When using Power Apps controls, it’s important to understand the distinctions between each control type. Likewise, we need to understand the differences between a Dropdown control and a Power Apps Combo box. Both controls are helpful for user-friendly applications.
In this Power Apps tutorial, I will explain various major differences between a Power Apps Combo box control and a Dropdown control with a simple example from each.
Refer to the image below for how both the Power Apps controls look like:
Power Apps Combo box Control
The Power Apps Combo box control helps us provide a list of choices from which the user can select a single or multiple values.
Example:
I have a Combo box control [Country] in Power Apps that contains different countries.
Whenever the user selects a single or multiple values from the Combo box, that will be displayed on a text label. By default, the user can select or deselect the selected value, as shown below:
Follow the below steps to achieve this:
- Insert a Combo box control and set its Items property as:
["Canada", "United States", "Germany", "Australia", "Spain"]
- Add a Text label and set its Text property as:
Concat(
cmb_Country.SelectedItems,
Value,
" ; "
)Where,
- cmb_Country = Combo box control name
- Save, Publish, and Preview the app. Whenever the user selects single or multiple values from a combo box control, that will be displayed on a text label as shown below:
This is all about the Power Apps combo box control.
Power Apps Dropdown Control
The Power Apps Dropdown control helps the user provide a list of values from which the user can select a particular value.
Example:
I have a dropdown control [Interview Status] that contains various statuses such as [Approved, Rejected, and On-hold].
Whenever the user selects a single value from the dropdown, that will be displayed on a text label, and we cannot deselect the selected value, as shown below:
Follow the below steps to achieve this:
- Insert a Dropdown control -> Set its Items property to:
["Approved" ,"Rejected", "On-hold"]
- Insert a Text label -> Set its Text property to:
drp_InterviewStatus.Selected.ValueWhere,
- drp_InterviewStatus = Dropdown control name
- Save, Publish, and Preview the app. Whenever the user selects a single value from a dropdown control, that will be displayed on a text label as shown below:
As per the above section, I have explained a Power Apps dropdown control. Now, let’s check the differences between the Power Apps combo box and dropdown control.
Power Apps Combo Box Vs Dropdown
In detail, I will show you the main differences between the Power Apps combo box and dropdown.
| Power Apps Combo box | Power Apps Dropdown |
|---|---|
 |  |
| The combo box allows multiple items to be selected. | The dropdown allows a single item to be selected. |
It allows us to search through a list of items in the combo box control. | The dropdown doesn’t have any searching capabilities. |
| The combo box can show the items up to the app limit [Power Apps combo box can only deal with 2000 records]. | The user can unselect the selected value in a combo box by default. |
| By default, the user can unselect the selected value in a combo box. | When the user needs to select an empty selection, by default, AllowEmptySelection property is false unless we set it to true. |
| Power Apps Combo box offers guidance by providing a “Tooltip” property as a small pop-up message when the user hovers over the combo box, assisting them in choosing an option. | When the user doesn’t select any value from the dropdown control, we can insert a text label control with a default message such as “Please select”. |
These are the main differences between the Power Apps combo box and dropdown control.
Conclusion
This Power Apps tutorial helped you to understand the overview of a Power Apps Combo box control and a Dropdown control with an example.
Also, our tutorial highlights the differences between the Power Apps Combo box and the Dropdown control.
Moreover, you may like some more Power Apps articles:
- Bind Power Apps Text Input Values to a Dropdown Control
- Set Combo Box Default Value in Power Apps
- Set Dropdown Value On Button Click in Power Apps
- Power Apps Gallery Control
- Power Apps Rating Control
- Power Apps Data table Control
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.
