Recently Microsoft made changes to how certain Dataverse data is categorized, which resulted in a notable decrease in Database capacity usage and an increase in File capacity usage across all environments tenant-wide.

Whilst this is a positive and welcome change given the cost of File capacity is cheaper than Database capacity, it is a significant change that has had a financial impact to customers, requiring action to review and potentially update licensing arrangements to ensure appropriate coverage.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any communication about the change in the M365 Message Center nor the Microsoft Roadmaps to advise that this change was going to occur.

The only mention of the update appears retrospectively in the change log at the end of the Microsoft Learn page for Dataverse capacity-based storage overview: Dataverse capacity-based storage overview - Power Platform | Microsoft Learn

April 2026

We made internal adjustments to how solution-aware tables and metadata are reported in Dataverse. This content now resides in file storage rather than the database tier. You may notice corresponding shifts between database and file storage as the classification updates internally. Overall storage usage remains unchanged, and the transition required no downtime or action from administrators or makers.

After reaching out to Microsoft Support, I learned that consulting this change log is currently the only way to be informed of such changes. 

This idea is to recommend Microsoft proactively communicate Microsoft Dataverse optimization improvements through established channels such as the M365 Message Centre in the future to ensure customers are notified of impacts ahead of time and can plan accordingly.