Service limits

SharePoint enforces the limits below. The library declares them in office365.sharepoint.thresholds.Limits and binds them to the model with the @limit decorator — warnings by default, never a silent truncation. The list view threshold is the one most callers meet; see Large lists and folders for the paging and indexing recipes.

Sources:

• SharePoint in Microsoft 365 limits
• Software boundaries and limits (SharePoint Server 2016/2019)

from office365.sharepoint.thresholds import Limits, limit, warn_if_exceeds

warn_if_exceeds(Limits.LIST_VIEW, item_count, context="list 'Orders'")

@limit(Limits.LIST_VIEW, arg="page_size")   # declare + enforce on the model
def get_items(page_size=None): ...

Limit	Value	Kind	Scope	Bound at	Notes
list view threshold	5,000 items	threshold	list	Folder.get_files, List.get_items	page through the data or index the filtered/sorted column to exceed it
list view threshold (auditors/admins)	20,000 items	threshold	list	—
index add/remove threshold	20,000 items	threshold	list	—	applies while adding or removing a column index
delete list/folder threshold	100,000 items	threshold	list	—
rename folder threshold	100,000 items	threshold	folder	—	renaming a folder within the same library
list view lookup threshold	8 joins	threshold	query	—	queries with more joins are blocked
max items per list/library	30,000,000 items	supported	list	—
max indexed columns	20 columns	supported	list	—	SharePoint Online allows roughly 20 indexed columns
single line of text column length	255 chars	threshold	column	—	indexed text columns are limited to 255 characters
list row size	8,000 bytes	boundary	list item	—	300 bytes are reserved; ~7,700 are usable
file upload	250 GB	boundary	file	FileCollection.upload_content	SharePoint Server 2016/2019 caps at 10 GB (15 GB in Subscription Edition)
file attached to a list item	250 MB	boundary	list item	—
ZIP download	20 GB	boundary	download	—	the autogenerated ZIP when downloading multiple files
simple upload (Files/add)	4 MB	threshold	file	—	larger files use a resumable upload session
upload session chunk	4 MB	supported	file	—	default chunk size for resumable uploads
decoded file path length	400 chars	boundary	file	—	the folder path plus file name after decoding
long OneDrive URL	400 chars	boundary	url	—	the decoded full file URL; OneDrive/SharePoint sync fails beyond it
file name length	128 chars	threshold	file	—	the FileLeafRef name; the migration path scanner flags longer names
Excel workbook opened in the browser	10 MB	threshold	file	—	larger Excel files prompt to open in the Excel client instead of the browser
items per bulk/batch operation	100 items	boundary	batch	ClientContext.execute_batch, Entity.execute_batch	the OData batch size the client uses
batch request size	1 MB	supported	batch	—	conservative client cap for a SharePoint OData batch
managed metadata terms	1,000,000 terms	supported	tenant	—	global and site-level terms combined
managed metadata term labels	2,000,000 labels	supported	tenant	—
managed metadata term properties	1,000,000 properties	supported	tenant	—
global term sets	1,000 term sets	supported	tenant	—
global term groups	1,000 term groups	supported	tenant	—
terms per managed metadata column (default)	50 terms	supported	column	—	more than this is allowed but downstream experiences aren't guaranteed
permission inheritance break/reinherit	100,000 items	threshold	list	—	above this many items you can't break or reinherit permissions on the list/folder
unique security scopes	50,000 scopes	threshold	list	—	the recommended general limit is 5,000
recommended unique security scopes	5,000 scopes	supported	list	—
ACL propagation child objects	500 objects	threshold	list	—	propagation fails beyond this many uniquely scoped children
SharePoint groups per site	10,000 groups	supported	site	—
users per SharePoint group	5,000 users	supported	group	—
compliance policies per tenant	10,000 policies	supported	tenant	—	eDiscovery/retention holds count toward this, shared with DLP and sensitivity labels
major versions	50,000 versions	supported	file	—	SharePoint Server 2019 allows 400,000
minor versions	511 versions	boundary	file	—
lists and libraries per site collection	2,000 lists	supported	site	—
subsites per site	2,000 sites	threshold	site	—
max storage per site collection	25 TB	boundary	site	—
overall site metadata	1000 GB	supported	site	—	metadata rarely reaches this size
move/copy total file size	100 GB	threshold	transfer	—	across sites and containers
move/copy file count	30,000 files	threshold	transfer	—
cross-geo copy/move file size	15 GB	threshold	file	—
OneNote file in move/copy	2 GB	threshold	file	—
large file for migration (SMAT)	15 GB	supported	file	—	SMAT flags files over this as slow/hard to migrate; SPO upload allows 250 GB (SP2019 10-15 GB)
files in a synced library	300,000 files	supported	library	—	OneDrive sync performance limit

Migration assessment

The pre-migration assessment (MigrationAssessor / MigrationTenantAssessor) reports several of these limits as SPMT scan-assessment risk codes:

SPMT risk code	Limit	Scanner
LIST_VIEW_EXCEED_LIMIT	list view threshold	LargeListScanner
ITEM_COUNT_EXCEED_INDEX_LIMIT	index add/remove threshold	LargeListScanner
ITEM_COUNT_EXCEED_LIMIT	max items per list/library	LargeListScanner
LIST_VIEW_LOOKUP_EXCEED_LIMIT	list view lookup threshold	LookupColumnScanner
UNIQUE_PERMISSION_EXCEED_LIMIT	unique security scopes	PermissionScanner

Each AssessmentIssue carries the risk_code, and report.by_risk_code groups the issues by code. The LongOneDriveUrls detail report (LongOneDriveUrlsScanner) additionally flags files whose full URL crosses LONG_ONEDRIVE_URL; ThicketFolder (THICKET_FOLDER_UNSUPPORTED) and UnsupportedSiteTemplates cover the remaining blockers.