Finding and exporting your SharePoint data

What it holds

SharePoint stores document libraries, site pages and structured lists used by teams across the company. Version histories, permissions and list metadata can explain how those records changed, but not every export includes them.

Where SharePoint shows the size

1. Sign in as a SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator.
2. In the SharePoint admin center, open Active sites. The bar at the top right shows available and total storage; the difference is what you use.
3. For totals over time, open Reports, Usage, SharePoint, Storage in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
4. For each site, open the Site usage tab, export, total Storage used (MB) and divide by 1,024.
5. If site addresses are hidden, a Global Administrator can turn off name concealment under Org Settings, Reports.

Plan and admin role. Included in Microsoft 365 Business, Enterprise and Office 365 plans. Active sites needs SharePoint admin rights; usage reports need SharePoint Administrator, Reports Reader or Global Administrator.

Exporting the full history

1. Add the exporter to the eDiscovery Manager role group in Microsoft Purview. The account needs an E3 or E5 licence.
2. Create a case and a search covering the sites you want. On large tenants, generate statistics first so only sites with content are processed.
3. Export items with an items report, and pick All versions if the edit history matters.
4. Keep each site in its own folder and include source paths so the structure survives.
5. Download from Process manager within 14 days. Split jobs that would run over seven days.
6. For a small site, sync the library with the OneDrive app, or select files in the browser and download.

The SharePoint Migration Tool only moves content into Microsoft 365; it can't export out of it.

eDiscovery skips locked sites, files blocked by DLP rules, and anything the exporting account can't reach.

Browser downloads stop at 10,000 files and 20 GB per ZIP, and only give the current version of each file.

You don't need to run an export to talk to us, and there's no need to clean it first — removing personal data is part of our work.