Filter large SharePoint 2010 list by lookup column

Question

I have a list with 10,000 items. The list view threshold is 5,000. The list has an indexed lookup column. There is a view that should return about 400 items:

My Column (indexed) is not equal to Sample Text

However, I get an error: The attempted operation is prohibited because it exceeds the list view threshold enforced by the administrator.

The view should only return 400 items, so why am I getting an error? Is it because I'm using a lookup column to filter (if yes, please link to a reputable source stating that this is the case)?

Answer 1

My best guess is that because the lookup column requires a join, and because the list contains a large amount of columns, the list threshold is surpassed even with this small number of items. I am advising the end users to organize the list items by folder, with each folder containing well below 2,000 items to allow for growth.

I would have liked to use the content query web part, but it is not available in Foundation.

The following articles in particular were useful in coming to this conclusion. The first article has some info that is useful for Foundation, even though it is Server-focused.

• Designing large lists and maximizing list performance (SharePoint Server 2010)
• Managing large lists and many items (SharePoint Foundation 2010)