Viewing and Managing Usage by User/Team

Viewing and Managing Usage by User/Team

pCloud Business accounts provide powerful tools for administrators to monitor and manage storage usage across users and teams. This guide explains how to view usage statistics and redistribute storage effectively.

Note: This article applies specifically to pCloud Business accounts. Individual and Family plans have different management options covered in other articles.

Viewing Storage Usage in Business Accounts

Checking Overall Account Usage

To view your pCloud Business account's storage usage:

1. Log into your account at my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email address in the top-left corner to open Business settings
3. View the overall storage statistics for your Business account
4. See the total used space versus available space

Viewing Individual User Storage

As an administrator, you can monitor storage usage for each user:

1. Log into my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email address in the upper left corner
3. Select Users from the Business menu
4. View the Storage column, which displays:
   • Used space versus total allocated space for each user
   • A visual indicator showing the percentage of storage used
   • Which users are approaching their storage limits

Redistributing Storage Between Users

As an admin user of your Business account, you have the option to redistribute unused space from other users to your account or to users who need more storage.

Allocating Space from Regular Users to Admin

To redistribute storage from regular users to the Admin user:

1. Go to the Users tab in your Business settings
2. Under the Storage column, view the used versus total space of each user
3. Click on the total space of a user to adjust their allocated space
4. Reduce the allocation for users with excess unused space
5. The adjusted space will be automatically transferred to the Admin user's account

Important: You can only reduce a user's allocated storage down to their currently used amount. You cannot set an allocation lower than what they're actively using.

Adjusting User Quotas

To modify storage allocation for any user:

1. Navigate to Users in the Business panel
2. Locate the user whose quota you want to modify
3. Click on their current storage allocation
4. Enter the new storage amount
5. Confirm the changes

Using "View as Other User" Feature

The View as Other User setting provides administrators with visibility into user accounts:

What This Permission Grants

• Profile Viewing: View the profiles of other users within the Business account
• File Access (Read-Only): Access and view files belonging to other users
• Usage Monitoring: See how users are utilizing their storage

What This Permission Does NOT Grant

• Ability to edit or modify other users' files
• Permission to delete files from other users' accounts
• Access to encrypted Crypto Folder contents

Enabling View as Other User

1. Go to my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email address in the upper left corner
3. Click on Users
4. Select the user whose permissions you want to modify
5. Click Permissions
6. Set View as Other User to Enabled
7. Save the changes

Managing Team Storage

What Are Business Teams?

Business teams allow you to organize users into groups for easier management and collaboration. Storage management can be viewed at the team level for better organization.

Team Management Permission

To enable Team Management for a user:

1. Go to my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email address in the upper left corner
3. Click on Users
4. Select the user whose permissions you want to change
5. Click Permissions
6. Set Team Management to Enabled
7. Save the changes

Viewing Team Storage Usage

While individual user storage is visible in the Users tab, you can organize usage monitoring by team:

• Create logical team groupings based on departments or projects
• Monitor aggregate storage usage per team
• Identify teams that may need additional resources

Viewing Activity Logs

Business administrators can check detailed activity logs to understand usage patterns:

1. Access the Logs section of the Business panel at my.pCloud.com/#page=b_logs
2. Use the Date menu to filter logs for specific time periods
3. Use the Show Logs for menu to filter by:
   • Individual users
   • Specific teams
   • All users
4. Review activities such as:
   • File uploads and downloads
   • Sharing activities
   • Storage changes
   • Login history

Increasing Total Business Storage

When your Business account needs more overall storage, you have these options:

Add More Users

• Each user added to your Business account comes with allocated storage
• This increases the total available storage pool
• Additional users also increase available download link traffic

To Add Users to Your Business Account

1. Log into my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email in the upper left corner
3. Select Users
4. Click Add User or Invite User
5. Enter the user's email address and details
6. Set their initial storage allocation
7. Configure their permissions
8. Send the invitation

Modify Your Subscription

To change the number of users or upgrade your Business plan:

1. Log into my.pCloud.com
2. Click on your email at the top-left corner
3. Open the Billing section
4. Modify your subscription details
5. Adjust the number of users or storage tier
6. Complete the payment for the updated subscription

Note: This option is available only for the Admin user or any user with Billing Management permissions.

Business User Management Permissions

Understanding permissions is crucial for effective storage management:

Billing Management

When enabled for a user, this grants:

• Can do: Modify invoice data
• Cannot do: Modify subscription plan or user quotas

Business User Management

This permission allows users to:

• Add new users to the Business account
• Edit user information
• Manage user permissions (except for their own permissions)
• Deactivate or delete users
• View and adjust user storage allocations

Managing Deactivated Users

What Happens When a User is Deactivated or Deleted

• The user loses access to the Business account
• Their files remain in the account but become inaccessible to them
• Their allocated storage is freed up for redistribution
• Shared folders they managed may need new managers assigned

Redistributing Storage from Deactivated Users

1. Go to the Users tab
2. Identify deactivated users (they appear with a different status indicator)
3. Click on their storage allocation
4. Reduce their allocation to zero or minimal amount
5. The freed storage becomes available for other users

Managing Shared Folder Storage

Company Sharing

Business accounts have a special Company Sharing feature:

• Folders can be shared across the entire company
• Storage usage for company-shared folders counts against the owner's quota
• Administrators can view who has access to company-shared folders
• Usage can be monitored through the Logs section

External Sharing

When Business users share folders externally (outside the Business account):

• Storage counts against the sharing user's quota
• Download link traffic is consumed from the Business account's total traffic pool
• Administrators can control external sharing permissions through Account Share Settings

Restoring Files for Business Users

If a user needs files restored from Trash or previous versions:

1. The user can restore their own files from the Trash if they have access
2. Administrators with appropriate permissions can restore files on behalf of users
3. Files can be restored from the Trash within the retention period (30 days for Business accounts)
4. Extended File History can be enabled for longer retention (up to 365 days)

Important: Restored files count against the user's current storage allocation, so ensure they have sufficient space before restoring large amounts of data.