Routing Rules - total size of the columns in this list exceeds the limit - Error

Question

Hello,

I was trying to put some content organizer rules (based on content types) in place to route documents and after creating around 10 rules I started getting an error which says column limit had reached on my SharePoint 2010 farm. I found this in ULS:

Routing Engine: Attempting to Update rule 'My Rule 1' from UI failed due to a list item save failure. Message:The column cannot be added because the total size of the columns in this list exceeds the limit. Please delete some other columns first., Stack Trace:   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.AddField(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrSchemaXml, Int32 grfAdd)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFieldCollection.AddFieldAsXmlInternal(String schemaXml, Boolean addToDefaultView, SPAddFieldOptions op, Boolean isMigration, Boolean fResetCTCol)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentType.ProvisionFieldOnList(SPField field, Boolean bRecurAllowed)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentType.ProvisionFieldsOnList()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentType.DeriveContentType(SPContentTypeCollection cts, SPContentType& ctNew)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeCollection.AddContentTypeToList(SPContentType contentType)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeCollection.AddContentType(SPContentType contentType, Boolean updateResourceFileProperty, Boolean checkName, Boolean setNextChildByte)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeCollection.Add(SPContentType contentType)     at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.RecordsRepository.EcmDocumentRoutingWeb.<>c__DisplayClass6.<UpdateRuleListItem>b__2(SPSite elevatedSite, SPWeb elevatedWeb, Boolean isNewUserToken)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CommonUtilities.<>c__DisplayClass7.<RunWithElevatedSiteAndWebEx>b__3()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CommonUtilities.RunWithElevatedSiteAndWebEx(SPSite siteNonElev, SPWeb webNonElev, Boolean allowUnsafeUpdates, Boolean isImpersonationStateCheckBypassed, ElevatedSiteAndWebProcessor callWithElevatedSiteAndWeb)     at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.RecordsRepository.EcmDocumentRoutingWeb.UpdateRuleListItem(SPListItem ruleItem, EcmDocumentRouterRule rule)     at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.RecordsRepository.EcmDocumentRoutingWeb.UpdateRule(EcmDocumentRouterRule rule, SPListItem ruleToUpdate)     at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.PolicyFeatures.ApplicationPages.EditRulePage.ButtonOkUpdateRule_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

I'm sure I did not add more columns on to the content organizer rules list, so I have no clue why this happens. I tried with PowerShell and got the same error. Has anyone come across this error before?

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&quot;The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of anybody else&quot;

Answer 1

Have you made any changes to the Organiser Rules list?  It'll still be subjected to the architectural limitations referenced here

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787(v=office.14).aspx

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Steven Andrews
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Please remember to mark your question as "answered" if this solves (or helps) your problem.

Answer 2

I did not do any changes to the organizer rule List, that is the reason why I do not understand why this error pops up! Its strange because I cannot find a single result in Google or Bing.

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&quot;The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of anybody else&quot;

Answer 3

Hi Manoj,

According to your description, the error occurred when you added the tenth rule to the Content Organizer Rules list.

 

I tested the same scenario per your post, however everything worked fine.

I recommend to verify the things below to narrow this issue:

1.       Re-check the columns and content type of the Content Organizer Rules list.

2.       Test the same scenario in another site to see if the issue still occurs.

3.       Delete the original rules in the Content Organizer Rules list and then re-add the rules to see if the issue still occurs.

 

Best regards.

Thanks

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Victoria Xia
TechNet Community Support

Answer 4

Hello,

I have tried this in another farm and it behaves the same way. I have similar set of rules there but I have not changed any column settings on the Content Organizer rules List in either of the farms.

Not sure if this is related but most of my content types have close to 60 fields. I have checked the technet document on column limits and my content types are within the limits.

Its strange that nobody came across this error before.

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&quot;The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of anybody else&quot;

Answer 5

Hi Manoj,

I understand that the error occurred in another farm. 

Did you try to add a new column to the Content Organizer rules List?

If you tried that, did this error occur when doing that?

As there are many hidden fields in the Content Organizer rules List, I also recommend to check the list structure in SharePoint Manager 2010.

http://spm.codeplex.com/releases/view/35932

Best regards.

Thanks

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Victoria Xia
TechNet Community Support

Answer 6

Hi Victoria,

Thank you for the information.

I am aware of the information you have provided and I appreciate that you have tried to do that.

I have already checked this information in SPM and there isn't any custom columns, I am sure about this because I have not done anything on this Records Center site and its OOB. The same applies to the content organizer list, its OOB.

The reason behind approaching MS for help is because I couldn't find much help online for the content organizer list, is this a normal custom list or is it a special one? Does it have any special features or workflows attached to it?

Could you please check internally in your knowledgebase if similar issue was reported for Routing rules List?

Edit: I think its an error from Drop Off library, we have so many content types and all together it would add up to hundreds of columns. I tried to add few more content types on to the drop off library and it gave me the same error. May be when we add a content organizer rule for a content type which is not present in the drop off library it tries to add that content type there and this error I guess is triggered from drop of library and not from content organizer rule List.

I guess this is another limitation of the product..The more we use SharePoint the more limitations we discover.

Microsoft, is there a fix/work around for this?

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&quot;The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of anybody else&quot;