Sorting on indexed columns not working anymore

[PzKfWg]

Since a couple of weeks, multiple flat views on multiple tenants suddenly failed even if they were following those guidelines. So, even if I filter on an indexed column that returns less than 5000 items, if I also sort the view by an indexed column that is text, people, type or managed metadata, the view fails. This is a change of behavior in the infrastructure and leaves multiple of my clients in crisis mode.

[sympmarc]

@PzKfWg Unfortunately, this isn't a good forum for this. No one from Microsoft who can take any action on it participates here.

I'll ask in my MVP channels to see if anyone else is reporting this, etc. and let you know if I hear anything.

[sympmarc]

Also, have you put in a ticket with Microsoft? If you have and can let me know the incident number, I can attach it to my question.

[PzKfWg]

Hi! Yes, two tickets for two tenants and today a third one came to me with the same issue. Tickets are:
34013152 (this one, I just had an hour call explaining the support guy how to create a SharePoint view! This might take a while...)
34209323 (this one told me they don't touch anything related to LVT because it is too tricky!)
Thank you so much!

[PzKfWg]

Hi @sympmarc , I got this answer from MS-Support:
"I've consulted this question and got this explanation: Columns with column types like people, lookup, or managed metadata can cause list view threshold errors when sorting. However, you can use text, number, date, and other column types in the first sort."
Is this new to you? Any news from the MVP channel? Thank you so much!

[sympmarc]

Unfortunately, nothing in the MVP channel. Microsoft goes very quiet this time of year.

What they say is sort of true, but not. "Complex" columns - those which they list first - can act a little differently, but I've seen them work just fine if they are indexed. It is important that the first filter brings the results down below the 5000 item limit, then you can add additional filter clauses.

For example, if you have 100000 items with a Color choice column with [Red, Yellow, Blue] evenly distributed, then a filter for any one of those values would still leave you over 5000 items. If you could include a date filter first, which brings the subset below 5000 items, then the Color filter would work.

I expect I'm telling you things you already know, but have you looked at this article?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/manage-large-lists-and-libraries-b8588dae-9387-48c2-9248-c24122f07c59?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

Given the way you've described this, it seems like something has changed. Are these lists or libraries? (Which shouldn't be different, but sort of are.)

[PzKfWg]

This is indeed what I understand and worked with this knowledge for years. Filter gets less than 5000 and usually sorted perfectly well with an indexed column such as MM. If this can't be reproduced by the community, this might be a hint: They are document libraries where there are document sets. In all the cases, I am trying to have flat views on documents inside the doc sets. Thanks!

[sympmarc]

Ok, that's a good clue. It's sort of a niche case. I'm guessing there aren't a lot of people this would affect.

[sympmarc]

@PzKfWg - Did you ever figure this out?

[PzKfWg]

Thanks for the follow-up! Unfortunately not: I'm back from vacation and the nightmare is still real :-(
Today, I did a test: I copied the doc lib structure and the content, but WITHOUT the document sets (ShareGate copied as simple folders, but kept metadata to play). The behavior is exactly the same which seem to rule out the document set as a culprit. I still don't see how this is only a niche case affecting me only. Views that I could easily sort by MM columns or easily use in subfolders with a couple of documents are still not working. I am running out of ideas...

[sympmarc]

I'm curious about this. I could make some time tomorrow to take a look at it with you if it would be helpful.

[PzKfWg]

Absolutely! Please email me so that we can set a time. Thanks!

[sympmarc]

Email sent with a FindTime!