Fixing SharePoint "Move To" Dialog Spinning Issue with List View Threshold issue

Summary

  • The SharePoint “Move To” dialog can hang indefinitely with a spinning icon due to list view threshold (<5,000 items).
  • The real issue: view aggregations (Totals) set to “Count” in the view schema.
  • Fix: turn Totals to “None” in the view settings or set Aggregations Value="Off" in the schema.
  • Use PnP PowerShell to inspect and confirm the view’s HtmlSchemaXml for the Aggregations property.

Table of Contents

The Problem

We encountered a persistent issue where the “Move To” dialog in specific SharePoint document libraries would hang indefinitely with a spinning icon, preventing users from moving files.

Move to Dialog not loading

This issue was frustrating because:

  • We had over 100,000 sites with similar libraries containing >5,000 items.
  • Most libraries worked fine with properly indexed columns.
  • Only two specific libraries exhibited this behavior consistently.

Initial Investigation

We escalated to Microsoft Support, and their initial response was to check list view threshold settings ensuring views displayed fewer than 5,000 items.

However, this didn’t resolve the issue for the two problematic libraries.

What We Tried

  • ✅ Verified indexed columns were properly configured.
  • ❌ Attempted to recreate views by copying the faulty view did not fix the issue.
  • ✅ Created a brand-new view using Standard view and manually configured settings this worked!

This last step was the key clue: something in the faulty view’s configuration was causing the problem, and it wasn’t visible in the UI.

The Real Culprit: View Aggregations

Intrigued by the discrepancy, I decided to inspect the view schema using PnP PowerShell to see what might be different.

Inspecting View Schema with PnP PowerShell

Use the following script to retrieve the view’s HtmlSchemaXml and noting the differences and noticed the difference in the Aggregations property:

$clientId = "xxxxx"
$siteUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/test"
$library = "Shared Documents"

Connect-PnPOnline -Url $siteUrl -ClientId $clientId -Interactive

# Get the faulty view
$View = Get-PnPView -List $library -Identity "Default" -Includes HtmlSchemaXml
Write-Host $View.HtmlSchemaXml

What to Look For

In the output XML, locate the <Aggregations> element:

<Aggregations Value="On">

This indicates that Totals are enabled for the view. In the faulty views, we found:

  • Totals set to “Count”: <Aggregations Value="On">

Both values indicate aggregations are enabled, which was causing the “Move To” dialog to hang for libraries with more than 5000 files.

Totals feature enabled

The Fix

The solution is simple: disable Totals (aggregations) for the view.

In the view schema, this changes:

<Aggregations Value="Off">

Once aggregations are turned off, the “Move To” dialog loads instantly.

Move to Dialog working

How to Disable Totals in SharePoint

Via SharePoint UI

  1. Navigate to the document library.
  2. Open the view experiencing the issue (or create a new view).
  3. Click View options (three dots) > Edit current view.
  4. Scroll to the Totals section.
  5. Set all column totals to None.
  6. Click OK to save.

Disable Totals in view settings

Verification

After disabling totals:

  1. Open the document library.
  2. Select one or more files.
  3. Click Move to in the command bar.
  4. Confirm the dialog loads without spinning.

Move to Dialog working

Key Takeaways

  • List view threshold isn’t always the issue: Even with indexed columns and <5,000 items, other view settings can cause problems.
  • View aggregations (Totals) can break “Move To”: Setting totals to “Count” or any aggregate function can cause the dialog to hang.
  • Use PnP PowerShell to inspect views: The HtmlSchemaXml property reveals configuration not visible in the UI.
  • Recreate views manually: If copying a faulty view, the problem persists. Start from a fresh “Standard view” template.
  • Apply the fix tenant-wide: If you encounter this on multiple libraries, script the fix using PnP PowerShell.

References