Support uploads larger than 250 MB in SharePoint / Microsoft Graph APIs
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Summary
SharePoint ingestion scenarios that rely on Microsoft Graph or SharePoint APIs are effectively constrained by a ~250 MB upload limit. This limitation blocks common enterprise workflows that depend on automated, API‑based ingestion of large files.
Problem
Many real‑world enterprise artifacts routinely exceed 250 MB, including (but not limited to):
- PST and mailbox exports
- Teams and SharePoint exports
- eDiscovery and compliance evidence
- Forensic artifacts and archives
When using SharePoint / Microsoft Graph APIs, these files cannot be ingested without artificial file splitting or unsupported workarounds.
Impact
This limitation:
- Breaks automated and headless ingestion workflows
- Forces manual or error‑prone file segmentation
- Increases operational complexity and risk
- Prevents adoption of API‑first architectures
- Is misaligned with modern Microsoft 365 data sizes and enterprise use cases
Expected Behavior
SharePoint and Microsoft Graph upload APIs should support large‑file ingestion through one or more supported approaches, such as:
- Higher or configurable upload size limits
- Fully supported chunked or multipart uploads
- Storage‑backed ingestion patterns consistent with DriveItem upload sessions
Why This Matters
This is not an edge case. Large‑file ingestion is a standard enterprise requirement across compliance, investigation, migration, and archival scenarios. The current 250 MB limit significantly reduces the viability of SharePoint APIs for these workloads.
Request
Increase or remove the 250 MB upload limit for SharePoint / Microsoft Graph upload APIs, or provide a supported large‑file ingestion mechanism suitable for enterprise‑scale workloads.
1 Comment
- WestleyH
Microsoft
The file size limit for SharePoint files is 250 GB, not MB.
Graph and SharePoint do have limits on API calls for uploading files, but they both (SharePoint and Graph) have chunked upload APIs that can upload files up to 250 GB.
This is the Graph section that mentions that (they call it an upload session)-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/embedded/build/manage-files#upload-filesSmall Graph uploads-
Upload small files - Microsoft Graph v1.0 | Microsoft LearnLarge Graph uploads-
driveItem: createUploadSession - Microsoft Graph v1.0 | Microsoft LearnHere is a list of some methods for upload files to SharePoint with a table on the limits of each-
Upload large files sample SharePoint Add-in | Microsoft Learn
The above article has some samples of how to use it as well.