If we add any indexed allowed columns (mentioned in the above section) in the SharePoint list view filter that particular column is indexed automatically. Let's see how this can be done.
Go to the edit mode of "All Items" view.
Then, from the "Filter" section – apply filter like below. As an example I have selected the "Quantity" column and applied filter on it, then clicked on "OK" button. Now, the "Quantity" column will be displayed in the "Indexed Column" page because it is automatically indexed when we have applied a filter on it.
Notes
Indexes are created automatically in the following two situations,
- When saved views have columns used for sorting or filtering
- When sorting in the modern experience
Here notes to remember,
Automatic index creation when sorting in the modern experience is limited to lists and libraries with less than 20,000 items.
Key notes to remember
- In a list, maximum we can create 20 indexed column.
- In a list, maximum we can create 8 Lookup type indexed column.
What is the need of creating index column?
An indexed column in SharePoint is used to improve the performances of the list or library view loading. If your list contains thousand of records, and you often query (filter or sort) by a given column, you can index that column. That way, when we display a filtered/sorted view (based on this column), SharePoint does not have to loop through all the items to decide which ones to display first, it can quickly get the items or rows it needs. - This is the beauty of the indexing concept in SharePoint.
Other than just performance - another reason for indexing a column is - if your list/library contains more than 5000 items and if your query just return a smaller result, even 1 row, we will get a list view threshold error if we do not index a column which we are querying.
Summary
Hence, in this article, we have learned the below topics with respect to creating the indexed column in SharePoint list or library,
- How to create indexed column in a SharePoint list or library.
- In which are the scenarios indexed column gets created automatically.
- What are the limitations during creating the indexed column.
- Supported and unsupported columns for SharePoint column indexing.
- What is the need of creating index column?
- The above points are applicable for both SharePoint on-premise and SharePoint online.
References
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/manage-large-lists-and-libraries-in-sharepoint-b8588dae-9387-48c2-9248-c24122f07c59