Getting Started with SharePoint Storage Explorer

3 min read

SharePoint Storage Explorer is a free Windows tool from Smikar Software that turns the SharePoint Online "storage black box" into a clear, drilldown-able map of where your tenant's storage is actually going. This page is the orientation for new users: what the tool does, who it's for, what you need to install it, and the order to read the rest of the documentation.

What the tool does

SharePoint Online surfaces tenant-level storage totals through the Microsoft 365 admin centre, but stops short of telling you which sites, libraries, file types, or individual files are driving the consumption. SharePoint Storage Explorer fills that gap by scanning your tenant with read-only access and presenting:

Tenant-wide site overview - every site, ranked by total storage, with growth trend.
Document library view - drill into any site and see per-library storage with version counts.
File browser - navigate the actual file tree with size sorting and filtering.
Top 100 files - the largest files in the tenant, ranked, with site and owner context.
File-type breakdown - storage by extension (PDF, PPTX, video, etc.) so you know what to target for cleanup.
Reports - exportable summaries ready for management or change-review boards.

The tool is read-only against SharePoint. Nothing is modified, deleted, or moved. The scans pull metadata Microsoft already exposes; SharePoint Storage Explorer reads, aggregates, and visualises it.

Who it's for

SharePoint admins sizing up tenant storage before purchasing more, or trying to identify what to archive.
IT leads preparing a storage-management plan or board paper.
Compliance / records teams auditing where large files live.
Migration planners scoping a SharePoint or content move.

If you have admin access to a SharePoint Online tenant and want to know where the storage is going, this is the tool.

What you need

A Windows machine (workstation, server, or VM). A fresh VM with 32 GB of RAM or more is recommended for large tenants - deep scans are resource-intensive.
.NET Framework 4.7.2 - installed automatically by the Prerequisites Setup Wizard if missing.
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - same, auto-installed if missing.
Microsoft Azure PowerShell - latest version, also handled by the wizard.
An Entra ID account in one of these roles: Global Administrator, Cloud Applications Administrator, or Application Administrator (needed once during configuration to register the read-only app).
Your SharePoint admin URL (the part before -admin.sharepoint.com).

Cost

SharePoint Storage Explorer is free. No subscription, no per-seat licence, no email-wall, no sales sequence to clear. Request a download from the product page and an email with the installer arrives shortly after.