How to set character limit for Multiple lines of text Column?

Question

I have created a custom list with a Multiple line of text type column. When the user enters a value in this field in the "add new item" form, I do not want the user to enter more than 1000 characters.

I am unable to find an option to set character limit for this column, like the "Maximum number of characters allowed" in Single line of text type column.

Please help. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Use jQuery to solve your issues. Change the FieldName to whatever you named your SharePoint column. Put this on your newForm.aspx page (and EditForm.aspx if you want to limit input there too). Single line fields are processed differently.

$("textarea[title$='FieldName']").keyup(function(){
    if($(this).val().length > 1000){
        $(this).val(inputVal.slice(0,-1));
    }
});

This script runs each time the user clicks a button within the multiline field. If the length is more than 1000 characters it removes the last one. You can add different code in the if statement to display a message like "1000 characters max" if needed. But jQuery is your answer here.

Answer 2

Please follow this url carefully. This has the exact solution to your problem.

http://sharepointtaproom.com/2011/01/16/max-length-of-a-multi-line-text-note-field-on-sharepoint-publishing-page/

Additionally , kindly note that this is not something out of the box solution and the reason is discussed here
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointgeneral/thread/5e8cc504-03d0-4d26-81f9-1608c2c5881f/

Answer 3

Another option is to use maxlength attribute of textarea to limit the characters. For example:

$( document ).ready(function() {
    $("textarea[id*=FieldName]").attr('maxlength','1000');
});

The above code can be inserted through Content Editor Web Part on NewForm.aspx and EditForm.aspx.

Answer 4

There may be an OOB way of handling this: Validation. In SharePoint 2010 you can add validation to any site column, as well as within the list itself. People would still be able to enter as much text as they want inside the box, but then when they went to save it would give them an error message. Please see SharePoint 2010 Column Validation for detailed answers to this subject.

Regards,

• Matt

Answer 5

You can limit number of characters user entered by InfoPath form rules. Just create a rule with this expression on the multiline text box you created.

string-length(.) > 1000

Answer 6

If you are dealing with a list rather than a library, use JuanTrev's answer. It is perfect!

If you are using a library and you a want no code solution to limit multiline length to greater than 255 chars there is a more involved answer:

The notefield control set the limitation when in a doclib the control limits the multiline to 255 chars. :/ You could set the UnlimitedLengthInDocumentLibrary property to true. But then you lose your limits. We need a multipart solution:

First, in the tag for the multiline in your feature, set the ‘UnlimitedLengthInDocumentLibrary’ attribute to TRUE. Second, to set the 1000 character limit in the publishing page layout, change the rendering template for the NoteField as follows:

<SharePointWebControls:NoteField
  FieldName="{InternalFieldName}"
  InputFieldLabel="Short Description"
  runat="server">

    < !-- Override the rendering template for the field -->
    <Template>
        <asp:TextBox id="TextField" TextMode="MultiLine" runat="server"/><br />
        <asp:RegularExpressionValidator
          ControlToValidate="TextField"
          ValidationExpression="(?:[\r\n]*.[\r\n]*){0,1000}"
          Text="Value cannot exceed 1000 characters."
          runat="server" />
    </Template>
</SharePointWebControls:NoteField>

Credit - This answer was presented originally in a blog by BART MCDONOUGH