This article explains how to manage and reduce the data storage used by your ProBackup account. Use these options when you want to stay within your storage limits or reduce the amount of data kept in your backups.
ProBackup offers four ways to control your storage usage:
Adjust your data retention period
Exclude files by size or extension
Exclude old files
Exclude your biggest projects and lists
Prerequisites: A ProBackup account with admin access
1. Adjust your data retention period
The data retention period controls how long ProBackup keeps versions of your records and deleted items. Reducing this period is the quickest way to lower your storage usage.
Go to Settings > Data retention.
Select a shorter retention period for Versions and Deleted items.
Click Save.
Note: Available retention periods depend on your subscription plan. You can choose between 6 months, 2 years, or 4 years.
2. Exclude files by size or extension
You can also exclude files based on their size or file type. This helps you skip large files or formats you do not need to protect.
1. Go to "Settings" > "Data retention". 2. Scroll down to "Attachments". 3. Under file size, choose one of: - Back up all attachments - Exclude files larger than 1 GB, 100 MB, or 10 MB - Back up no attachments 4. In the file extensions drop-down, select the extensions you want to exclude (for example, "pdf" or "png"). 5. Click "Save".
Go to Settings > Data retention.
Scroll down to Attachments
Choose if you want to:
Back up all attachments
Exclude files larger than 1 GB, 100 MB or 10 MB
Back up no attachments
In the file extensions drop-down, select the extensions you want to exclude (for example, "pdf" or "png").
Click Save.
Tip: The following file extensions typically consume the most data: "mov", "mp4", "tiff", "raw", "avi", and "zip".
3. Exclude old files
You can exclude files based on when they were uploaded to your app. This is useful when you only want to back up recent files, even if older files are still active in your app.
Go to Settings > Data retention.
Scroll down to Delete old attachments and click the button.
In the pop-up, review the breakdown of how much data you can free up by removing active files uploaded more than 2 years, 1 year, 6 months, or 3 months ago.
Select your period.
Click "Email me code" to request a verification code.
Enter the code to confirm the change.
Example: You do not want to back up PDF files uploaded in 2020, even though they are still available in your app today.
4. Exclude your biggest projects and lists
If a few large projects or lists account for most of your storage, you can identify and exclude them from the backup scope.
Go to Settings > Data retention.
Scroll down to Storage Usage Report
Select your app and click Generate report
Go to your inbox and open the report
Identify the projects or lists to exclude.
Follow the steps in How to manage your backup scope to exclude them.