SharePoint List View Threshold (5,000 Items): Errors and Fixes

What the SharePoint list view threshold is

The list view threshold is 5,000 items, and it limits how many items one operation can process at once, not how many items a list or library can hold. Microsoft describes it as the maximum number of list or library items that a database operation, such as a query, can process at one time, and says operations that exceed the limit are blocked. A list can have up to 30 million items and a library up to 30 million files and folders, so a library of 200,000 files is inside its limits. The error appears when a single view, filter, sort or other operation needs more than 5,000 items to produce its answer.

Four points from Microsoft's documentation shape every fix below:

• It is a performance guard. Microsoft says the limit is in place to help get consistent performance across all users.
• It cannot be changed in SharePoint in Microsoft 365. Microsoft's article on the threshold, which applies to Microsoft 365 as well as SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019, states: "For SharePoint, the LVT limit can't be changed."
• The number is not always exactly 5,000. Microsoft says the actual number can vary with the site, database activity and site configuration, and that you might be warned on the List Settings page when a list has passed 3,000 items.
• Adding an item is not usually the problem. Microsoft says adding one item to a list that makes the list exceed the threshold is not usually blocked. The errors come when you view, filter, sort or change the structure of a list that is already large.

The messages you will see

Message	Where it is documented	Applies to
"The number of items in this list exceeds the list view threshold, which is 5000 items. Tasks that cause excessive server load (such as those involving all list items) are currently prohibited."	Microsoft Learn troubleshooting article "The number of items in this list exceeds the list view threshold"	A SharePoint Online list in Microsoft 365 Enterprise
"Cannot show the value of the filter. The field may not be filterable, or the number of items returned exceeds the list view threshold enforced by the administrator."	Microsoft Learn troubleshooting article "Can't sort or filter a column in SharePoint Online"	SharePoint Online, when you click the drop-down arrow to sort or filter a column in the view
"This view cannot be displayed because it exceeds the list view threshold (5,000 items) enforced by the administrator."	Quoted by a user in a Microsoft Q&A thread, not in a Microsoft article	The poster was using SharePoint Server 2013
"The attempted operation is prohibited because it exceeds the list view threshold enforced by the administrator."	The same Microsoft Q&A thread, shown when the poster tried to add an indexed column to a list of 6,169 items	SharePoint Server 2013

All four name the same limit. Microsoft's article for the first message says the cause is the Large List Resource Throttling feature, with the list view threshold configured at 5,000 items by default, and points to its guidance on managing large lists and libraries. The article for the second message says the fix is to reduce the number of items in the view to 5,000 or fewer.

Why a filtered view can still fail

A view that shows only a few rows can still hit the threshold, because the limit applies to the items SharePoint has to process, not the rows it displays. Microsoft documents these causes:

Cause	What Microsoft says	Fix
The first filter column is not indexed	"For a view to quickly filter through many items, the first column in the filter must be indexed." Its example: "If you just query for Species = Dog, your query will be throttled."	Fix 2
The first indexed filter still returns too many items	"The first column of the filter should return fewer items than the List View Threshold." With 15,000 items, the first index should return fewer than 5,000.	Choose a more selective column first
The filter uses OR	"Using an OR filter almost always increases the number of items returned and won't be effective under these circumstances."	Use AND to narrow the result
The view sorts, groups or totals	Microsoft lists sorting, grouping and column totals among the changes that remove threshold errors	Fix 1
The view shows many people, lookup or managed metadata columns	"Displaying 12 or more columns of the following types can cause a list view threshold error": people, lookup and managed metadata	Fix 1
The index is on a lookup column	Using an indexed lookup column to prevent exceeding the threshold "doesn't work"	Index a column of another type
Deleted items are still in the recycle bin	They are still counted when determining whether the filter expression exceeds the threshold	Fix 4

Fix 1: Edit the view

Microsoft's first instruction for a threshold error is: "If an error occurs when working with a large list, edit your list view." It adds: "The following four changes remove list view threshold errors. Make all four changes to remove all the errors."

