Multiple Column SharePoint List

[kmason]

Hi,

Is there a limit to the number of columns that I can use in a SharePoint list? I have an Approval flow that works fine for one list but when I wrote the exact flow for another list with way more columns and more approvers it is giving me issues. Just wondered if there was a maximum amount of columns I can have in a list.

Thanks!

[v-monli-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @kmason,

Please check if you have too many lookup columns. SharePoint has the limitation of lookup columns per list, based on the information here:

By default the limit is 8 lookups per list.  As you have seen this limit does not apply to farm admins.  You can change the limit for other users in the Resource Throttling settings of the web application in Central Administration.  But making changes to the resource limit can seriously impact performance.

SharePoint online shares this quality as SharePoint online also has lookup column threshold of 12 for now. But please notice what is said here:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/spses/2013/12/02/sharepoint-20102013-list-view-lookup-threshold-unc...

"Note : The List view Lookup Threshold has been revised to Default of 12 in SharePoint 2013 , after applying the June 2013 CU update. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817414

Any new Web-Application created will have List View Lookup Threshold set to Default =12 , While the values on Existing Web-apps needs to be modified Manually ."

This applies to SharePoint online too. Lists created before this timeline in SharePoint online will share the List View Lookup Threshold set to Default =8. Lists created after this timeline in SharePoint online, will have List View Lookup Threshold set to Default =12. 

With on-premises SharePoint, these throttles and limits can be changed on the Resource Throttling page in Central Administration. But on SharePoint online, increasing the List View Threshold is not permitted. 

Regards,

Mona