SharePoint Document Libraries are essential for organizing and storing critical information on your intranet. However, as these libraries grow over time, you might encounter issues, particularly when they contain a very large number of files. This article addresses a common problem related to SharePoint's list view threshold.
The modern experience from our web parts overcome this limitation by removing the treshold. If you are using SharePoint Online Modern, please update the web part to the latest version.
Symptom
When a document library exceeds a certain item limit, your BindTuning Document Web Part may be unable to load its content, displaying an error message similar to a red ribbon stating:
"The Folder couldn't be loaded"
Understanding the SharePoint 5000-item threshold
SharePoint has a "List View Threshold" (defaulting to 5000 items) designed to prevent performance issues on database servers when querying large lists or libraries. This threshold can impact the ability of Web Parts, including the BindTuning Document Web Part, to load or display content from libraries that contain more than 5000 files or items, especially in older versions or specific environments.
Solution paths
The solution depends on your SharePoint environment and the version of your BindTuning Document Web Part.
For SharePoint Online
Resolution (Documents Web Part)
Update your BindTuning Documents Web Part to version 3.0.0.0 or above.
Newer versions of the BindTuning Document Web Part for SharePoint Online have been specifically enhanced to overcome the 5000-item threshold limit. This means the Web Part can load libraries with an unlimited number of files, significantly improving flexibility for large organizations.
Download the latest version of the Documents Web Part.
Follow the standard installation or update procedure to deploy the new version to your SharePoint Online App Catalog and affected site collections.
Note: While the threshold limit is removed, loading extremely large document libraries (e.g., tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of files) may still result in longer loading times for the Web Part. This is due to the sheer volume of data being retrieved.
For SharePoint On-Premises (or older web part versions)
Resolution: The threshold limit still applies for SharePoint On-Premises environments using the BindTuning Document Web Part, as the updated version (v3.0.0.0+) is specific to SharePoint Online.
Workarounds: If you are encountering this error on SharePoint On-Premises, or if you are on an older version of the Document Web Part for SharePoint Online and cannot immediately update, consider the following strategies to manage your large libraries:
Create New Libraries: Divide your content into multiple smaller document libraries, ensuring that no single library exceeds the 5000-file threshold.
Optimize Views: Implement highly filtered views that limit the number of items returned to less than 5000. For example, create views based on year, department, or content type.
Archive Older Files: Regularly archive or move older, less frequently accessed files to separate archival libraries.
While these workarounds require manual organization, they are currently the effective methods for managing this threshold in older environments.