Should a 40-person engineering firm fix its SharePoint RFI register's 5,000-item errors with indexed views, project folders or an Excel report?
Fix the indexed, filtered view first. The 5,000 figure is a list view threshold, not a storage cap: Microsoft documents that a SharePoint list can hold up to 30 million items, and the error can appear when a view tries to show more than 5,000. Index the column your team filters by first, build views that use it, add project folders where staff work one job at a time, and keep Excel as a dated, read-only report.
Which fix fits which situation
- An indexed, filtered operational view fits when a project, status or due-date filter can cut the working set well under 5,000 items; avoid it as the whole answer when the view still asks for every RFI in history, because an index won't rescue an unselective query or heavy lookup and grouping.
- Project folders with bounded views fit when staff naturally work inside one project and each folder view stays under the threshold; avoid them when someone switches on 'Show all items without folders', which pulls the whole list back into one query and recreates the error.
- An Excel export fits when a project lead needs a dated analysis of open RFIs while the SharePoint view is being repaired; avoid it as a second live register, because Microsoft describes the connection as one-way and a refresh overwrites changes made in Excel.
Recommendation: repair the operational view first
Start with the indexed operational view. Microsoft's fix for the threshold is two steps, quoted from its support page: 'Create an index for a column.' and 'Create a view that uses the indexed column to filter the view.' RFI work is already scoped by project and status, so the filter a project manager actually needs tends to be narrow, which is exactly what an indexed view rewards.
The answer changes in one case: the query a team genuinely needs can't be made selective enough, for example a cross-project view of open RFIs that still returns more than 5,000 rows after filtering. At that point the next step is a separately scoped review of the data model, meaning how RFIs, projects and submittals relate and which lookups the views lean on. A 40-person firm isn't too big for SharePoint, and record count alone is not a reason to migrate.
What a broken register costs while it stays broken
A register nobody can open doesn't stop RFIs from arriving. Outstanding responses drop out of sight, and project managers end up rebuilding due dates from email threads while each unanswered RFI keeps holding up the design or site question it was raised about. Every week the view stays broken, the email-built list drifts further from the record a client or contractor will eventually ask about. Chrysis Networks repairs registers like this inside Microsoft 365 so teams can keep every RFI deadline visible without rebuilding it from email.
How to repair the failing view in SharePoint Online
- Confirm prerequisites: SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365, permission to manage the list (list owner or site owner), and a new test view so the team's default view stays untouched while you work.
- Open the failing view and write down what it asks for: every filter, the sort order, any Group By or Totals settings, and each lookup or person column it displays.
- Choose the column that narrows the set most for daily work, usually Project or Status. In List settings, open Indexed columns and create an index on it when one doesn't already exist.
- Edit the test view so its first filter condition uses that indexed column, for example Project equals the current job, and confirm the result is well under 5,000 items before adding conditions such as Status is not Closed.
- Remove grouping, totals and nonessential lookup columns from the operational view. Give the person who needs those a separate, narrower view of their own.
- Where the list uses project folders, set each view to show items inside folders and leave 'Show all items without folders' switched off.
- Use Export to Excel only for reporting. Put the export date in the file name, treat the workbook as read-only, and expect a refresh to overwrite anything typed into the table.
- Run a manual fallback until the view works (our operating recommendation, not a Microsoft procedure): one named project manager works from the dated, last-verified export and records new or changed RFIs in a temporary exception log, then reconciles that log to the register once the repaired view is live.
Advice to raise the threshold, use Access Services or reset an old sync client comes from SharePoint Server and legacy setups on Microsoft's mixed-version support page. For SharePoint Online, the lever is the view: what it filters on, what it groups and how many lookups it carries.
What the sources say, and when
None of the three Microsoft pages announces a new limit. The list view threshold article (ms.date 12 August 2026) states: 'When a list view shows more than 5,000 items, you might run into a list view threshold error.' The all-versions threshold page (ms.date 21 May 2025, updated 26 August 2026) documents the index-then-filter fix and says an export 'creates a one-way data connection between the Excel table and the SharePoint list.' The SharePoint Online limits page, last updated 6 October 2026, puts capacity at up to 30 million items per list. Those are documentation dates, read on 13 November 2026.
Frequently asked
Does a 5,000-item error mean our RFI list is full?
No. SharePoint Online allows up to 30 million items in a list; the 5,000 figure applies to what a single view tries to return.
Will adding an index fix the error on its own?
Not always. An index helps only when the view filters on that column and the filter returns a small enough set. An all-history view with heavy grouping or lookups can still fail.
Can the team keep updating RFIs in the Excel export?
For reading, yes; for updates, no. Microsoft describes the export as one-way, so Excel edits never reach SharePoint and a refresh overwrites them.
Are project folders better than indexed views?
Folders help when people work one project at a time and each folder view stays under 5,000 items. A view that flattens folders brings the error straight back.
Should a 40-person engineering firm move RFIs to a different system?
Not because of headcount or record count. Consider it only after a scoped data-model review shows the queries the team needs can't be made selective.