Microsoft SharePoint is a solution with many features, each more useful than the last; unfortunately, like every solution, SharePoint also has its limitations. Although the benefits of SharePoint are often discussed, it is also important to know about these small negatives – even if, thanks to regular platform updates, these limitations may be resolved at any time.

1- Limit of 5000 displayed documents and files

This limit has been in place for some time, and has not yet been improved. And unfortunately it can be restrictive. Admittedly, the 5000 document limit doesn’t represent the total number of documents and files that your library can hold, but the number of files and documents that you can display. Before recent updates, when your library reached 5000 items, it would become almost unusable, but thankfully this is no longer quite the case. Having more than 5000 files results in slower loading and difficulty synchronizing items, and difficulty performing certain operations (such as renaming documents). How can I avoid this problem? Store no more than 20,000 to 30,000 files and documents in a single library. Create several libraries, and distribute documents amongst them. Reflect on your document structure, including SharePoint sites.

2- Limit of 300,000 items synchronized with OneDrive

The second limit you’re likely to encounter on SharePoint is the 300,000 item sync limit with OneDrive. According to Microsoft, this limit exists across all synced locations, but it is not a hard limit – rather a guideline. And since it is very common for a user to sync hundreds of thousands of files across many SharePoint sites and libraries, the problem appears quite often. And this results in OneDrive failing to sync all of your items. So whenever possible, do not synchronize SharePoint libraries unnecessarily. The web interface also offers more stability, and minimizes problems.

3- Limit of 400 characters in the URL

URLs in SharePoint are limited to 400 characters; beyond this number you will encounter an error message. To prevent this from happening to you, you need to create libraries with short names, and use metadata to help give yourself more context, outside of URLs.

In short…

SharePoint, like all other platforms, has some small limitations. However, you can avoid or minimize these. To find out more about SharePoint, follow one of our training sessions, or contact one of our experts.