ContentBody Usage: Avoid SOQL for Counting

Issue

Administrators may observe significant discrepancies between the number of ContentDocument records returned by SOQL queries and the ContentBody record count displayed on the Storage Usage page, leading to confusion about actual file storage consumption and difficulty in managing storage quotas.

Symptoms

1. SOQL queries on ContentDocument or ContentVersion return significantly fewer records than expected.

2. Storage Usage page displays much higher ContentBody counts

3. Sum of individual user storage in "Top Users by File Storage Usage" does not match total file storage usage

4. Administrators cannot locate or access all files that contribute to storage consumption through standard SOQL queries

Cause

This behavior is working as designed due to fundamental differences between SOQL query capabilities and storage calculation algorithms used by the Storage Usage page. The Storage Usage page uses algorithms that account for all ContentBody usage across multiple platform features and not just ContentVersion records. ContentBody storage includes data from various sources beyond traditional file uploads:

• ContentVersion records

• ContentReference records (images and files in Rich Text fields)

• ContentNote records (which internally use Rich Text fields)

• Feed posts with embedded images and rich content

• Other platform features that utilize blob storage

SOQL Query Limitations:

• SOQL queries on ContentDocument and ContentVersion only return files that are directly accessible to the querying user

• Simple COUNT() queries cannot replicate the complex storage calculations performed by the platform

• SOQL queries do not account for all sources of ContentBody usage across the platform