Forum Discussion
Limitations of Predictive Indexing
I noticed that automatic indexes were not present in several document libraries so I opened a ticket with MS Support (SRX618020694115495ID ) and they provided me the following explanation:
" I am sharing the expected conditions for the feature to work since we do not have any documentation explaining this. "
Expected conditions when predictive indexing may not work:
1) If content is migrated using 3rd party tools.
2) Large number of items are created in quick succession without using filters / sorting / views.
3) If Automatic indexing is disabled in list or library settings from Advanced settings.
Needless to say, I was not expecting this limitation and is a major surprise to me. Has anyone else seen this behavior?
Can anyone from Metalogix, AvePoint and/or ShareGate Benjamin Niaulin comment?
Chris McNulty none of the recorded presentations I have watched gave me this expectation. Can you provide some more context?
The fact that the roll-out of this feature is completed and there is still no documentation in support.office.com is all too typical and long-standing source of frustration to many of us.
Hey Dean,
Very interesting... We have not been made aware of any limitations.
In fact, we use the Microsoft Migration API to upload documents so we don't have much control over the import and the predictive indexing.
I am headed to Microsoft's office in 2 weeks, I'll be sure to ask.
Essentially, Sharegate drops all content for the migration API to pick up and import into the various libraries with the right metadata. So I am not sure about the first point "content migrated using a 3rd party tool". I could see large number of items are created in quick succession being the reason for it however. But again, not much we could do as we are leveraging the migration API.
Keep us posted, I will do the same :)
MS Support also stated the following:
Also, by default, you may not be able to add columns to indexed columns once the list or library threshold is crossed.
Hence, if you want indices to be created after the threshold is crossed, the only available options is to bring the items below 5000 and create the index. You can then contact us for restoring all the items from recycle bin deleted by a specific account after a particular date and time.
I am sharing some best practices when using 3rd party tools for data migration. However, as this is not a supported scenario for our break fix team, we cannot assist you on this concern.
Please refer : Avoid getting throttled or blocked in SharePoint Online
To avoid getting throttled when migrating data:
1) Don't retry in a tight loop
- SPO will charge for the small amount of time/ CPU needed to determine if the usage is over quota.
- If the customer retries in a very tight loop, these small amounts can sum up to make them remain over quota.
- Generally the response headers have a back-off time that tells you how long to wait before the next retry.
2) If users keep hitting the throttle limit, see if there is a way to make lighter-weight calls. If not, implement a wait-and-retry loop.
3) Quotas are by user or app id. If they are not connecting via an app id, use a different user login.
- I think the intention of the statement regarding 3rd parties is that you may be placing a large number of items within the list quickly (and hopefully through Azure, not directly to SPO). As noted, the Views/Filters need to be present for the automatic list index to kick in, but you also must be under LVT.
- Was there actually every any progress on this? We have several large lists we would love to move to online from on-prem!
- Kerem Yuceturk
Microsoft
Hey everyone,
As of Spring of 2018, you can add/remove indexes from lists of any size in SPO. Having more than 20,000 items should no longer block adding/removing of indexes. We are working on enabling predictive indexing of lists larger than 20K items as well so that any views for these lists will automatically add indexes in the background.
Adding indexes on the fly when you sort by an unindexed column will only work for lists smaller than 20,000 items for the moment. We are trying to see how we can make that happen in the coming months.
- TomResing
Here's a reply from a product manager working on large list updates:
Predictive indexing applies to lists between 2500 and 20,000. End-users may also manage indexes in lists as large as 20,000.
If a large number of items is created in a short time, whether by third-party tool or some other means, it's possible that the predictive indexing may miss the chance to manage indexes for the list. After the list has grown larger than 20,000 items, predictive indexing will no longer make changes to it.
Predictive auto-indexing is enabled by default. It may be disabled for a specific list in Advanced settings.
I find it interesting that for something that was made such a deal of at ignite that this feature, despite something that that is fully deployed is a topic 1) the help desk is ill equipped to discuss with any level of knowledge and 2) something that still feels incomplete and a "not as advertised" feature.
Predictive indexing and it's buzz seems like a big bait and switch to me.
