Review Blob Storage versions and soft-delete costs
On this page
Use Blob Inventory for listed blobs, versions, snapshots, and selected properties only after verifying that the rule includes deleted objects. Use the container view for deleted status and days remaining, and Blob Capacity for account-level Blob service storage in bytes.
Why this is worth a look
Blob Inventory produces daily or weekly CSV or Apache Parquet reports listing containers, blobs, versions, snapshots, and selected properties. Its policy controls which objects appear, so verify the rule's deleted-object setting before using a report to review soft-deleted objects. The Azure portal separately shows deleted objects and days until permanent deletion. Blob Capacity measures storage used by the account's Blob service in bytes, with Average aggregation and BlobType and Tier dimensions. Inventory can also incur scan, report-file storage, read, and write charges, so use these views to compare retention and capacity without deleting data.
Run this check
CHECKLISTUse this portal procedure to inspect inventory coverage, versions, snapshots, deleted blobs, retention timing, and Blob Capacity without deleting or restoring data.
1. Open the storage account and confirm it is Standard general-purpose v2, Premium block blob storage, or Blob storage.
2. Go to Data management, then Blob inventory. Review the existing blob rule and verify that it includes deleted objects. Confirm whether versions and snapshots are selected. The versions option appears only when hierarchical namespace is disabled, and versioning and snapshots must be enabled to save a rule with those options.
3. Open the generated inventory report and review the objects and selected properties it contains. Treat it as a scheduled report, generated daily or weekly, rather than a live listing.
4. For a container-level view of soft-deleted objects, open the container Overview, turn on Show deleted blobs, select a deleted object, and read its Deleted status and the number of days until permanent deletion. Do not select Undelete or delete any object.
5. Open Monitoring, then Metrics, select the Blob service and Blob Capacity, and use Average aggregation. Record the account-level Blob service storage in bytes, with any relevant BlobType and Tier dimensions.
Scope and units:
- Blob Inventory is a scheduled CSV or Apache Parquet report.
- Blob Capacity measures the storage used by the account's Blob service in bytes.
- The portal shows deleted-object retention timing in days until permanent deletion.
Billing watch:
- Inventory pricing is based on blobs and containers scanned. Inventory-generated files also incur standard storage and operations charges for storing, reading, and writing those files.
- Version and snapshot selections change report contents. Do not treat the report as a billing inventory.
Coverage watch:
- Inventory reports do not list empty containers.
- With hierarchical namespace, deleting a container or directory can cause the report to show only the deleted container or directory, not its soft-deleted child blobs, even when deleted objects are included. This can differ from portal capacity metrics.
- Only explicitly deleted blobs appear in reports in the documented limitation scenario.
Ignore if:
- The account does not use Blob Inventory, soft delete, versioning, snapshots, or Blob Capacity, or if you need a complete deleted-child listing after deleting a hierarchical-namespace container or directory.How to confirm it
- 01
Confirm account and policy scope
Open the storage account and confirm it is Standard general-purpose v2, Premium block blob storage, or Blob storage. In Data management, open Blob inventory and verify that the blob rule includes deleted objects. Record whether versions and snapshots are selected.
- 02
Read the scheduled report
Open the generated CSV or Apache Parquet report and review the listed blobs, versions, snapshots, and selected properties. Use it as a daily or weekly report, not as a live listing. Do not assume it is a billing inventory.
- 03
Review deleted-object details
Open a container's Overview page, turn on Show deleted blobs, and select a deleted object. Read its Deleted status and the number of days until permanent deletion. Do not select Undelete or delete any object.
- 04
Measure account-level capacity
In Monitoring, open Metrics for the Blob service, select Blob Capacity, and use Average aggregation. Record the storage used in bytes, considering the BlobType and Tier dimensions shown by the metric.
Before making changes
Assume the inventory policy's deleted-object setting is verified before using its report for soft-delete review. Assume versioning and snapshots are enabled for those options, and hierarchical namespace is disabled when blob versions are required. Inventory is daily or weekly. With hierarchical namespace, deleting a container or directory can omit soft-deleted child blobs from the report. Blob Capacity is account-level, not a per-version or per-snapshot breakdown. Inventory and generated files can incur scan, storage, read, and write charges.