Finding your data numbers

Where to look up sizes, record counts, oldest dates and headcount for the intake. Estimates are fine; we confirm everything on the technical call.

The quick version

Total data size

  1. Add up storage from each system: the Google Admin console's Storage page, the Microsoft 365 admin center's Reports → Usage, and your Dropbox or Box admin console.
  2. For a file server or a big folder, right-click it and choose Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac).
  3. Include archives and backups you could still export. 1 TB is 1,000 GB.

Oldest and newest records

  1. Email: in Gmail, search before:2015/01/01; in Outlook, received:<1/1/2015. Move the year back until nothing comes up.
  2. Accounting: run a transaction report for all dates; the oldest entry is at the top.
  3. CRM: sort records by created date, oldest first.
  4. Shared files: sort your oldest folders by date modified.
  5. Use the oldest date you find across all systems. If you still use them, your latest record is this month.

Email inboxes

  1. Google Workspace: Admin console → Directory → Users.
  2. Microsoft 365: admin center → Users → Active users, plus shared mailboxes.
  3. Count shared inboxes like sales@ or dispatch@, and former employees' mailboxes you've kept.

W-2 employees and peak headcount

  1. Your payroll provider's dashboard shows your active W-2 employees.
  2. Or check line 1 of your latest Form 941: the number of employees who received wages.
  3. Your payroll provider's history reports show headcount by year.
  4. Or count the W-2s you issued each year; the highest year is your peak.

System by system

Menu names vary by plan and version. If a path doesn't match, look for Storage, Usage, Reports or Billing in the admin area.

Gmail

  1. Size: in the Google Admin console (admin.google.com), open Storage to see total storage used. For per-person figures, go to Reporting → User reports → Apps usage.
  2. Oldest email: in Gmail, search in:anywhere before:2015/01/01 and move the year back until nothing comes up.
  3. People: Directory → Users lists every account.

Microsoft 365 and Outlook

  1. Size: in the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Reports → Usage and open the Exchange mailbox usage report to see storage used per mailbox.
  2. Oldest email: in Outlook, search received:<1/1/2015 and move the year back until nothing comes up.
  3. People: Users → Active users. Shared mailboxes are listed separately.

Slack

  1. Messages: open Tools & settings → Workspace analytics and set the date range to all time to see total messages. Usually needs a paid plan.
  2. Oldest message: search before:2018-01-01 and move the year back until nothing comes up. Free plans only keep recent history.
  3. People: the Members tab in Workspace analytics.

Microsoft Teams

  1. Messages: in the Teams admin center, open Analytics & reports → Usage reports and run the Teams user activity report for channel posts and chat messages.
  2. Oldest message: scroll to the top of your longest-running team or chat, or use the widest date range the report allows.
  3. People: the Users page in the Teams admin center.

Google Drive

  1. Size: in the Google Admin console, open Storage. Shared drives are listed under Apps → Google Workspace → Drive and Docs.
  2. Oldest files: in Drive, use the search filters to set Date modified before a year, and move back until nothing comes up.

SharePoint

  1. Size and file count: in the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Reports → Usage → SharePoint. The site usage report shows storage used and number of files per site. OneDrive has its own report there too.
  2. Oldest files: in a document library, sort by Modified, oldest first.

Dropbox

  1. Size: the admin console shows how much storage your team uses.
  2. Oldest files: sort a folder by Modified, oldest first.

Box

  1. Size: the Admin Console shows storage used across your company, and its reports can list files.
  2. Oldest files: sort a folder by Updated, oldest first.

HubSpot

  1. Records: open Contacts, Companies, Deals or Tickets. The total record count shows above each list.
  2. Oldest record: sort that list by Create date, oldest first.
  3. People: Settings → Users & Teams.

Salesforce

  1. Records and size: go to Setup → Storage Usage. It lists record counts for each object, plus total data and file storage.
  2. Oldest record: run a report on Accounts or Opportunities sorted by Created Date, oldest first.
  3. People: Setup → Users.

QuickBooks

  1. Transactions: run Reports → Transaction List by Date with dates set to All dates. Export to Excel to count the rows.
  2. Oldest record: the first entry in that report.
  3. People: Settings → Manage users.

Xero

  1. Transactions: run the Account Transactions or Journal report for the full date range. Export it to count the rows.
  2. Oldest record: the first date in that report.
  3. People: Settings → Users.

NetSuite

  1. Transactions: create a saved search on transactions with a count summary, or ask your NetSuite administrator for record counts.
  2. Oldest record: sort that search by date, oldest first.

Jira

  1. Issues: go to Filters → Search for issues, switch to JQL and enter ORDER BY created ASC. The total shows above the results.
  2. Oldest issue: the first result in that search.
  3. People: your Atlassian admin's user management page.

Zendesk

  1. Tickets: search type:ticket to see the total count.
  2. Oldest ticket: add created<2016-01-01 to that search and move the year back until nothing comes up.
  3. People: Admin Center → People → Team members.

ServiceTitan

  1. Jobs: run a jobs report with the widest date range available. The row count is your total number of jobs.
  2. Oldest job: sort the same report by date, oldest first.

Zoom

  1. Recordings: in the Zoom web portal, the admin's Recording Management page lists cloud recordings and their sizes.
  2. People: User Management → Users.

WhatsApp

  1. Size: on the phone, open Settings → Storage and data → Manage storage to see the size of each chat.
  2. Oldest message: scroll to the top of your longest-running chats.

Any other system

  1. Size: open the system's admin or settings area and look for Storage, Usage or Billing. Many show total storage used.
  2. Records: open the main list (orders, jobs, tickets, projects) with all dates selected. Most show a total count, or let you export one.
  3. Oldest record: sort that list by date, oldest first.
  4. People: the user list in the admin area, or the number of seats on your bill.

Datasets

Scale

  1. Folders: right-click and choose Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac) for file count and size. In a terminal, du -sh . gives size and find . -type f | wc -l counts files.
  2. Databases: run SELECT COUNT(*) on your main tables.
  3. Cloud storage: the bucket or container's metrics page shows object count and total size.

Date range

  1. Sort by the date or timestamp field, or run SELECT MIN(date), MAX(date) on the main table.

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