How to Enable Automatic Index on SharePoint?

Recently, I tested one of our IT Help Desk solutions that we built using Power Apps, Power Automate, and SharePoint. I wanted to see what happens when the SharePoint list grows beyond 10,000 records.

In the past, I never created any manually indexed columns for this list. But this time, I enabled Automatic Indexing. Once the list crossed 5,000 items, SharePoint automatically created the required indexed columns. This helped me continue filtering and sorting records without running into list threshold errors.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to enable automatic indexing in SharePoint.

Enable Automatic Indexing on SharePoint

Automatic Indexing is available in both SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server 2016 and later. By default, SharePoint enables it, but you can still check or change the setting if needed.

Follow the steps below:

1. Go to your SharePoint list or library.
2. Click the Settings gear -> choose List settings or Library settings.

3. Under General Settings, select Advanced settings.

4. Scroll down to Automatic Index Management.
5. Select Yes to enable (or No to disable).
6. Click OK to save your changes.

After enabling Automatic Indexing, SharePoint creates indexes for you when the list grows large enough (for example, when it exceeds 5,000 items).

To check this:

1. Go to your List settings.
2. Under Columns, click on Indexed columns.
3. You’ll see the automatically created indexes listed here.

They usually include the columns that you frequently use in filters and views. This happens automatically, saving a significant amount of time when working with large lists.

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