SharePoint 2016/Online List View Auto Indexing Automatic Index Management

This SharePoint tutorial explains, SharePoint 2016 List view auto indexing feature. And also we will see Automatic Index Management in SharePoint Online. Learn List View Auto Indexing in SharePoint 2016/Online

In SharePoint 2013 Microsoft has set a default threshold limit of 5000 items for the SharePoint list. Once the threshold limit reached, you will get an error message saying “The number of items in this list exceeds the list view threshold“.

SharePoint 2016 also has the same threshold limit of 5000 but it made few enhancements to it so that the user will not face any error even if the threshold limit reached.

Automatic Index Management in SharePoint 2016

In SharePoint 2016, they introduced this new feature known as “Automatic Index Management” which works with a new timer job “Large list column index management Timer Job” to resolve the threshold issue.

Automatic Index Management setting is available for each list in SharePoint 2016. The settings can be enabled or disabled from List Settings -> Advanced Settings -> “Automatic Index Management“. By default for all list and library, the property is enabled.

Once this property is enabled, then the timer job roles came.

SharePoint 2016 introduced a new timer job known as “Large list column index management Timer Job” which is responsible for auto-creation of indexes when required on various views within each list in SharePoint 2016.

We can see the timer job from Central Administration -> Monitoring then click on Review job definitions which are under Timer Jobs.

The above timer job runs daily and it searches for lists whose Automatic Index Management is enabled and which list exceeds 2500 items. And when it finds a list that has a view definition that could benefit from setting an index on a column, it will automatically create this index.

According to Microsoft “For example, if a view includes a filter for “WHERE A=1 AND B=2″, the Timer Job will create an index on either column A or column B. The specific choice depends on the other view definitions in the list, with the goal of minimizing the number of indexes created.”

List View Auto Indexing in SharePoint Online

The same list views auto indexing also available in SharePoint Online list and libraries.

Open any SharePoint Online list of library and then open the list & library settings page. Then in the List settings page, click on “Advanced settings” which is under “General Settings” section.

In the Advanced Settings page, choose Yes in “Automatic Index Management” section like below:

Enable/Disable Automatic Index Management using PowerShell in SharePoint 2016

We can also enable or disable Automatic Index Management using PowerShell in SharePoint 2016.

Enable Automatic Index Management using PowerShell in SharePoint 2016

Below is the PowerShell cmdlets to enable automatic index maangement in SharePoint 2016.

$web = Get-SPWeb http://mypc/sites/MySP2016SiteCollection/
$list = $web.Lists[“MyEmployees”]
$list.EnableManagedIndexes = $true
$list.Update()

Disable Automatic Index Management using PowerShell in SharePoint 2016

Below is the PowerShell cmdlets to disable automatic index maangement in SharePoint 2016.

$web = Get-SPWeb http://mypc/sites/MySP2016SiteCollection/
$list = $web.Lists[“MyEmployees”]
$list.EnableManagedIndexes = $false
$list.Update()

You may like following SharePoint tutorials:

• Freeze Header Row in List View or Library on Scrolling using jQuery in SharePoint 2013/2016/Online
• How to create index in SharePoint online list using CSOM .Net managed object model code?
• Change default list view style using CSS in SharePoint Online/2016/2013
• How to create and remove indexed column using PowerShell in SharePoint Online/2013/2016 list or document library?
• Add an Index to List or Library Column in SharePoint Online/2013/2016

Hope this article will be helpful to understand List View Auto Indexing in SharePoint 2016 and  SharePoint 2016 Large List Auto Indexing.