The Best Way to Display Dataverse Choices in Power Apps Gallery

If you have a Dataverse multi‑select choice column and try to show it directly in a Power Apps gallery, you quickly hit an error. You set a label to ThisItem.YourChoiceColumn, and Power Apps tells you that the formula uses scope that is not supported. That happens because a multi‑select choice is actually a table of records, not a single text value.

In this tutorial, we will discuss how to display Dataverse choices in Power Apps gallery step by step. We will use a simple and reliable pattern: a Power Apps sub‑gallery inside your main gallery.

Display Dataverse Choices in Power Apps Gallery

Here is the example we will use:

• Dataverse table: Patient Registrations
• Column: Reason (multi‑select choice)
• Goal: Show all selected Reason values for each patient in a Power Apps vertical gallery.

If you put a label in the Power Apps gallery and set its Text property as:

ThisItem.Reason

You will see an error, “This formula uses scope, which is not presently supported for evaluation“, because Reason is a table of choice records. We need to loop over that table, and a gallery is perfect for that. So we need to make a sub-gallery for it.

Why a Power Apps sub‑gallery is a good fit

A multi‑select choice column in Dataverse stores several values as a small table. Each record in that table represents one selected choice, with properties like Value for the display text.

A gallery’s Items property expects a table and repeats its template for each record. That is exactly what we want:

• Main gallery: one row per patient.
• Sub‑gallery inside each row: one row per selected Reason.

Inside the sub‑gallery, ThisItem becomes a single choice record. We can then use ThisItem.Value it to show the actual label.

Show Dataverse Choices With a Power Apps Sub‑gallery

So let’s implement step by step.

Step 1: Create the Power Apps main gallery

1. Add a Power Apps Vertical gallery to your screen.
2. Set its Items property to your Dataverse table, for example:

'Patient Registrations'

3. In the layout, include useful fields such as patient name, ID, and any other information you want to display.

This is your main or master gallery.

Step 2: Remove the problem label from the main gallery

If you have already added a label that tries to show ThisItem.Reason and displays an error, remove it:

1. Select that label inside the gallery.
2. Press Delete.

We are going to replace it with a sub‑gallery that correctly handles multi‑select values.

Step 3: Insert a sub‑gallery inside the main gallery

1. Select the first row (the template) of the main gallery.
2. From the Insert pane, add a Vertical gallery.
3. Power Apps will place this new gallery inside the row template.

This nested gallery will display the Reason choices for the current patient record. Rename it to something easy to understand, such as galReasons or Child Gallery.

Step 4: Use a simple layout for the child gallery

1. Select the child gallery you just inserted.
2. In the right‑hand pane, change the Layout to Title only.

You should now see a single label inside the sub‑gallery template, usually called Title1 or similar. That is where we will show each choice value.

Step 5: Bind the sub‑gallery to the Dataverse choice column

With the child gallery selected, set its Items property to:

ThisItem.Reason

Here:

• ThisItem refers to the current record of the main gallery (a single patient).
• Reason is the multi‑select choice column for that record.

Now the sub‑gallery knows it should repeat one row for each selected Reason value.

Step 6: Show the choice values in the Power Apps gallery

Next, we tell the label inside the sub‑gallery what to display.

1. Select the label inside the child gallery (the “Title” label).
2. Set its Text property to:

ThisItem.Value

In the context of the child gallery:

• ThisItem is one selected choice record from the Reason column.
• Value is the text shown to the user for that choice.

After this, you should see all the Reason values listed under each record in the main gallery, without any formula errors.

Step 7: Clean up the child gallery design

By default, the child gallery may include a separator and a next arrow icon. In most cases, you do not need those.

• Delete the separator line.
• Delete the next arrow icon.
• Resize the child gallery so it sits neatly under your Reason label or heading.

You can also tweak the look and feel:

• Reduce font size to keep the layout compact.
• Adjust TemplatePadding and TemplateSize so the list is not overly spaced.
• Change the colors and font styles to visually distinguish the Reason values.

That’s it. Your main gallery now displays all selected Dataverse choices using a sub‑gallery.

Alternative: Show choices as a single comma‑separated line in the Power Apps gallery

If you prefer a flat layout and do not want a nested gallery, you can convert the table of choices into a single text string using Concat.

1. Remove or hide the child gallery.
2. Insert a label inside the main gallery.
3. Set the label’s Text property to:

Concat( ThisItem.Reason, Value, ", " )

This loops over all records in ThisItem.Reason, takes the Value from each one, and joins them with a comma and a space. You end up with something like: Routine Checkup, Emergency, Follow‑Up.

Once you understand this pattern, you can reuse it anywhere you need to display multi‑select choice values from Dataverse in Power Apps.

Also, you may like some more Dataverse and Power Apps tutorials:

• Patch Power Apps Combo Box
• Filter Gallery By Radio Button in Power Apps
• Power Apps Bulk Approvals Using Power Automate
• Filter SharePoint List Items in Power Apps
• Create a Custom Calendar in Power Apps

Preeti Sahu

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.