Microsoft 365 Family storage becomes a shared 2 TB pool

Microsoft has published a shared-storage model for Microsoft 365, and a subscriber email quoted by The Verge describes a separate change to how Copilot use is shared. The storage rules are on Microsoft’s support page. The AI credits page still says benefits stay with the subscription owner, so the AI change is announced, not live.

Shared storage, as Microsoft prints it

Changes to Microsoft 365 storage says Family and Premium include 2 TB of shared cloud storage, and Pro includes 5 TB. The primary subscriber and up to five more people, six members in total, draw from one pool. Add-on storage a member buys joins that pool. Files stay private unless someone shares them.

New and upgraded subscriptions include shared storage starting 8 October 2026. A plan that already existed before that date moves when it renews on or after 2 May 2027. Microsoft says nothing changes before the renewal, and that the subscriber gets an email first. An upgrade can come sooner: Microsoft’s example is a move from Family to Premium before 2 May 2027, which applies the shared model and a 2 TB allocation as part of the change. A downgrade before that date waits for the renewal.

Eligible existing Family and Premium customers in supported markets might receive transitional bonus storage when the plan renews after the rollout. Microsoft says they do not pay extra for it. The page states no size for the bonus. Microsoft also says a family can add storage up to a total of 10 TB, and that files stay available for up to a year after the pool is exceeded.

The email The Verge quotes calls the old allowance “1 TB per person” and the new one “2 TB of shared storage,” after the first renewal after 2 May 2027. The “1 TB per person” figure is the email’s, as The Verge quotes it. The Verge calls the smaller pool an easy way for Microsoft to sell more OneDrive storage. That reading is The Verge’s.

One AI allowance, in the email only

The Verge published at 07:14 UTC on 9 October 2026 and says it saw an email to Family and Premium subscribers. As The Verge quotes it, Microsoft describes changes “coming to subscription plans over the coming months,” including “Share your Copilot benefits and AI usage with other members on your plan,” plus managing AI access for younger family members. The email says individual feature limits “will shift to a single AI usage allowance” for the advanced features a person uses most, and that subscribers can “purchase more AI usage.” The quoted lines give no allowance size and no top-up price.

An AI credit, on Microsoft’s credits page, is the unit some Microsoft 365 AI features draw on, while other features count how many times they can be used in a period. That page, last updated in October 2026, still says: “AI benefits are only available to the subscription owner and cannot be shared with others.”

A new or upgraded Family or Premium plan is already on the shared 2 TB pool in Microsoft’s storage documentation. Copilot sharing, on the evidence of the email and the credits page, is a change Microsoft has told subscribers is coming, and that the credits page has not switched on.