Every SharePoint Online document library exposes over a dozen configurable settings across three main setting groups. The tables below list each setting with its default value, the range of available options, and what it controls in practice.
| Setting Group | Default State | What It Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Versioning | Major versions, 500 max | How many file copies SharePoint retains per document |
| Content Approval | Off | Whether submitted files must be approved before they are visible |
| Content Types | Off | Whether multiple content types can be assigned to items in the library |
| Check Out | Off | Whether users must check out a file before editing it |
| Search Indexing | On | Whether library items appear in SharePoint and Microsoft 365 search results |
| Offline Sync | On | Whether users can sync this library to their device via OneDrive sync client |
| Information Rights Management (IRM) | Off | Whether downloaded files are protected with rights management restrictions |
| Audience Targeting | Off | Whether library items can be filtered by audience in the Highlighted Content web part |
Versioning and Content Approval settings
Found under Library Settings > Versioning settings. These settings interact with each other: enabling minor versions also enables the draft visibility setting, and requiring content approval changes who can see items in draft state.
| Setting | Default | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Require content approval for submitted items | No | Yes / No | When enabled, newly uploaded or edited items have a Pending status and are visible only to approvers and the item author until approved. Enabling this also activates draft item security options. |
| Create a version each time a file is edited | Create major versions | No versioning; Create major versions; Create major and minor (draft) versions | Minor versions are needed for approval workflows where drafts must be reviewed before publishing. Without minor versioning, every save is immediately a published major version. |
| Number of major versions to keep | 500 | 1 to 50,000 (or unlimited) | Changing this limit does not retroactively delete existing versions that exceed the new cap. Only new versions created after the change are subject to the lower limit. See the version history trimming guide to reclaim storage from existing versions. |
| Number of approved versions with drafts to keep | 500 | 1 to 50,000 (or unlimited) | Visible only when minor versioning is enabled. Controls how many sets of major + minor versions are retained per file before older sets are purged. |
| Who can see draft items in this library | Any user who can read items | Any user who can read; Only users who can edit; Only users who can approve (when content approval is on) | Restricting to approvers-only is the typical choice for regulated content where drafts must not be seen by general staff before approval. |
| Require documents to be checked out before editing | No | Yes / No | When enabled, users must explicitly check out a file before making changes. Prevents concurrent edits but blocks co-authoring. Rarely appropriate for modern collaboration workflows; more suited to formal approval processes. |
Advanced settings
Found under Library Settings > Advanced settings. Covers content types, document templates, browser behaviour, search, and offline access.
| Setting | Default | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allow management of content types | No | Yes / No | Enables the Content Types panel in Library Settings, allowing multiple content types to be added to the library. Each content type can specify its own columns, views, and document template. |
| Document template | Word blank document (.docx) |
Any Office file type URL, or none | Sets the file used when a user clicks New > Document. Override this with a corporate template file stored on the same site. |
| Opening documents in the browser | Use the server default | Open in the client application; Open in the browser; Use server default | The tenant default is typically to open in browser (Office for the web). Forcing client-app opens improves editing fidelity for complex files but breaks the co-authoring experience for users without desktop Office installed. |
| Allow items from this library to appear in search results | Yes | Yes / No | Disabling search indexing for a library prevents its items appearing in SharePoint search and Microsoft 365 Copilot responses. Useful for libraries holding sensitive or draft content that should not surface in organisation-wide searches. |
| Allow items to be downloaded to offline clients | Yes | Yes / No | Controls whether the OneDrive sync client can synchronise this library to a user's device. Admins sometimes disable this for libraries holding highly sensitive documents where a local copy creates a data-loss risk. |
| Display "New Folder" command in the New menu | Yes | Yes / No | Hides the folder creation option from users without removing folder support entirely. Admins sometimes disable it in libraries where metadata-based organisation is preferred over folder hierarchies. |
Document library limits reference
Hard and recommended limits for SharePoint Online document libraries as of 2026. For the full SharePoint Online limits reference covering lists, sites, and tenant-level caps, see the SharePoint Online Limits Reference.
| Limit | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum file size per upload | 250 GB | Applies per file. Files larger than 250 GB cannot be uploaded to SharePoint Online. |
| Recommended item count per library | 300,000 items | Libraries can hold more items, but performance and view rendering degrade above this threshold. Lists and libraries share the same item count limit. |
| List View Threshold | 5,000 items per view | SharePoint blocks queries that return more than 5,000 items from a single query. Indexed columns must be used to create filtered views in large libraries. See the List View Threshold reference. |
| Maximum major versions per file | 50,000 (configurable) | Default is 500. Libraries can be set to keep up to 50,000 versions. Space Master's Version Trimmer can bulk-delete versions older than a defined policy across all libraries in a tenant. |
| Unique permission scopes per library | 50,000 | Each item or folder with permissions broken from the parent counts as one scope. Performance degrades significantly as unique permission counts rise. Best practice is to avoid breaking inheritance at the item level. |
| Maximum columns per library | 8,000 total; 64 indexed | Practical usability limits are much lower. Libraries with more than 30 to 50 visible columns are difficult to manage. Indexed columns are required for filtered views in libraries exceeding the 5,000-item threshold. |
| Maximum file path length | 400 characters | Includes the full URL from the root of the site collection. Deep folder hierarchies or long file names can hit this limit, causing upload failures. |
| Maximum synchronised libraries per device | 500 libraries | A single OneDrive sync client on a device can synchronise up to 500 SharePoint libraries or folders at one time. |
Learn more about Space Master for version and storage management