SharePoint Document Issues

How to Copy More Than 60,000 SharePoint Rows with Power Automate

Tauseeq Magsi Sep 30, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to copy over 60,000 records from single-line text columns to multiline text columns in SharePoint but is limited to processing only the first 4,000 records.

How to Copy More Than 60,000 SharePoint Rows with Power Automate

Product: Microsoft Power Automate and SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Migrating a massive dataset of over 60,000 rows between different column types within a SharePoint list.
Observed behavior: The flow execution stops or truncates processing after the first 4,000 records due to pagination settings, list view thresholds, or flow limits.

Before you start

Ensure you have Site Owner or Full Control permissions on the SharePoint list, and verify your Power Automate license limits, as standard plans have strict API request limits per 24-hour period.

Solution 1Recommended

Enable Pagination in the Get Items Action

Increase the retrieval threshold of your flow by turning on Pagination in the action settings, which allows processing up to 100,000 items.

By default, the 'Get items' action in Power Automate only retrieves the first 100 items from a SharePoint list. To process 60,000 rows, you must explicitly enable pagination and set an appropriate threshold.

Open Action Settings

In your Power Automate flow, click the three dots (ellipsis) in the top-right corner of the 'Get items' action and select 'Settings'.

Enable Pagination

Toggle the 'Pagination' switch to the 'On' position.

Set the Threshold

In the 'Threshold' field, enter a number larger than your dataset, such as 100000, and click 'Done' to save the configuration.

Enable Pagination in the Get Items Action

Performance Tip: Applying an OData Filter Query alongside pagination ensures the flow only retrieves the rows that actually need processing, saving API calls.

Solution 2

Implement a Batch Processing Loop (Do Until)

For datasets that exceed standard pagination limits or timeout constraints, bypassing limits by looping through the list in batches is required.

Solution 3

Consult the Microsoft Power Platform Community

If flow designs and thresholds continue to fail, consult Microsoft specialists for complex batching architectures.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Handle Exported SharePoint Data Easily with WPS Office

Dealing with large SharePoint lists often requires exporting data to CSV or Excel for manual batching or cleanup. WPS Office provides a lightweight, fast, and highly compatible alternative to Microsoft Office for managing massive spreadsheets without lagging.

1. Export from SharePoint: Navigate to your SharePoint list, click 'Export', and choose 'Export to Excel' or 'Export to CSV'.
2. Open in WPS Spreadsheet: Launch WPS Office, open the Spreadsheets module, and locate your downloaded SharePoint export file.
3. Process Large Data: Use WPS's built-in advanced data filtering and sorting tools to split or clean up your 60,000 rows before re-importing.

Seamless format compatibility with Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and CSV files exported from SharePointHandles large datasets (100,000+ rows) smoothly without freezing or crashingFree and lightweight spreadsheet editor with low system resource consumptionFamiliar user interface makes migration effortless for existing Office users

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum number of items the Get items action can retrieve in Power Automate?

By default, the action retrieves only 100 items. With pagination enabled in the action settings, it can theoretically retrieve up to 100,000 items, provided your Power Automate license supports that volume of API requests.

Why does SharePoint have a List View Threshold of 5,000 items?

SharePoint limits views to 5,000 items to prevent server performance degradation during backend SQL database queries. To work around this in Power Automate, you must use indexed columns in your OData filter queries to avoid triggering the threshold.

Can I change column types directly in SharePoint instead of using Power Automate?

While you can technically change a single-line text column to a multiline text column directly in the SharePoint list settings, doing so on a list with over 60,000 rows carries a high risk of the operation timing out or causing data loss. Power Automate safely copies the data row by row to a newly created column.

Why does my flow timeout when running a Do Until loop on 60,000 items?

Power Automate flows have maximum execution time limits (usually 30 days, but actions can time out sooner). If processing each item takes too long, the flow will fail. It is recommended to use the 'Apply to each' action with concurrency control turned up (e.g., 50 parallel branches) to speed up execution.

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