SharePoint Online 5000 file limit - Microsoft Q&A (2024)

2022-09-14T11:26:59.557+00:00

Hi Guys,

I appreciate that this topic has been talked about in many different instances but i'm still a bit confused.

I have done a few migrations to SharePoint over the past few years and i've never really investigated the 5000 file limit but have never really had any issues because of it.

I'm doing a bit of research at the moment due to a large migration that i'm currently scoping. They have a share (currently located on a Windows Server) that contains about 800GB worth of data that I want to move into a SharePoint site. At present, the share is broken down into heavily nested folder structures and only really contains Office documents (i.e. word and excel) PDF's and photos. They don't search these libraries heavily, but they do move (often large) folders into this share and all users will be using the OneDrive sync tool to show the files in their file explorers (in the default 'file on demand' setup). There's approx. 2 million files across the entire share.
I have read online that the 5000 limit, even though it applies to the library, is most apparent on a single view that contains over 5000 items thus can be mitigated using folders - but i'm not sure whether this applies to a parent folder and its subfolders, or whether it applies to each subfolder individually (or i may just have this completely wrong).

Am I being stupid to think that a single library can support this data? If so, what should i be doing instead?

Thanks,
H

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1. 

   See Also

   How to overcome SharePoint 5000 item limit threshold | Sharepoint Maven

   Haoyan Xue_MSFT 21,986Reputation points • Microsoft Vendor

   2022-09-15T09:00:38.643+00:00

   Hi @Rag ,
   The SharePoint 5000 item limit threshold applies to the limit of items that are displayed in per view(An example is shown in the figure below).
   
   SharePoint Online has a limit of 30 million files and folders per library(Sum of folders and files at each level), each file has a limit of 15GB uploaded to a library.
   There is no explicit limit for the size of a document library in writing. Technically, a document library can hold large amount of data as long as it doesn’t exceed the limit of a site. So, it can hold up to 10 -15 TB of data.
   Reference：https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/sharepoint-online-service-description/sharepoint-online-limits

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   Rag 1Reputation point

   2022-09-15T11:41:54.647+00:00

   Hi @Haoyan Xue_MSFT ,

   Thanks for that, good explanation!

   So there will be no service degradation with having over 5000 files in the library in its entirety, as long as the per view page doesn't exceed 5000 files?

   I expect moving large folders between shares would ideally be done in the online version instead of the offline FOD cache?

   I would split each main parent folder under the library into separate libraries, but I want the local cache in windows explorer to be indented once synced (i.e. Company Name>SiteNameA>User 1, Company Name>SiteNameA>User 2 instead of individually synced libraries eg Company Name>SiteNameA-User 1, Company Name>SiteNameA-User 2) if that makes sense? Unless there is a way of doing this with having them in separate libraries?

   Kind Regards,
   Harry.

   1. 

      Haoyan Xue_MSFT 21,986Reputation points • Microsoft Vendor

      2022-09-16T08:43:37.843+00:00

      Hi @Rag ，
      For your questions:

      1. So there will be no service degradation with having over 5000 files in the library in its entirety, as long as the per view page doesn't exceed 5000 files?
         Answer: Yes, per view page doesn't exceed 5000 files is ok.
      2. I expect moving large folders between shares would ideally be done in the online version instead of the offline FOD cache?
         Answer: If your requirement is to upload a large number of files to SharePoint from windows local. Per my knowledge, the best option for uploading large files on SharePoint is using OneDrive sync client, file sizes of 250 GB are allowed for SharePoint document libraries and OneDrive. You can upload in batches.
      3. You want the local cache in windows explorer to be indented once synced?
         Answer: When you implement local files to OneDrive in batches, synchronize to OneDrive according to the classification you want, and then OneDrive will automatically synchronize the files in it to a certain library in SharePoint.

   2. 

      Haoyan Xue_MSFT 21,986Reputation points • Microsoft Vendor

      2022-09-20T01:22:54.123+00:00

      Hi @Rag ，
      I am checking to see if the problem has been resolved.

   3. 

      McKay, Leanne (DPS) 1Reputation point

      2024-03-13T06:41:23.4766667+00:00

      If you plan moving files around after uploading them to a SharePoint document library, I would advocate turning OFF the sync function altogether. Synchronized, moving folders that are online (with sync users currently connected) is bad enough, but everyone who is on leave or not presently connected for any reason, gets a stale cache that causes grief as it tries to re-synchronise next time they connect.

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