Working with user caps on list items

Certain drop-down lists, particularly business-data list boxes, have caps on the number of list items they can display.

Finding the current user cap on list items

If you know you need to display a large number of items in a drop-down list, you can find out whether the current user cap will allow you to display that number of items. For more information and the procedure, see Viewing the current user cap on list items.

Note: These techniques do not help you to know if there is a system-wide list cap in use and, if it is, the value to which it is set.

Identifying when you have reached the cap

Knowing whether you have reached the cap on list items is more difficult than with collections. These tips might help:

A list has probably reached the cap if it ends arbitrarily, for example, in the middle of the alphabet in an alphabetically sorted list.
A list has probably reached the cap if it does not contain an item that you believe it should contain.

Retrieving additional list items

If you have a drop-down list that does not display all the records you need to use, try these options first:

Replace the current list with a filtered list whose items match your search criteria. For more information and the procedure, see Filtering a Drop-down List.
Right-click on the field and select Find. For more information, see Finding a Specific Value in a Drop-down List.

In most cases, you should be able to get the item you are looking for by using one of these methods. Only if these methods do not return the list you need in full should you increase the cap on list items. See Setting the user preference for list caps.