Craig,
I've never encountered a limit, but that does not mean there is not one. What I have seen is that any technical limit that may exist is likely greater than any reasonable usability limit. When designing a folder structure keep in mind usability for both authors and consumers. Too many folders actually makes it harder to locate specific objects, and increases the chance of an object being created in the wrong folder.
At one extreme, I once encountered a client who had created several very large projects. One of these had folder/object stats on the order of:
- 2600 folders (of which 450 were actually empty)
- Folder structure up to 10 levels deep
- Managing 8900 numbered documents (11000+ if counting iterations) - for an average of less than 4 documents per folder
The net result was that it had become a nightmare for the users. Authors often were not sure which folder a particular document should be created in, and the help desk was inundated with calls that objects "had been lost" as users were unable to find anything made even more difficult due to folder based ad hoc ACL's kept them from accessing items to which they should have had access via search.
My point being, long before you encounter any technical limit, you are likely to encounter other types of limits, so proceed cautiously.
Russ Pratt
PTC GS
