Are dropdown the best way to let users select from thousands of options?

[Arnei]

In our app we have several dropdowns that are likely to contain thousands of options on big production systems. For example:

• The series and contributor dropdowns in the metadata tab in the event modal.
• The role dropdowns in the access policy tab in event/series modal.
• The series dropdown in the events table filter.

The good thing about these dropdowns is that they are searchable, so users can filter through the options by typing.

The bad thing about these dropdowns is that they required us to load all options, often causing the app to lag (see also #1425). When I think on how we can best solve this issue on a design level, I always end up with paginated, searchable lists, e.g. the events table. I reckon there is a better way to solve this problem. Some way to let users who know what they are looking for and users who don't quite know yet what they are looking for find what they need without them noticing any lags. Suggestions are welcome.

[ltekbas]

First, I want to note that the dropdown styling for the Contributer(s) and Presenter(s) is inconsistent with the other examples provided in this issue.
If the dropdown component is retained, its styling must be unified across all instances. While I understand the potential reasoning behind having the dropdown body open to the side of the input field, maintaining styling consistency is a huge factor for user experience and overall usability.
In the presentation, I propose an alternative styling option that better integrates tags alongside selection from the dropdown.

The following is a short presentation and overview of the design options I've developed. While there may not be a single 'perfect' solution, these suggestions offer a more robust approach to handling large datasets