Version trimming
Reclaim version-history storage
Version history is the quietest way a library gets large. This trims it: keep the last N versions, keep everything after a date, keep one per day, or keep one per interval. Several libraries or a whole site are previewed first; one library or one folder trims as it scans, after you confirm that up front.
What it does
- Exactly which versions would go and how much storage that reclaims, before any of it happens, on a run over several libraries or a whole site.
- Which files carry enough history to be worth trimming at all.
- The reclaim total per site as well as per file.
- What actually happened, per file, once the run finishes.
How it runs
- Sign in and pick targets. Sites and libraries, or a CSV of them.
- Choose the rule. Retain N, before a date, one per day, or a minimum interval between kept versions.
- Read the preview. For several libraries or a whole site. The run then removes exactly the versions the preview listed. One library or one folder has no preview: it trims as it scans, and you confirm that before it starts.
- Approve, then it runs. Per-file progress. Cancel offers Finish the current item, Stop now, or Keep running. Nothing is left half-written: an item is either done or not started.
How it works
File filters (extensions, a name pattern, and leaving out files modified recently) decide which files are looked at, before any history is read. For each file that passes, the whole version history is read and judged newest first. The current version is always kept. Each rule you turn on can protect an older version: the first N older versions; any version modified on or after the date; the first N versions kept on each calendar day, counted in UTC; or a version at least the chosen number of hours from the last one kept. A version is removed only when none of the rules you set protects it. With no rule set, every older version is removed, and the page warns you before you start.
By default each removed version goes to the site recycle bin and can be restored from there for as long as the bin keeps it; the storage is freed only when the bin is emptied. Permanently delete is a separate option with its own red confirmation and a red banner for the whole run: those versions skip the recycle bin and cannot be recovered. On a recycle run that includes a site over its storage limit, you are told that recycling frees nothing there until the bin is emptied, and can carry on, stop, or start again with permanent delete through that same red confirmation. A run never switches to permanent delete on its own.
A single library or folder is trimmed as it is scanned: versions are removed file by file as the scan reaches them, with no separate preview, and you confirm that before it starts. Several libraries, or a whole site, are previewed first, and the run then removes exactly the versions the preview listed without scanning again, so versions created after the preview are not touched. Before the first version on each site is removed, the site is checked for a hold or retention policy, and you choose whether to trim it anyway or leave it out. A site-wide run leaves out hidden system libraries.
Every version is written to a run log on this computer before it is removed, and its outcome after. Once a group of removals has been sent, each file's remaining versions are read back, and a version still there is counted as failed, not removed. A file that cannot be read, a version SharePoint refuses, or a file deleted or moved since the scan is listed with the reason, and the run carries on. A stopped or interrupted run can be resumed without removing anything twice.
An option publishes a file's current minor draft before its versions are removed. In a library that requires content approval, publishing leaves the draft pending, and ShareMaster never approves content for you. After a single-library trim you can set a version limit on that library, or turn on automatic version expiry for its site, so history does not build up again; the library's version settings change only if you apply that.
What you get
An Excel workbook, named like contoso-version-trim-20260901-142207.xlsx, kept in Report History whether or not you save it. The same shape as the report-only run, so a preview and its run can be compared row for row.
Trimmed Files sheet
One row per file, with what was taken.
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Site | Contoso Projects |
| File Path | Shared Documents/Clients/Northwind |
| File Name | Budget.xlsx |
| Versions Removed | 417 |
| Versions Not Removed | 10 |
| KB Reclaimed | 882,140 |
| Status | Trimmed |
Trim Statistics sheet
The same run, per site.
What you need
- Write access to the libraries in scope, and enough rights to delete versions.
What it will not do
- A version sent to the recycle bin can be restored for as long as the bin keeps it, and its storage comes back only when the bin is emptied. A version removed with Permanently delete is gone.
- The current version of a file is never trimmed.
- SharePoint's own storage figures take a day or so to catch up, so the space appears to come back late.
- Version trimming report, on this menu and on Reports, is the same scan with nothing removed. Run it first.