Automatic version retention

[MVNITI]

Hey Guys,

I've been looking into automatic version control options in SHP and came across the automatic retention setting. This guided me to this site Plan Version Storage 

I have one major question about this feature that I haven't found a clear answer for. Might just be that it's unclear to me only.

They state the following:

• All versions created within 500 count limit in first 30 days.
• Hourly versions (versions created at the top of the hour) between 30 to 60 day period.
• Daily versions (versions created at the beginning of each day) between 60 to 180 day period.
• Weekly versions (versions created at the beginning of the week) beyond 180 days or more are available indefinitely until the maximum 500 count limit has reached.

The site also states this (more to the top of the site):

• Restore options: This setting ensures version history at key timestamps is always available for restore even on file with no new file edits.

Now, does this mean that if I enable this feature, we will have hourly, daily and weekly versions of every single file that this setting is applied on? Because, If I'm not mistaken, if I create a file and just leave it there for e.g. 15 years, this would create ±2060 versions?

1. 1440 hourly's for the first 60 days period
2. 120 daily's for the next 120 days period
3. Maximum of 500 weekly's

If this only keeps an hourly version as long as it was modified or it creates a version for the last hour and removes the pervious redundant version, I would love to apply this (maybe even tenant wide). If it just creates more redundant versions, .. I'm not inclined to use this feature at all.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Versions are only created when the item is modified, so there should be any redundant ones. Well, unless the users are making redundant changes 😄

[#3]

The Microsoft definition of modified also include renaming the document or changing metadata. These actions also result in new document versions even though the document itself has not been modified. For small files the impact is limited but for large files with frequent changes this starts consuming your storage quota. There are apps that allow renaming, changing metadata without adding a new version.

[#4]

Thanks for the input.
The working of the versioning system isn't new to me and I realise it has its flaws like you so clearly mentioned in your reply.
While I was waiting for a reply on this, I enabled the auto retention feature in a test tenant and enabled it on a DL with a dummy file in it.
It indeed only created version for changes to the file and no redundant version were kept. Good stuff.

We're looking into this because we have (as example) 35MB PPTX files that are currently taking up 6-12GB of storage due to the versioning being set to unlimited / 500 max limit.
Autosave is such a pain in the **bleep** here.

I'm going to do some further testing on some DL's that aren't business critical. I have high hopes.

[#5]

I wrote a detailed blog on how the new file version limits can help reduce your SharePoint storage https://nikkichapple.com/sharepoint-version-history-limits-preview/

[#6]

This blog is very insightful and helpful. I recommend it to anyone who read this.
I've referenced it in our internal documentation.

Thanks Nikki!