Organization]()
The version history settings provide three options.
- Automatic: The number of major versions decreases as the content ages.
- Manual with no time limit: Define a fixed number of versions to keep (default is 500, with no expiration).
- Manual with a time limit: Automatically delete older versions after a certain age, such as one year.
Note. New document libraries or OneDrive accounts will automatically inherit these organizational settings, but existing libraries won’t be affected by the change.
Example Scenarios
New Document Library with Version History Limit (Automatic)
![Document Library]()
Description. This screenshot shows a newly created document library with the version history setting inherited from the organization level as "Automatic."
Existing Document Library with Default Version History
![Existing Document Library]()