SharePoint Remains Read-Only After Freeing Up Storage – Is Purchasing Additional Storage Mandatory?

Question

SharePoint Remains Read-Only After Freeing Up Storage – Is Purchasing Additional Storage Mandatory?

PPMV | NGOC (Tama) Nguyen Thi Bich 0

Dear Microsoft Q&A Community,

Our company is using SharePoint Online for business, with a total allocated storage capacity of approximately 3.2 TB.

Issue:

We recently exceeded our SharePoint storage quota for the second time, and our SharePoint environment was restricted to Read-Only mode.

Following the storage warning, we performed a major cleanup to reduce storage consumption.

Actions already taken:

Deleted approximately 1.2–1.5 TB of unnecessary files.

Emptied both the first-stage and second-stage SharePoint Recycle Bins.

Attempted to resume normal SharePoint operations.

Current result:

Despite these cleanup actions, SharePoint remains in Read-Only mode, preventing users from uploading or modifying files.

Our outsourced IT provider informed us that, under Microsoft's policy, we must purchase additional SharePoint storage to restore normal access because this is the second time we have exceeded the storage quota.

Our main question:

Does Microsoft have an official policy requiring organizations to purchase additional SharePoint storage to restore write access after exceeding their storage quota for the second time, even if they have already deleted unnecessary files and reduced their storage consumption?

If such a policy exists, could you please provide the relevant official Microsoft documentation?

If no such policy exists, we would appreciate guidance on how to restore SharePoint from Read-Only mode after the storage cleanup, including whether any administrative action or Microsoft Support intervention is required.

We would prefer to optimize our existing storage rather than purchase additional capacity unnecessarily.

Thank you for your guidance and support.

Best regards,

Ngoc.

#Sharepoint #Outofstorage #Read-only

0 comments

3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi Ngoc,

Based on my experience working with SharePoint Online, I'm not aware of any Microsoft policy requiring you to purchase additional storage simply because you've exceeded the quota for a second time.

If you've already cleaned up the storage, I would recommend checking a few things:

Storage usage: Verify that the updated storage consumption is below your allocated quota. It can take 24–48 hours for the figures to update.

Retention policies: Check whether Microsoft Purview retention policies are keeping deleted files in the Preservation Hold Library.

If storage is below the quota and the restriction remains, I would suggest raising a Microsoft Support ticket to investigate the backend restriction.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend purchasing additional storage until Microsoft confirms it's necessary. I'd also ask your IT provider to share the official documentation supporting their claim.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hi Ngoc,

Thank you for reaching out and for providing detailed information about the situation.

Based on Microsoft's official documentation, there is no published policy requiring organizations to purchase additional SharePoint storage solely because the storage quota was exceeded for a second time. When a tenant exceeds its SharePoint storage allocation, Microsoft recommends several options, including deleting unnecessary content, archiving inactive content, or purchasing additional storage if needed. Purchasing extra storage is an available option, but it is not documented as a mandatory requirement simply due to a repeated overage.

Since you have already deleted approximately 1.2–1.5 TB of data and emptied both the first-stage and second-stage Recycle Bins, I would recommend the following checks:

Verify the current storage usage in SharePoint Admin Center > Sites > Active sites. Please note that storage reporting may take up to 24–48 hours to reflect recent deletions.
Review whether your tenant is using Automatic or Manual site storage management. If Manual storage management is configured, individual sites may still be exceeding their assigned storage limits even when tenant-wide storage is available.
Check whether any Microsoft Purview retention policies, retention labels, or holds are preserving deleted content in the Preservation Hold Library, which can delay the release of storage space. For reference: Learn about retention for SharePoint and OneDrive
Run the Tenant Storage diagnostic referenced in Microsoft's SharePoint out-of-storage guidance to confirm whether any storage allocation issues remain.

If the tenant storage usage is confirmed to be below the allocated quota and the environment remains read-only after sufficient time has passed for storage recalculation, I would recommend opening a support request through Microsoft 365 Admin Center > Help & support. Microsoft Support can verify the tenant's backend storage status and determine whether any additional administrative action is required to remove the read-only state.

I hope this helps clarify the situation. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to let me know.

Kristen Tran 2,785 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-28T11:56:41.7866667+00:00

Hi Ngoc,

Have you had a chance to review the information provided? Any updates would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 3

Microsoft’s published policy does not require purchasing additional storage after a second quota overage; deleting content, archiving content, or adding capacity are documented alternatives for bringing the tenant below its quota.^1^

Restore write access

Because both recycle-bin stages have already been cleared, proceed with these checks rather than repeating the cleanup.

Verify the authoritative tenant storage value
- Sign in as a SharePoint Administrator.
- Open SharePoint admin center → Sites → Active sites.
- Check the storage bar in the upper-right corner.
- Confirm that total usage is now below the approximately 3.2 TB entitlement.
SharePoint’s displayed storage usage does not include changes made within the previous 24–48 hours, so deletion of 1.2–1.5 TB might not yet be reflected.^2^
Allow the storage calculation to update
- If the cleanup occurred less than 48 hours ago, allow up to 48 hours and check the Active sites storage bar again.
- Test creating or editing a small file only after that bar shows available capacity.
There is no documented requirement to purchase temporary storage merely because this is the tenant’s second overage.
Check whether an individual site quota is still exceeded
- In SharePoint admin center → Settings → Site storage limits, determine whether storage management is Automatic or Manual.
- If it is Manual, go to Sites → Active sites, select each affected site, and examine General → Storage limit.
- If a site’s usage exceeds its individual limit, increase that site’s limit using capacity already available in the tenant, or switch storage management to Automatic if that matches your organization’s management model.
- Save the change and retest after it propagates.
Under automatic management, sites draw from the central tenant pool. Under manual management, a site can reach its own configured limit even when the tenant still has available space.^2^

If usage does not fall as expected

A retention policy or retention label can preserve deleted content in the hidden Preservation Hold library. Such retained content can therefore prevent storage from decreasing as quickly as the visible deletion suggests. Cleanup of eligible content is performed by a periodic timer job; depending on retention configuration, deletion from the Preservation Hold library can take up to 37 days.^3^

Have the Microsoft Purview administrator review the affected sites’ retention policies and labels. Do not remove or weaken a retention policy solely to reclaim storage without approval from the organization’s compliance or records-management owner.

If capacity is available but sites remain read-only

After the storage report shows the tenant below quota and the 24–48-hour reporting interval has passed:

Note the exact banner or error shown on an affected site.
If it says “SharePoint sites are read-only right now while we do some maintenance” or returns 403 Forbidden, check whether that site has a separate lock state. Microsoft documents a site lock as a distinct possible cause of these messages.^4^
Also check Microsoft 365 admin center → Health → Service health and Health → Message center for an active SharePoint incident or maintenance notice.
Run the SharePoint tenant storage diagnostic described in Microsoft’s out-of-storage article. It requires a Microsoft 365 administrator account and is unavailable for GCC High, DoD, and Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet.^1^
If the diagnostic shows no quota problem but write access remains blocked, open Microsoft 365 admin center → Help & support and request Microsoft Support to verify the tenant’s backend quota and lock state. Include:
- Current entitlement and displayed usage
- Date and approximate volume of deletion
- Confirmation that both recycle-bin stages were cleared
- Affected site URLs
- Exact read-only messages
- Screenshots of the storage bar and site storage settings

Additional storage is necessary only if actual active storage remains above entitlement and sufficient content cannot be deleted or archived—not because the limit was exceeded for a second time.

References