Limit Columns by View not working

[Brian2M]

We have a sharepoint document library that we recently added more lookup columns.   We have a view that only has a couple of these new values showing, and everything looks good in sharepoint.   When we try to do a Get item, while using the Limit Columns by View option, Flow it keeps returning back a 400 error 

{
  "status": 400,
  "message": "The query cannot be completed because the number of lookup columns it contains exceeds the lookup column threshold enforced by the administrator.\r\nclientRequestId: ...."
}

The View that we are using only contains 4 lookup values.    We did notice when we limited it down to a single field it was successful.   The data returned appeared to have several more field than just the view.   Most of these appeared to be mandatory fields.  

Here is an Example of the flow:

Any ideas how to get this to work?    Do we need to do a different type of call, perhaps a REST call?

[v-yuazh-msft]

Hi @Brian2M,

Could you please share more details about the sharepoint list?

I have made a test on my side to create four lookup columns and don't have the issue that you mentioned.

Dose the Test Flow Customer column is a lookup column in the sharepoint list?

Please share more details so we could try to provide a proper workaround for you.

Best regards,

Alice

[GabrielStJohn]

Hey, @Brian2M!

It appears as though @v-yuazh-msft would like some more information in order to further assist you properly with your issue. Please share any additional information that was requested in order to decrease the amount of time that it will take for you to be assisted!

Thank you for being an active member of the Flow Community!

-Gabriel
Flow Community Manager

[hassaanahmad]

I have a similar issue to Brian2M - it appears that my SharePoint View has no effect upon the queried columns when using the 'Limit Columns by View' feature. 

For background, I have a SharePoint list which handles several content types. I've created corresponding Views that match the columns of those content types. For example, I have a SharePoint view titled 'TM1' which only includes the following columns: 

As shown above, only seven (7) of about ~40 columns are selected for this particular SharePoint View. Consequently, when I use the 'Get Item' Microsoft Flow function, and when I 'Limit Columns by View' using this SharePoint View, I expect to query only those seven (7) fields. However, this is not the case. In fact, different columns are queried altogether. See the screenshot below.

Is there a reason for this behaviour? I want to ensure that the columns selected in a custom SharePoint View are properly queried by the Microsoft Flow >> SharePoint Action >> Get Item >> 'Limit Columns by View' feature. Thanks.

[gabrieldedeco]

I have the same problem. Did you get any workarounds or solutions?

[dimi]

We are facing the same problem, we have a SharePoint list A that contains 4000 items, we created a view (lets name it B) that has 100 items of the list A. When using the Get Item action limit columns by view, we are receiving teh complete List A instead of the 100 items in the view B.

Any suggestions please? Is it possible to retrieve only items that aere in a view?

Kind regards

[Shrike]

Please, could you tell us if this issue is resolved or not ?

I have the same issue and my tests fail everytime

[dipique]

I have the same issue. When querying for document library properties, the query omits some columns from the specified list while including many columns not contained in the view. I even tried creating and saving a brand new view to ensure it wasn't just caching the view.

The flow is triggered by another flow via HTTP request, and the first flow uses a different view. I can't help but wonder if it is re-using the old configuration for the query.

[dvfaquino]

It seems like the solution to this is to just add an additional Get Item action and grab the original item, which will now contain all the fields for the selected view or everything when not limiting by view.

[dimi]

@dvfaquino 

This is not a solution but a workarround

[marday]

Having the same issue.  Trying to limit by view.  List is a using the modern experience.  View is working correctly, but still trys to return all of the items in the list.

[Celdry]

I have a sharepoint list with over 700 items and I want to grab data from just one column, which should have about 4-5 items, so I'm filtering the "Get Items" with "Limit Columns By View" function. 

Even after filtering in the Get Items window, I'm still generating all of my data. It's not getting filtered. 

Can anyone help me on this one? I guess this used to be a bug, is there anywhere where it is still being looked at?

Cel

[lvg]

still no solution?

[Celdry]

@v-yuazh-msft 

Do we know if this is still being addressed? What is another workaround that I can filter 700+ items and growing to email just a few that aren't resolved yet?

[dimi]

@Celdry, @marday  & @lvg ,

You can use the Filter Query to filter down the results you want, use the same filter condition you are using in your view(s). This works fine.

Let me know if you need any help with the Filter Query.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

How can this still be an issue?

I have a filter saved into the SharePoint view, where a date field called Date is filtered by [Today]+4 and [Today]-3 

The filter return 'Next Week' and should only have 1 record. Instead the "Get items" runs through all values and not the values from the view

[Anonymous]

Any fixes for this yet?

[rodwhittle]

Same issue for me.

[Alltasks_Chris]

this seems to still exist - closing in on a year later. Is there somewhere better to refer this to Microsoft?

[CAofKraton]

Hello... I am not sure if this is helpful or not or if you have found the answers.

In the Get Items you have two things, one is called Filter Query and the other is Limit Columns by View. 

1. Filter Query - This is like filtering an excel column by a value to reduce the number of rows being looked at (so when the "apply to each" is run it only runs on say... 20 items instead of all the items in the sharepoint list. This is done by entering text like Column_Name eq 'Value' - you don't use dynamic content here, you have to type in the column name as a string, then an operator like eq for equals or ne for not equal to, and then the search term surrounded by single quotes. Search online for "power automate odata filter query" for more on the syntax.

2. Limit Columns by View - This is to reduce the number of columns Get Items is even pulling data for and will limit the number of options you can use later as dynamic fields in other operations. Lots of the operations in Power Automate have this option, though many times you have to click Show Advanced Options and then hunt for it. This is necessary to avoid errors about too many lookup columns for a query - the much irritating Error 400 that stops a flow dead in its tracks. From what I can see, it is somewhat complicated exactly how many columns you can really pull and work with at once - if you have several "people pickers" or whatever you call the Person or Group selection columns, these essentially are data HOGS since it's truly pulling the claims, displayname, email, title, member of groups, etc, etc etc... so you can only include like 5 or 6 people columns in a view when using for a power automate limit column by view option. Other data like numbers or simple text allows you to pull many more columns. Also, it does appear that anything set in the sharepoint list as required will pull anyway, again limiting how many columns you can select in your view. 

The view ONLY LIMITS THE COLUMNS that are available as conditions or to update in your flow... so filters in your view should be recreated as ODATA queries in that "Filter Query" section of the Get Item or other flow elements as the filter in the view will have zero impact on the number of records the flow is looking at (see item #1 above!).

One technique I have tried to use successfully is to limit the number of required items in the list itself to just one, sometimes not even one... then use Nintex Forms or another form designer to set the required fields or place rules around required fields. If not making a form and you are stuck with requiring in the list itself, I don't know what to do (sorry) as I haven't yet had to come up with a workaround for it 🙂