Update a multi select choice field in a SharePoint list with Power Automate

Have you tried to update a multi select choice field in a SharePoint list with Power Automate?

HTTP request vs update item action

Some simple tasks in Power Automate can look really hard. Although once you’ve found the solution you might find that it is simple to implement your solutions.

Yesterday I was contacted about how to update multiple choice fields in SharePoint. In the past I even used HTTP requests to sort this out, but actually the better solution is to use the Create item or update item action that is available as part of the SharePoint connector.

Multi select choice field in SharePoint

Before I look at how to update a multi select choice field I will start by creating a multi select choice field in my SharePoint list:

My choice field has the options of A .. G  available as check boxes on my test list.

Convert Text into Array

Within my flow I’m creating a compose action that holds the data. You might find that this data actually comes form somewhere, and it might have a slightly different format. For simplicity sake I’ve chosen to make the options available in text format separated by ;# so that have the items available that I want to select on my SharePoint list item.

The first step is to create an Array out of this text. The split function  sorts this out for me.

We now have an array of the options as shown below:

I know that my Create item action will require the following format:

[
{
"Value": "A"
},
{
"Value": "B"
},
{
"Value": "D"
},
{
"Value": "G"
}
]

Transform arrays

We now just need to transform the array that we have with the array that we want

Create the item in SharePoint

Now creating an item with  the choice field set is a piece of cake.

The Create item action in the SharePoint connector should just be configured as shown below. In the screenshot below the flow will update a multi select choice field using the output from my select action.

Update a Multi Select Choice Field

To update the multi select choice field is now the same as the created Simply select the update item action and repeat the above steps.