Microsoft irked a lot of people last month when it announced plans to ditch unlimited OneDrive storage for Office 365 subscribers and downgrade the free limit from 15GB to just 5GB.
Now, the company wants to earn back some people's love. Don't get too excited: unlimited OneDrive storage isn't coming back (at least for now), but Microsoft is now allowing those on the free tier to keep their 15GB.
"You're an important part of what we do, and we want to make sure you know that," Microsoft said in a note to OneDrive users. "That's why we're making it possible for you to keep your base storage quota and camera roll bonus, even after the changes roll out."
But, listen up: If you want to keep your 15GB of free storage, you'll need to claim it. Head over to this page and click the button to "Keep your free storage." Then, when the free storage limit drops to 5GB, and the extra 15GB camera roll bonus is discontinued, your account won't be affected. The offer is available until Jan. 31.
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As Microsoft announced last month, Office 365 subscribers must now make do with 1TB of free space rather than unlimited storage, while 100GB and 200GB new-user paid plans are getting replaced with a 50GB option for $1.99 per month. Those who don't claim their 15GB before the end of January will be downgraded to a 5GB limit.
Redmond last month blamed the sudden about-face on a few rotten apples spoiling the bunch. In a few rare cases, people "backed up numerous PCs and stored entire movie collections and DVR recordings" in OneDrive, taking up 75TB, or 14,000 times Microsoft's average.
Not surprisingly, people weren't pleased with the downgrade.
"You said unlimited MS," one PCMag commenter wrote. "Someone took you up on what you offered and you are now slamming the door on everyone."
For more, see PCMag's review of Microsoft OneDrive, and check out 17 Tips to Help You Master Microsoft OneDrive in the slideshow above.