Issue with flat views in SharePoint Online

1. Quick Fix Methods
Method A: Reset View Defaults
Go to the target document library → click the view drop-down menu
Select “Modify View” → “Reset to Defaults”.
Reset the “Show all items without folders” option.
Method B: Creating a new view
Document Library Settings → “Create a view”
Select “Standard View” type
In the “Folders” section select:
“Show all items without folders”.
Set the necessary columns and sorting
2. Check the list threshold limit:
Administrator goes to SharePoint Management Center
Navigate to “Settings” → “List View Threshold”
Make sure it is not set to “Block actions that exceed threshold”
 PowerShell forces a fix:
powershell
Connect-PnPOnline -Url “https://yourdomain.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite” -Interactive
$list = Get-PnPList -Identity “Documents”
$view = Get-PnPView -List $list -Identity “AllItems”
Set-PnPView -List $list -Identity $view.Id -Values @{Scope=“RecursiveAll”}
3. Scenario-specific solutions
Large document library processing:
Enable “Indexed Columns” Fields used for filtering
Use modern experience (not classic mode)
Consider using metadata navigation instead of folders
4. Inherited permissions issues:
Check folders for broken permission inheritance
Ensure that the view user has read access to all subfolders
5. Alternatives
 Use Power Automate:
Create a timed stream to periodically synchronize folder contents to the flat list
Use the “Get Files (Properties)” operation to recursively get all files
6. Microsoft Graph API:
http
GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/{site-id}/drives/{drive-id}/items/{item-id}/children?$expand=children
7. Validation and Testing
 Validated check method:
Add the test file to a subfolder
Refresh the view to confirm display
Check filtering/sorting function