The following slides explain 10 unique ways (techniques) to overcome SharePoint 5000 item list view threshold. They represent best practices when working with large lists and document libraries in SharePoint.
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About Me
Gregory Zelfond
10+ years of experience with SharePoint
SharePoint advocate, blogger
Love to solve business problems using code-free, out of
the box SharePoint configurations
Owner of SharePoint Maven (sharepointmaven.com)
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How to overcome 5000 item limit threshold
The following slides explain 10 unique ways
(techniques) to mitigate 5000 item limit threshold
They represent best practices when working with
large lists and document libraries in SharePoint
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It is all or nothing!!!
Implementing just 1 technique from the list will not
solve your 5000 item limit threshold problem!
For best and most effective results, you should
implement ALL the recommendations at the same
time when you setup your document library
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10 ways to mitigate SharePoint 5000 item limit threshold
1. Spread the content
2. Create sub-folders
3. Setup Metadata
4. Index the columns
5. Create filtered views
6. Limit the number of records displayed
7. Create lots of different views
8. Adjust the default view
9. Enable Metadata navigation
10. Wait until year 2016
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Technique # 1: Spread the content
Spread the content among multiple sites and
document libraries
Do not put all your files in 1 Document Library
Organize sites/document libraries by business
function (i.e. project files are separate from
department files)
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Technique # 2: Create sub-folders
Generally, using folders in SharePoint is not a good idea
However, folders allow you to break your content into
manageable chunks
As long as any given folder in your library contains
< 5000 items – you are OK
Things to keep in mind…
Even if you initially break your content into folders, you
cannot assure that users will follow this guideline
Also, by using folders, you loose on all the great benefits
of metadata
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Technique # 3: Setup Metadata
Metadata (read: “SharePoint Site or List columns”)
allows you to filter, sort and group large lists and
present content to user in a friendly way
With metadata, you can minimize the number of
items that would be returned/displayed in a view
Learn about metadata and how to set it up in this
step-by-step guide
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Technique # 4: Index the columns
Metadata alone will not solve the 5000 Item Limit Threshold issue
Even if you filter and sort, SharePoint still has to search through lots and
lots of records
Column Indexing allows you to catalogue (create indexes) for certain types
of columns
So next time you filter or sort on a column, SharePoint looks in an existing
“catalogue”, instead of searching the whole library over and over again,
allowing you to bypass the 5000 item limit threshold
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Technique # 5: Create filtered views
Now that you indexed the columns, you can create views via sorting
and filtering
VERY IMPORTANT! To take advantage of indexed columns, the first
column you sort or filter on must be indexed!!! If you ignore this – you
will still encounter 5000 item limit threshold issue
First Column you filter on must be an indexed column
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Technique # 6: Limit the number of records displayed
As a user, imagine choosing a particular document among hundreds or
thousands of documents on screen
Most likely, You do not need to display all 20,000 documents every
time you access a view
Make life easier for SharePoint and your users by limiting the # of
records that will be displayed in a view
Example: You want to create a view and show 50 most recently
modified documents in a library
– Step 1: Sort by Modified Date in reverse order
– Step 2: Limit the # of items to display to 50
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Technique # 7: Create lots of different views
Remember, no single view you create can violate the 5000 item limit
threshold (unless you indexed and filtered)
However, your users need views to find documents and items they are
looking for
It is a balance that you have to keep in mind
– Less views means less planning and bad user experience
– More views means more planning and better user experience
The solution is: Create lots of views for your users, but plan ahead
(column indexing, filtering, view item limit)
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Technique # 8: Adjust the default view
Do not forget about the default All Documents View
Out of the box, it is just a flat list of files, with no filtering or sorting
Moreover, it is a default view when users click on the document
library
Even if you configure all your other views correctly, this view will get
you in trouble, if you do not add filtering/sorting on indexed
columns or limit the number of records displayed.
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Technique # 9: Enable Metadata Navigation
When you configure metadata navigation for the library, SharePoint
automatically creates indexes for your columns
That means that with metadata navigation, you are allowed queries that
exceed the 5000 list view threshold
NOTE: To configure Metadata Navigation, you must enable Metadata
Navigation and Filtering under Site Settings > Manage Site Features
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Technique # 10: Wait until Year 2016
Microsoft has announced that the next version of SharePoint
(SharePoint 2016), will have a number of improvements in
content management, among other things
The following are some of the improvements that await us in
SharePoint 2016
– No more 5000 item limit. The list threshold has been increased, however the new
limit is not known at this time
– Single file size limit increased from 2GB up to 10GB
So let’s wait and see. However, the new limit does not negate
document management best practices discussed here
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