Inquiry: Storage limits and File Request capabilities for M365 Business plans

Honson LAM 0 Reputation points
2026-10-20T07:24:26.6133333+00:00

Dear Support Team,

We are currently planning our infrastructure requirements and looking closely at Microsoft 365 Business plans (Standard/Premium). We would appreciate your clarification on the following three items:

  1. OneDrive Storage Extensions: We understand the default limit is 1 TB per user. What is the process for an administrator to scale this up to 5 TB? Additionally, if we exceed 5 TB, what specific add-on licenses or "Extra Storage capacity packs" are available for purchase on a Business tier?
  2. Shared User Quotas: Can a single OneDrive for Business storage allotment be pooled or natively shared as a primary storage drive between 2 or more licensed users, or must we transition to SharePoint Online for collaborative, multi-user storage pools?
  3. External File Request Capabilities: Our primary workflow involves generating "blind upload" links so external third parties can submit files securely without seeing the directory contents. Is it best practice to host these File Request folders within an individual's OneDrive for Business or inside a shared SharePoint Document Library to allow team-wide internal access?

Thank you for your guidance.

Best regards,

Honson

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Other
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  1. Liora 3,285 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-10-20T08:03:41.23+00:00

    Dear @Honson LAM,

    Thank you for the detailed questions.

    From the requirements you've described, I think you're already looking in the right direction. If I were designing this solution today, I would generally treat OneDrive as personal user storage and SharePoint Online as the long-term home for shared team content and external submissions.

    OneDrive storage growth

    For most qualifying Microsoft 365 subscriptions, users start with 1 TB of OneDrive storage, and administrators can increase that up to 5 TB per user when eligible. Microsoft also provides options to extend storage beyond the licensed amount in certain scenarios.

    One thing I wasn't able to verify from Microsoft's current documentation is the exact Business-tier add-on SKU or storage pack that would apply after 5 TB. If exceeding 5 TB is part of your planning assumptions, I'd recommend confirming the available licensing options with Microsoft Sales or your licensing provider before making a purchasing decision.

    Shared storage across multiple users

    Although content in OneDrive can be shared with other users, the service is not designed to function as a shared drive for an entire department. In fact, OneDrive is focused on individual storage space, whereas SharePoint is designed to facilitate collaboration across teams and organizations.

    So if your goal is:

    • a common repository,
    • multiple contributors,
    • shared ownership,
    • business continuity when staff change,

    then SharePoint Online is generally the better fit.

    A simple rule I often use is:

    • "My files" > OneDrive
    • "Our files" > SharePoint

    External file requests

    For the workflow you described, Microsoft already provides a feature that is very close to what most organisations call a "blind upload".

    People using a File Request link can upload files, but they cannot browse the folder contents, view existing files, or see what anyone else has submitted.

    That makes it well suited to collecting documents from clients, suppliers, applicants, or other external parties.

    For referece:

    OneDrive or SharePoint for File Requests?

    Technically, File Requests can be hosted in either OneDrive or SharePoint.

    For a process owned by a single person, OneDrive can work perfectly well.

    For the scenario you've described, however, I would lean towards SharePoint.

    The reason isn't so much a technical limitation as an operational one. If the uploaded files need to be reviewed or processed by several team members, it's usually better for the files to belong to a SharePoint site that is owned by the organization rather than living inside an individual's OneDrive.

    That tends to make permissions, continuity, governance, and staff turnover much easier to manage over time.

    Based on the requirements you've outlined, I'd probably design it like this: External users > File Request > SharePoint Document Library > Internal Team Access while still using OneDrive as each user's personal working area.

    I hope this information helps point you in the right direction.

    Warm regards,  

    If the answer is helpful, please select "Yes, accept answer". If you have any questions or new updates, please feel free to comment below. 

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  2. AI answer

    2026-10-20T07:25:19.1933333+00:00

    Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Business Premium do not provide an administrative entitlement to raise a user’s included OneDrive quota from 1 TB to 5 TB; use OneDrive Extra Storage or Microsoft 365 OneDrive Storage for that user, and use a SharePoint document library for team-owned storage and file requests.