1. Open the list or library. In the Views menu at the top right, select the name of the current view and choose Edit current view.
2. For both First sort by the column and Then sort by the column, select None. Microsoft notes that text, number, date and other column types can be used in the first sort, while people, lookup and managed metadata columns can cause threshold errors when sorting.
3. For both First group by the column and Then group by the column, select None.
4. In the Totals section, select None for every column.
5. In the Columns section, tick only the columns you need to display. Keep people, lookup and managed metadata columns well under 12.
6. Click OK.

Fix 2: Index a column and filter on it

Indexes and filtered views come first in Microsoft's guidance on working with the threshold. Microsoft describes it as a two-step process on all versions of SharePoint: create an index for a column, then create a view that uses the indexed column to filter.

Add the index

The steps below are from Microsoft's article on adding an index, for SharePoint in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint 2019.

1. Open the list or library and select Settings, then List settings or Library settings.
2. Scroll to the Columns section and select Indexed columns.
3. Select Create a new index.
4. Under Primary column for this index, choose a column that is not a lookup column. Microsoft's note: "If you are adding an index to avoid a List View Threshold error, ensure that the field used is not a lookup field."
5. Select Create.

Microsoft's limits for indexes:

• "You can add indexes on up to 20 columns on a list or library." Microsoft also says indexes add overhead to the data, so use them only where they make sense.
• Supported column types: Single line of text, Choice (single value), Number, Currency, Date and Time, Person or Group (single value), Managed Metadata, Yes/No and Lookup.
• Unsupported column types: Multiple lines of text, Choice (multi-valued), Calculated, Hyperlink or Picture, custom columns, Person or Group (multi-valued) and External data.
• Creating an index can itself be blocked. Microsoft says "Creating an index requires accessing all items in the list", so you may be blocked if the entire list exceeds the threshold. For SharePoint Online, Microsoft's troubleshooting article notes: "The list limit to add or remove an indexed column is 20,000 items."

Microsoft also says indexes are created automatically in two situations: when saved views have columns used for sorting or filtering, and when sorting in the modern experience. If the list is larger than 20,000 items, the index is created in the background and the Indexed Columns page shows "Indexing in progress".

Filter on the indexed column

These steps are from Microsoft's article on filtering a view, modern experience.

1. Click the heading of the column you want to filter on and choose Filter by.
2. In the filter pane that opens on the right, choose the values and select Apply.
3. Repeat for any other columns you want to filter on.
4. In the Views menu at the top right, select the name of the current view and choose Save view as.
5. Enter a name. Make this a public view is selected by default. Click Save.

Put the most selective indexed column first. Microsoft says the first indexed column in the filter should reduce the dataset the greatest amount, and gives the example that filtering on a state or date field can often reduce a dataset considerably. Where you filter on more than one column, use an AND operator, and make the first column the one that most likely returns the least data.

Fix 3: Use folders in a library

Microsoft's troubleshooting article "Can't sort or filter a column in SharePoint Online" gives folders as its second option: "Create folders in the library, and put items in the folders to keep the view for the library to 5,000 items or less."

• "Folder creation is enabled by default in document libraries, but not in lists."
• Microsoft says it may be possible to distribute all the items into multiple folders so that no folder has more than 5,000 items, and that each subfolder is counted as an item, though not the items inside it.
• A view of one folder must itself stay under the threshold. If you choose the Show all items without folders option, Microsoft says you must then use a filter based on a simple index.
• "Unlike libraries, there is no automatic way to move items between folders in a list."

Fix 4: Empty the recycle bin

Microsoft says deleted items sitting in the recycle bin are still counted when determining whether the filter expression exceeds the threshold, and that if you clear the recycle bin they are no longer counted. Check what is in it before you empty it. SharePoint recycle bin: how to recover deleted files explains both stages and how to restore.

