Last week, I was working on the Travel Authorization application, where I needed to handle data from a SharePoint Multi-Select Choice column named “Travel Purposes” using Power Automate. This column allows multiple selections with values such as Business Meetings, Client Visits, Training, Conferences, Site Inspections, and Research.
I encountered a challenge retrieving and processing the selected values from the “Travel Purposes” column, as it returns an array of choices rather than a string.
In this Power Automate tutorial, I will explain how to get the SharePoint single-choice column value and SharePoint multi-select choice column values as strings using various examples.
How to Get SharePoint Choice Values in Power Automate
Here, I will explain all the steps of two things. Such as:
- Power Automate get SharePoint single choice column value
- Power Automate get SharePoint multi-select choice column value
Let’s describe it one by one.
Get the SharePoint single-choice column value in Power Automate
Here, I will explain how we can get a single value of the SharePoint choice field with a simple scenario. To achieve it, follow the steps below.
Example:
I have a SharePoint Online list named “Task List” with a few columns and their data types.
| Columns | Data Types |
| Task Name (renamed Title) | Single line of text |
| Task Description | Multiple lines of text |
| Task Start Date | Date and Time |
| Task End Date | Date and Time |
| Task Status | Choice [Started, Completed, Pending] |
This is what the SharePoint list with different columns looks like.
1. Open the Power Automate home page, click on + Create-> Select Automate cloud flow -> Enter the flow name and choose the trigger’s flow (When an item is created or modified) -> Click on Create.
- In this trigger, provide the details below:
- Site Address: Enter SharePoint site address.
- List name: Provide the SharePoint list name.
2. Next add the ‘Initialize variable’ flow action to store the text value during the flow and set the required fields.
- Name: Enter the name of the variable.
- Type: Select the data type of variable as String -> Click on + New step.
3. Now add an action Append to string variable and provide the required field.
- Name: Provide the variable name.
- Value: Here, I have entered the value as Completed.
4. Then add the Compose flow action to perform complex operations or calculations, manipulate data, or store temporary values and set the detail.
- Inputs: Here, I have given TaskStatus from the dynamic content.
5. Now click on Save and then Test it Manually. Then, the compose flow action will display the output according to the inputs set in the compose flow action.
This is how to get a single value of a SharePoint choice field using Power Automate.
Get the SharePoint multi-select choice column value in Power Automate [Manually]
In this section, I will explain how to get multiple values of the SharePoint choice field in Power Automate.
Example:
I have taken a SharePoint list named ‘Internal Job Post’ with different columns and data types to achieve this.
| Columns | Data Types |
| Job Title | Single line of text |
| Job Description | Multiple lines of text |
| Skills | Choice |
| Job Post Date | Date and Time |
This is the image of a SharePoint list with different columns looks like.
As per the requirement, I want to get multiple values of the SharePoint choice field using Power Automate.
- Open the Power Automate home page, click +Create -> Enter the flow name and choose the trigger’s flow (Manually Trigger flow) -> Click Create.
- Click on + Add an input -> Select Date (renamed as Post date) in this trigger.
2. Add a ‘Get items’ flow action to retrieve all the items from the SharePoint list and set the details.
- Site Address: Provide the SharePoint site address.
- List Name: Select the SharePoint list name.
3. To store the text value during the flow add an ‘Initialize variable’ flow action and set the details.
- Name: Provide the Initialize variable name.
- Type: Select the data type of the variable as String.
4. Next, add an ‘Append to string variable’ to concatenate the names of items in a collection and set the required fields.
- Name: Select the name of a variable.
- Value: Enter the value of the string variable.
5. Now add the ‘Create HTML table’ flow action for formatting and presenting data in a structured manner and set all the required fields as shown below
- From: Select the value from Dynamic Content.
- Columns: Select the Custom table from the drop-down.
Then, add the custom table value manually, as shown below.
| Header | Value |
| Job Title Job Description Skills | Select value from the dynamic content under Get items and expression. |
join(xpath(xml(json(concat('{"body":{"value":', item()?['Skills'] , '}}'))), '/body/value/Value/text()'), ', ')where @odata converts it into a valid JSON. Valid JSON can be converted into xml, and xpath will allow you to access the desired values from the array. Join will format the final output into a comma-separated string.
6. Now it’s time to Save and Test. Click on Save and Test it Manually. Then, you can see the output in the Body of the Create HTML table flow action.
This is how Power Automate gets multiple values of a SharePoint choice field.
Get SharePoint Multi Select Choice Column Values in Power Automate
I created a SharePoint list using the column below and the data types for this example to do this.
Let’s follow the below steps:
1. Navigate to the Power Automate Home page, click + Create, select the Automated cloud flow, provide the flow name, choose the flow trigger (When an item is created), and click the Create button. Then, Provide the Site Address and List Name inside the trigger.
2. Then I will select that column using the select action using the below parameter:
- From: Select the Travel Purposes column from the dynamic content
- Map: Put the below expression
item()?['Value']
It gives the selected choice value in an array format.
3. Now, I need to perform a join action, which will convert the above array values into a string separated by commas. To do this, I added a join action with the parameter below:
4. Now, add Send an email(v2) action outside of the loop. Set the required parameters:
- Body: Provide a detailed description of the mail and the join action output.
- To: Select Created by Email from dynamic content when creating an item.
- Subject: Provide a subject line for a mail.
Once the flow is ready, we will move forward with running it.
Run the Flow to Get SharePoint Multi Select Choice Column Values as a String in Power Automate
Now, it’s time to save the flow. Click on Test -> Select Manually. At this step, add an item to the SharePoint list.
When the flow runs successfully, it will send an email notification to the provided user, as shown in the screenshot below.
As you can see, the multi-select choice column values are picked and presented in a string with commas between them using Power Automate.
Conclusion
I hope this Power Automate tutorial taught you how to get the SharePoint single-choice column value in Power Automate.
Also, we discussed how to get the SharePoint multi-select choice column value in Power Automate with various examples.
Additionally, you may like some more Power Automate tutorials:
- Send a No Reply Email from a Specific Sender Name in Power Automate
- Update Lookup Field in SharePoint List in Power Automate
- How to Update SharePoint List Date and Time Column in Power Automate
- Update SharePoint Person Field in Power Automate
- Create HTML Table in Power Automate
Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power Apps and has over six years of experience working with SharePoint Online and the Power Platform. She is the co-author of Microsoft Power Platform: A Deep Dive book. As a Power Platform developer, she has worked on developing various tools using Power Apps and Power Automate. She also makes Microsoft 365 videos and shares them on YouTube.