    1. OneDrive capacity on Business plans

    Business Standard and Business Premium include 1 TB per licensed user. The documented “can be increased to 5 TB” entitlement applies to Microsoft 365 E3/E5, not the Business plans ^1^.

    Consequently, setting the tenant default to 5 TB does not grant Business users 5 TB: values above a user’s licensed maximum are rounded down to that maximum ^2^.

    For Business Standard/Premium, the current expansion choices are:

    OneDrive Extra Storage capacity packs

    • Available in 100 GB, 500 GB, and 1–6 TB packs.
    • Assigned to one licensed user as an add-on.
    • A pack cannot be divided among multiple users.
    • It supplements rather than replaces the user’s existing OneDrive license.
    • A user’s total OneDrive capacity cannot exceed 25 TB.

    Purchase it from:

    1. Microsoft 365 admin center.
    2. For an MCA billing account: Billing → Add more products or Marketplace.
    3. Select Office 365 → OneDrive Extra Storage → Details.
    4. Choose the pack, quantity, term, and billing frequency.
    5. Complete the purchase and assign the add-on to the target user.
    6. If that user has a manually configured 1-TB limit, raise the user-specific limit separately.

    For a MOSA account, open Billing → Your products → subscription → Add-ons → Find more add-ons in Marketplace. If the subscription came through a CSP or reseller, purchase through that partner. Required billing roles and the complete purchase paths are documented here ^3^.

    Microsoft 365 OneDrive Storage

    As of the documented July 2026 rollout, this is a public-preview, pay-as-you-go option for commercial customers. It bills only storage consumed above each account’s licensed quota and requires:

    • An Azure subscription and resource group.
    • Owner or Contributor access to them.
    • SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator access.
    • A billing policy configured for Microsoft 365 OneDrive Storage.

    After enabling billing, raise each selected user’s storage limit. The documented maximum remains 25,600 GB. It is unavailable to Education, GCC, and Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet tenants ^3^.

    Do not confuse these with Office 365 Extra File Storage: that product adds capacity to the tenant’s SharePoint pool, not to an individual user’s OneDrive quota.

    2. Shared or pooled storage

    OneDrive Business allowances cannot be combined into a native shared primary drive. OneDrive is provisioned per licensed user and is intended for that individual’s work files; departmental and organization-level data should be stored in SharePoint ^1^.

    For shared files, create a SharePoint team site/document library and grant both users access. Business plans provide a SharePoint tenant pool of:

    • 1 TB per organization
    • Plus 10 GB per purchased qualifying license
    • Excluding each user’s separate OneDrive allocation

    A SharePoint site can use up to 25 TB, subject to available tenant storage. Additional SharePoint storage is sold in 1-GB increments ^4^.

    3. External “blind upload” file requests

    Place operational or team-owned request folders in a shared SharePoint document library. OneDrive file requests provide the same blind-upload behavior, but the folder remains attached to one employee’s personal storage and ownership. SharePoint gives the team direct, durable access and is the supported location for organization-level content.

    File-request recipients can upload without seeing, editing, downloading, or deleting folder contents, and cannot see other uploaders ^5^.

    The administrator must first allow Anyone links and the appropriate upload permission. Then verify SharePoint file requests:

    Connect-SPOService -Url https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com
Get-SPOTenant | Select-Object CoreRequestFilesLinkEnabled
Set-SPOTenant -CoreRequestFilesLinkEnabled $true
Set-SPOTenant -CoreRequestFilesLinkExpirationInDays 30

    File requests are unavailable if Allow only specific security groups is enabled. They are also unavailable in Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet and Office 365 Germany ^6^.

    After enablement:

    1. Open the SharePoint document library.
    2. Select the destination folder.
    3. Select Request files.
    4. Enter a description, select Next, and copy or send the generated link.
    5. When collection ends, delete the request link under Manage Access.

    Because file requests depend on anonymous Anyone links, configure link expiration and limit the feature to designated intake sites where possible.

    References

    1. OneDrive service description
    2. Set the default storage space for OneDrive users
    3. Add more OneDrive and SharePoint storage to your Microsoft 365 subscription
    4. SharePoint limits
    5. Create a file request
    6. Enable file requests in SharePoint or OneDrive
    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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