Fix 5: Work outside the view

• Use the modern experience. Microsoft says views showing many items work best in the modern experience.
• Use search. Microsoft says SharePoint search is "not subject to the List View Threshold or other related limits", and that expanding the search scope to the entire list works regardless of the current view.
• Take the data into Excel. Microsoft says "Excel also lets you work with large lists without blocking." Exporting creates a one-way connection between the Excel table and the list. Export a SharePoint list to Excel or CSV covers the steps and the row limit on CSV exports.
• Limit personal views on a large list. To stop people creating a view that spans all the items, Microsoft suggests removing the Manage Personal Views permission from contributors for that list or library. SharePoint permission levels explains how permission levels work.

What else the threshold blocks

Beyond views, Microsoft says some operations are blocked once a list or library is over the threshold because they require accessing the entire list:

• adding or deleting an index
• creating a sort in the view definition
• displaying a column total
• adding, updating or deleting calculated fields
• making a column unique in an existing list that has more items than the threshold
• turning on Cascade Delete or Restrict Delete for a lookup field in a list over the threshold
• creating a site template, which Microsoft says is blocked for sites with lists or libraries over the 5,000-item limit

SharePoint site templates explains the options for reusing a site's design.

Can an administrator raise the threshold?

In SharePoint in Microsoft 365, no. Microsoft states that the limit can't be changed. In SharePoint Server, Microsoft says the throttles and limits are set on the Resource Throttling page in Central Administration, and an administrator can schedule a Daily Time Window during which limits are raised. Those options are for SharePoint Server versions only.

Other limits that grow with the same libraries

The threshold is one of several limits that matter as a library grows. Microsoft's SharePoint limits page also states that when a list, library or folder contains more than 100,000 items you can't break permissions inheritance on it. SharePoint Online limits lists the item, permission, sync and storage limits side by side, and SharePoint slow with large document libraries sets out what each standard fix does for each limit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the list view threshold in SharePoint?

It is a limit of 5,000 items on how many items a single operation, such as a view or query, can process at one time. Operations that exceed it are blocked. It is not a limit on how many items a list or library can hold.

Does the 5,000 limit mean my list can only hold 5,000 items?

No. Microsoft's SharePoint limits state that a list can have up to 30 million items and a library up to 30 million files and folders. The threshold limits what one view or query can process.

Why do I get the error when my filter returns only a few items?

Because the limit applies to the items SharePoint processes to answer the query, not the rows displayed. The usual causes are that the first filter column is not indexed, that the first indexed filter still matches too many items, or that the filter uses OR.

Can I increase the list view threshold in SharePoint Online?

No. Microsoft states that for SharePoint the limit can't be changed. The documented route is to keep each view under 5,000 items by using indexed columns, filters and folders.

How do I add an index to a column?

Open the list or library, select Settings, then List settings or Library settings, go to the Columns section, select Indexed columns, then Create a new index. Choose a column that is not a lookup column as the primary column and select Create.

Why can't I add an index to my list?

Microsoft says creating an index requires accessing all items in the list, so it can be blocked when the entire list exceeds the threshold. For SharePoint Online, Microsoft's troubleshooting article states the list limit to add or remove an indexed column is 20,000 items.

Does indexing a lookup column help?

Not for avoiding the error. Microsoft states that using an indexed lookup column to prevent exceeding the threshold doesn't work, and recommends another type of column as the primary or secondary index.

Do items in the recycle bin count toward the threshold?

Yes. Microsoft says they are still counted when determining whether a filter expression exceeds the threshold, and that clearing the recycle bin removes them from the count.

Related reading

• SharePoint Online limits - the item, permission, sync and storage limits in one table.
• SharePoint slow with large document libraries - the limits behind slow libraries and what each fix does.
• What are SharePoint Online views? - build and filter the views this page refers to.
• Export a SharePoint list to Excel or CSV - the steps, the one-way link and the row limit.
• SharePoint recycle bin - both stages and how to restore.
• SharePoint 'Sorry, Something Went Wrong': causes and fixes - the generic error and the template causes.