I currently have a list that is reaching 40k threshold, so I wanted to break it up by area (Central, Midstate, Western). I am going to create few more lists and move the data over.
Is there a way to copy over my views into my new lists?
This is all in one same SharePoint site.
Thank you.
Firstly, just in case there might be a misunderstanding I want to make you aware that the list view threshold relates only to how many items you can display/query in a list view, not how many items you can store in the list. The maximum number of items you can store in a list is 30 million. See official article here.
Secondly, I recommend changing your list view threshold from 40k back to the default 5k, and use folders and list views with indexed columns to be able to view the items in the list.
Thirdly, if you still want to move items in various lists for other reasons than avoiding the list view threshold, then there is no out-of-the-box way to do it other than exporting the list as a template which can be tricky and messy when executed on large lists.
What I have done in the past was to create new lists that have the exact same columns and settings as my old list. Then I wrote a PowerShell script that looped through the existing list's items and created them in the new lists. Once the new lists have been populated with items, I deleted them from the old list.
In some scenarios, I used PowerShell scripts to move the items from the root folder of the list into sub-folders in the same list.
You can of course write the same logic in C# using the server-side object model or client-side object model; you don't have to use PowerShell.
Careful with moving items from one list to others if you use the list items IDs as identifiers (e.g. use ID as employee number in the Employees list) because once items get moved, they will have different IDs.
You need to save your list as template including content if you want to and then create new list using your custom template which will show up once it is saved in list template gallery.
how to save list or library as template
http://letsdosharepoint.com/2015/08/04/how-to-save-list-or-library-as-template/
http://www.learningsharepoint.com/2012/10/14/using-list-templates-in-sharepoint-2013/
The list view thresh hold isn't the end of the world so long as you structure things properly. You have an opportunity to still use the list you have provided you take a few steps. Assuming your limit is 40k as raised by an admin, you are still below the boundary when a lot of configuration becomes blocked.
In your List Settings, create Indexed columns off of your metadata for all the important things you might search/filter on.
In your views, create filters based on these indexed columns and make sure the indexed columns are the first filters. Try to create a lot of focused views, like area by year so you are trimming down the result set.
Use information management policies to archive or delete old content.
Finally if you do want to replicate, save the list as a template without content. This will keep the views and metadata and allow you to provision new lists off of this list.
