HomeWinBuzzer NewsMicrosoft Limits Free OneDrive Usage Even More with Restricted Sharing Feature

Microsoft Limits Free OneDrive Usage Even More with Restricted Sharing Feature

In efforts to convert the free users of One Drive into paying subscribers, Microsoft will impose new limitations on the free use of the service.

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The software giant already decreased the free allocation of OneDrive from 15 GB to 5 GB earlier this year. As reported by German site Deskmodder.de, has now started to also limit the amount of data each OneDrive user can share with other people.

When you reach a certain sharing limit, OneDrive will prompt the following message:

“You have recently reached the limit for approvals. Some people may not be able to access your shared items . Try to share with fewer people, or sharing fewer large files.”

Microsoft announced in 2015 that it would remove its 100 GB and 200 GB plans and offer only a paid plan of 50 GB. This would be priced at $1.99 per month, which is twice the amount that Apple charges its users for iCloud storage.

OneDrive paid plans

The plans that are now available for OneDrive users are the Free, Basic, Personal, and Home plans. The Free plan offers 5 GB of space. The Basic plan offers 50 GB and is priced at $1.99 per month. The personal plan offers 1 TB for one user and costs $6.99 per month while the Home plan offers 1 TB each for 5 users at $9.99 per month.

As critics point out, there's nothing wrong with Microsoft providing their service for a fee; what's distasteful is  that they do not provide notice prior to the introduction of limitations.

Zach Epstein of BGR Media also points out that,

As continues to get cheaper and cheaper for service providers, Microsoft has decided to remove much of the value from its own consumer offering.”

What effects these limitations will have on Microsoft have yet to be seen. It has also yet to be seen whether these increased limitations would enable Microsoft to gain more paying subscribers for OneDrive.

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