Column cannot be added - total size of the columns in this list exceeds the limit

Question

I have a list in SharePoint Foundation 2010 (ultimately for deployment to SharePoint Online).

The list currently has about 265 fields of type "single line of text".

When I try to add more columns in SharePoint Designer I get:

"Could not save the field changes to the server. The column cannot be added because the total size of the columns in this list exceeds the limit. Pleae delete some other columns first."

Am I in trouble here? I need to have 725 columns!

Thanks,

JT

Answer 1

You might want to consider re-architecting this solution as I can tell you from experience that the wider a list gets, the worse it performs. Certain browsers, like Internet Explorer, choke when rendering large complex views of data, often taking minutes to display or simply locking the system entirely. Lastly, there is a real-world limitation on how much data a human being can digest on a screen which is practically speaking, around 50 columns, not 725. Data Entry in such a system sounds like something bordering on the sadistic.

If this is intended for tracking some machine readings or other such content, it might make more sense to move this to a SQL database and then expose the table as a list in SharePoint through BCS. If this data is hierarchical in nature (master-detail) then split it up that way, with a master list that keeps the non-repeating data and a detail list of the repeating columns.

It is also possible that SharePoint is simply not the right tool for the job. SharePoint can do a lot of amazing things, but it cannot do everything.

Answer 2

You're attempting to exceed the column limits for a SharePoint List. Review this section of the SharePoint boundaries article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx#Column.

Answer 3

please refer to this to understand sharepoint limmits ;)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx#Column

you might need to think about splitting the list into two.

or if you really want to keep it as one you can throttle but its highly not recommended as it can hinder on speeds and loading times.

http://sympmarc.com/2012/07/23/sharepoints-list-view-lookup-threshold-and-why-we-dont-change-it/

to know how to change it look here

1. Go to Central Administration

2. Go to 'Manage Application' under 'Application Management'

3. Choose the web application in which you want to make the changes (example : http:// yourserver:80)

4. In the ribbon follow 'General Settings -> Resource Throttling' there you can find 'List View Threshold' is set to 5000, change the value you want

above was taken from here:

This view cannot be displayed because it exceeds the list view threshold (5000 items) enforced by the administrator

hope it helps :)