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Using options from multi-choice select column in Power Automate Variable to be used parameter

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Posted on by Jduggins

I have an Automate flow that is doing the following:

On the Get Items, I want to pull some selected options from a multi choice column in the reported incidents list, store the values in a variable and the use the values in a parameter in an email. When I try and store these values in an Initialise Variable step, if I set the column it puts the step into an Apply For Each which is not allowed. If I don't set the variable value there, but then use the Append to Variable step and set the column to be used, it takes the choices but keeps more than just the values, e.g.

[{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":4,"Value":"Has the equipment been checked due to this incident? If yes, has any action been taken because of these checks?"},{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":5,"Value":"What surface is the equipment sited upon and is it in good condition?"},{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":8,"Value":"Is this surface in a well-maintained condition?"}]

This in turn does not populate the values in the URL. How do I pull the values or the ID (shorter) from each chosen option and store them in a variable that can then populate a a parameter?

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Pstork1 69,397 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Since its a multiselect column you need to make sure you are using an Array variable to receive the column. You then have two options for how to use it in the email. You can either convert the array into an HTML table or use the Join() function to convert the array into a delimited string.

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stampcoin 5,153 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@Jduggins Hi,

After your Get Item for example.

1. Add 'Parse JSON',

Content = body('Get_item')?['YourMultipleChoiceColumn']

Schema:

{

"ID": 1,

"Title": "TitleName",

"YourMultipleChoiceColumn": [

{

"Id": 0,

"Value": "Value0"

},

{

"Id": 2,

"Value": "Value2"

}

]

}

2. Add 'Select'

From :body('Parse_JSON')

Map:

id: item()?['Id'],

value: item()?['Value']

You have to figure out your own schema. then you will get similar like :

{ "body": [ { "Id": 4, "Value": "Has the equipment been checked due to this incident? If yes, has any action been taken because of these checks?" }, { "Id": 5, "Value": "What surface is the equipment sited upon and is it in good condition?" }, { "Id": 8, "Value": "Is this surface in a well-maintained condition?" } ] }

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Jduggins 44 on at

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@Pstork1 I have managed to create an HTML table from the data:

How do I pull the ID/Value from this table to use in a parameter? I can see outputs in a compose but I only want one of these columns, probably the ID as it is less data to store.

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Pstork1 69,397 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Instead of creating the HTML directly from the array variable use a Data Select with the Array variable as input and select just the one column that you need. Then use the output of the data select to create the table. If you don't see the dynamic content you need in the data select then run the variable through a Parse JSON first. The Data Select will also let you rename the column to the header value you want.

Another option would be to use the Custom setting in the Create HTML table and specify the column you need there.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

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Jduggins 44 on at

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@Pstork1 I've obviously doe something wrong here so would appreciate a point in where to fix this:

I've Initialized the Variable:

I can't put the value of the column in the Value as this places it in a For Each loop which it does not like.

I have then Set the value of the Variable:

When I set the custom table (or the other method you suggested) I can't set the specific value I want to use.

I've not tried this before so i'm a bit lost on what to do to make this work. Any help much appreciated as i'm almost there.

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Jduggins 44 on at

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@stampcoin Thanks for your reply.

I tried something like this but i'm ether formatting the JSON incorrectly (missing something out somewhere) or i'm getting an invalid JSON message. Hoping you can advise the correct structure/ I've not tried this before and i'm struggling with the correct format:

This is the column in the list with some of the options (there are around 15/16)

I've tried the using the Parse JSON and Select but I can't get it working.

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Pstork1 69,397 Most Valuable Professional on at

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@Jduggins You are getting the Apply to Each Loop because there are two arrays involved. There is the array of records from Get Items and then inside each of those records is the multiselect column, which is an array. So when you select the column to set the variable it puts it inside a loop for each record.

Then inside the loop you may or may not see the individual entries in the multiselect column. If you don't then you need a Parse JSON of that array to re-apply the schema for that specific array. That should expose the individual items in the multiselect.

If your intent is to send one email for each record in the list then just process the array for the multiselect column inside the list to turn it into an HTML table and send the email. If you want one email with all the values from all the records that gets much more involved. To do that you'll need to have a second array variable that you append each value from the multiselect column to. That will create one array with all the values. Then when you exit the loop you can use that array to create an HTML table and send the email.

This is why I usually recommend avoiding Multiselect columns entirely.

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If this Post helped you, please click "Does this answer your question" and give it a like to help others in the community find the answer too!

Paul Papanek Stork, MVP
Blog: https://www.dontpapanic.com/blog

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Jduggins 44 on at

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@Pstork1 Thanks for this. What would be a good alternative, have a custom card on the Power App this is working with to display checkboxes for the input but then just store the results in a text field or something like that?

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stampcoin 5,153 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@Jduggins Hi,

The schema should be like this, the previous one when you have the result as an example to generate the schema.

to make it work, you have to use the choice column as the parseJSON content.

below one MyChoice is my multiple choice column.

schema as below.

{ "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "Id": { "type": "integer" }, "Value": { "type": "string" } }, "required": [ "Id", "Value" ] } }

then you can add the select as I mentioned before.

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Jduggins 44 on at

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@stampcoin OK, so I have made some progress.

Using your advice, i've scaled down the JSON and managed to start getting some success with the parsing etc.

This is giving me the IDs of the options selected.

However, I now want to use these values in a parameter in an email. The idea is they are passed to a Power App and display the relevant questions. When I try and use it, it sets the output as:

[{"id":0},{"id":1},{"id":2}]

If I put this into a parameter at the end of a link, in the compose it looks fine but when the email link is delivered, the parameter is cut off. Below are the parameters I have set and as you can see the Qs one is blank despite it being populated in the compose.:

ID=22&screen=CCC%20Incident%20Reporting%20-%20General%20Manager%20Questions&Qs=[{

<body>
Dear ,
We need you to answer some follow up questions. Please go to <a href="ID22&screen=CCC Incident Reporting - General Manager Questions&Qs=[{"id":0},{"id":1},{"id":2}]">Link to incident for review</a>
<br>
Many thanks
Health and Safety Team
</html>

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