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Overcoming threshold limits in SharePoint whilst using OnePlaceMail
Who is this article for?Users who encounter threshold limit errors when interacting with content.
Admin permissions are required for some steps.
This article provides information on how you can work around threshold limits in SharePoint whilst using OnePlaceMail. The idea is not to get around the threshold limits of SharePoint as they are in place for valid performance reasons, but rather, to provide ways to work with them so that you can still access SharePoint content in OnePlaceMail.
1. Error in list view
You may receive the error below when trying to view the content in a list view in SharePoint.
This error is controlled by the resource throttling setting on the web application in SharePoint Central Administration.
Non-Admin setting
Admin setting
For non-admin users, the number of items that they can access in SharePoint is 5000 items, whereas administrators' is 20000. What this means is that if the library/list has more than 5000 items (both documents and folders), they will not be able to view any of the content in that library/list location and will receive the error above.
To resolve the issue:
Option 1
Modify the threshold setting in Central Administration
This is not possible in SharePoint Online/Office 365.
This approach is not recommended as it could have performance impact on SharePoint.
Option 2
Index the Content Type column
In the scenario where you have a library with more than 5000 items comprising e.g. 1000 folders and 4000 document items, you will still get the threshold error even though the number of documents is less than 5000.
In order to get all of the threshold (5000) applied to just documents (not folders), you can index the Content Type column.
To index a column:
- Go to Library Settings.
- Click Indexed columns.
- Click Create a new index.
- Select the Content Type column.
If the number of documents still exceeds 5000 you will still receive the threshold error.
Option 3
Create a view called "Content View" in the list/library with a filter to return less than the threshold limit
If you create a view called "Content View" in the library/list, OnePlaceMail will try to use it for obtaining content. The name of this view can be modified using the configuration update process.
Set a filter on the view to filter the data so the total number of items displayed in the view is less than the threshold, based on e.g. a date range, a number, by item ID etc. in filter settings on the view.
2. Error when viewing content
You may receive the error below when trying to view the content in a location in SharePoint.
This is error occurs when the number of lookup type columns (columns that have to lookup somewhere for their values - not just lookup column types) such as Managed Metadata, People Groups, Lookup Columns, exceeds the threshold for the total number allowed in a library.
This behaviour is controlled by the web application resource throttling setting in SharePoint Central Administration.
Non-Admin setting
Admin setting
Administrators do not have a threshold limit set.
If the total number of the columns described above in a library exceeds the threshold above (default is 8), you get the error above.
To resolve the issue:
Option 1
Increase the threshold (not recommended)
This option is not recommended as it could lead to performance impact on SharePoint
Option 2
Modify the number of columns that perform lookups in the library
Analyse how many of the following columns you have in the library:
- Lookup Columns
- Enterprise Keywords column enabled on library
- Managed Metadata columns
- People and groups columns
- Lookup columns
If the total exceeds eight, consider deleting some columns or consolidating the number in the library.
3. Error when expanding list of folders
You receive the following error when expanding the list of folders in the navigation tree.
This is caused by the same threshold setting in the list view error.
To resolve the issue:
Option 1
Modify the threshold setting in Central Administration
Not recommended.
Option 2
Index the "Content Type" column
Follow the earlier instructions to get the threshold setting to just use folder items so you will get support to 5000 folders. If you have more than 5000 you will still get errors.
Option 3
Create a view called "Content View Navigation" in the list/library with a filter to return less than the threshold limit
Create a view which restricts the number of folders to less than the threshold using the filter setting of the view.