Introduction
Hi friends, in this post let us see how we can update multichoice field in SharePoint list using Power Automate actions. We will update the field using the out-of-box Create Item action.
Focus on the Flow
The scenario is by creating an item in List B when an item in List A is created or updated. Both the lists has same fields listed below
- Title – Default field
- Sample Choice – Multichoice field, internal name is SampleChoice
Let us start designing the flow
- Create an automated flow, give a unique name to the flow and select the trigger named ‘When an item is created or modified‘ as shown below
2. Choose the Site Address and List A for the List Name property
3. Add an action ‘Initialize Variable‘ and provide the properties as mentioned below. This variable will store the choices from an item from the source list.
- Name – Choices
- Type – Array
- Value – []
4. Save the flow.
5. Add an action ‘Apply to each‘ and provide the input as “triggerOutputs()?[‘body/internal-name-of-the-choice-field’]“. In our case the internal name is ‘SampleChoice‘
6. Add an action ‘Append to array variable’ inside the ‘Apply to each’ action. Provide the following properties for the append action.
- Name – Choose the initialized array variable
- Value – items(‘Apply_to_each’)?[‘Value’]
7. Add an action ‘Select‘ after the ‘Apply to each‘ and not inside the ‘Apply to each‘. ‘Apply to each‘ must have only one action inside the loop. Provide the following properties to the ‘Select‘ action.
- From – Choose the variable Choices
- Map – Value in the first column and item() in the second column
Inorder to update the multichoice value to the item field, SharePoint expects the input argument in the below format, so we have to define the structure using ‘Select‘ action.
[
{
Value: 'Choice 1'
},
{
Value: 'Choice 2'
},
{
Value: 'Choice 3'
}
]
8. Add an action ‘Create Item’ and choose the following properties
- Site Address – SharePoint site collection url
- List Name – List B
- Title – Choose the title value from the source list.
- Sample Choice – Click on the ‘T‘ on the right end to change the field to text and select the output from the ‘Select‘ action.
Thats it, we are done with the flow. Try add or modify an item in List A, the flow should be triggered and the same item with all the metadata including the multichoice should be added to the List B.
Happy Flowing…
Knowledge Share 
Hi ,
I have used same logic but output is empty in the list.
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Hi, can you share me some screenshots and can you tell me in detail what you are trying to achieve. Maybe you can send me the details to my mail id sudharsan_1985@live.in
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having the same problem – output is empty []
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Hi Remi, I had replied to your email on the same. Can you please check and let me know.
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I love it whenever people get together and share thoughts. Great site, stick with it!
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Hi, the title is for “update” but as I see the flow it is an “Create”. I have problem to do an update using “Set content approval status” (like to update the same list as was the origin for the flow) and gets this error “Content moderation is not enabled on the library”. Any idea of what can cause that? I have googled for it but no hit.
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Hi Stefan,
The information mentioned for updating the Multichoice field is common whether you use Create or Update action for SharePoint Listitem.
Regarding the error, can you please verify the ‘Require content approval for submitted items’ on the list settings –> Versioning settings. If it is not enabled, please enable and check the flow.
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Hi, thank you for this sample.
i have ran into an issue at the end having copied all steps as described above and wondered had you come across it,
at create item:
Item could not be created. Check if input is valid.
the output body of the create item looks like this i had two claims so those are the guids below
{
“status”: 400,
“message”: “Item could not be created. Check if input is valid.\r\nclientRequestId: 07b23feb-347d-4230-8c05-2eb423bb4f1e\r\nserviceRequestId: 07b23feb-347d-4230-8c05-2eb423bb4f1e”
}
if i exclude the multiperson variable it creates the item but when i add the array variable to the create item it doesn’t work
any insight appreciated
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Sudharsan, ignore the above post from me, i got it to work 🙂 thank you for this and
thank you so much for this site:)
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Hi,
I tried this with update action but it’s updating the multiple choice field to an empty cell instead.
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Are you trying to pull the data from somewhere to SharePoint list or just trying the hard coded data? Also, if possible try to check the output of the select action mention in the post to confirm the formatting and structure of the data which is passed to SharePoint.
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I have done everything as per given flow but flow is getting stopped at update item action. I am using Sharepoint Multiselect column. Also ‘Require content approval for submitted items’ on the list settings –> Versioning settings. is enabled,
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Hi, may be it could be something to do with the content approval. Can you please share the error you are receiving while updating the item. Also, can you test with some list which doesn’t have the content approval? Please do let me know.
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