UW-Madison Box - Manage Account Storage Usage

Manage Storage

1. Check account storage usage

• View your account's storage usage.
• View a project directory’s storage usage.
• Learn what data is counted towards your storage usage.

2. Delete unwanted folders/files

Before deleting folders/files, please keep the following in mind:

• Review the University Record Retention Policy to ensure you comply with the university’s legal and compliance record keeping requirements.
• Make sure there are no resources referencing or pointing to the folders/files you are going to delete (ex: shared links published on a website).
• Links to deleted folders will break access and will no longer be accessible.

Below are tips on how to decide which folders/files to delete:

• View folders/files that you own and look for older folders that have not been modified recently.
• Filter folders based on the “size” and/or “date modified” options to view the largest folders when they were last modified. Learn more about search filters.
• View the size of individual folders.
• Verify your collaboration role before deleting a folder.
• Do not delete folders that you do not own. Check with the Owner first.

Important Note for Accounts with Full Storage Usage

If your UW-Madison Box account's storage usage is full and you do not delete files/folders, you will not be able to create or upload new folders/files.

You will continue to have access to shared folders/files.

Known Issue

If you notice your account’s storage usage or folder size is not changing after deleting folders/files you are probably encountering a known issue with Box storage reporting. Box is aware of a bug that is causing account storage usage or file counts to display the wrong size. No data is lost due to this bug.

Request a Consultation

If you need help or have questions about your UW-Madison Box account’s storage usage, you can request a consultation.