Answered

Combobox not displaying the email from a text field in sharepoint

(2) Share

Report

Posted on by iKettle

113

Hi Guys, need some help in getting this correctly displayed. I have a sharepoint field that is of text type, to store an email address. In power apps, I am using a comboxbox person type, to lookup and select a person's email. The problem I have is that the combobox displays the email address using this formula;

{Email: ThisItem.ERLead}
 
The comboxbox displays the email address, but the value is actual blank and this is causing issues, on the required input because the combobox value is blank. How can I get the text field to display and actually have the value in the combobox, so that it does not have a blank value? 

Categories:

Building Power Apps

I have the same question (0)

All responses (7)

Answers (1)

Sort by

Suggested answer

Valantis 6,735 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @iKettle,

The combobox shows the email but the value is blank because the record you're constructing with {Email: ThisItem.ERLead} doesn't match anything in the combobox's Items source. It displays fine visually but Selected stays empty, which is why your required field validation fails.

Since ERLead is just a text column storing an email, the simplest fix is to drop the Person combobox and use a regular Text Input instead. Set its Default to ThisItem.ERLead and patch it back as plain text. No type mismatch, no blank value problem.

If you specifically need the person picker experience (so users can search and select from your directory), then the combobox Items should be fed from Office365Users.SearchUser(ComboBox.SearchText) and you'd save the result as ComboBox.Selected.Mail to your text column. But that's a bigger change than what you probably need here.

Best regards,

Valantis

✅ If this helped solve your issue, please Accept as Solution so others can find it quickly.

❤️ If it didn’t fully solve it but was still useful, please click “Yes” on “Was this reply helpful?” or leave a Like :).

🏷️ For follow-ups @Valantis.

📝 https://valantisond365.com/

💼 LinkedIn

▶️ YouTube

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
CarmenJimenez 10 on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

If I undertand...may you can use a condition on Text field

Field "Técnico" has to be a email field.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Haque 3,653 on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
Hi @iKettle,

How ComboBox expects a SP person object is the case:

On the DefaultSelectedImtes (ComboBox) set this: Tries to find the person first in the ComboBox’s items; if not found, it creates a fallback record with the right structure:

If( !IsBlank(LookUp(ComboBox.Items, Email = ThisItem.ERLead)), [LookUp(ComboBox.Items, Email = ThisItem.ERLead)], [{ Email: ThisItem.ERLead, DisplayName: ThisItem.ERLead, Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|" & ThisItem.ERLead }] )

I am sure some clues I tried to give. If these clues help to resolve the issue brought you by here, please don't forget to check the box Does this answer your question? At the same time, I am pretty sure you have liked the response!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

11manish 3,333 on at

Like
a
(0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
A ComboBox must be bound to a real record from its Items source, not a manually created object.

Your issue is happening because the ComboBox is showing the email visually but not actually holding a valid selected value.

Root cause

Your SharePoint column is text, but the ComboBox expects a record (user object).

Using:

{Email: ThisItem.ERLead}

only displays the email, but it does not set a real selected item, so the control remains blank internally → causing required field errors.

Correct solution

Set DefaultSelectedItems to return a real record from your data source:

LookUp( Office365Users.SearchUser({searchTerm: ThisItem.ERLead}), Mail = ThisItem.ERLead )

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
iKettle 113 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
Thanks Guys, what if there are multiple emails to then lookup in this case? How would this formula be different?

LookUp( Office365Users.SearchUser({searchTerm: ThisItem.ERLead}), Mail = ThisItem.ERLead )

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Valantis 6,735 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @iKettle,

Two things to fix in that formula.

First, LookUp returns a single record but DefaultSelectedItems on a combobox expects a table. Swap it for Filter:

```
Filter(
Office365Users.SearchUser({searchTerm: ThisItem.ERLead}),
Mail = ThisItem.ERLead
)
```

That works fine for a single email.

For multiple emails, it depends on how they're stored. If ERLead holds a comma-separated list like "a@company.com,b@company.com", you'd need to split and look up each one:

```
ForAll(
Split(ThisItem.ERLead, ","),
LookUp(
Office365Users.SearchUser({searchTerm: Trim(Value)}),
Mail = Trim(Value)
)
)
```

This loops through each email, searches for the user, and returns a table of person records for the combobox to pre-select.

One caveat: Office365Users.SearchUser is not delegable so it runs locally. If you have a large list of users this is fine, but keep that in mind. Also make sure the combobox SelectMultiple property is set to true if you want multiple selections.

Best regards,

Valantis

✅ If this helped solve your issue, please Accept as Solution so others can find it quickly.

❤️ If it didn’t fully solve it but was still useful, please click “Yes” on “Was this reply helpful?” or leave a Like :).

🏷️ For follow-ups @Valantis.

📝 https://valantisond365.com/

💼 LinkedIn

▶️ YouTube

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

WarrenBelz 155,838 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like
a
(3)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @iKettle,

I have a blog on the options for Combo Boxes using Person fields that may be useful here.

Please ✅ Does this answer your question if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider answering Yes to Was this reply helpful? or give it a Like ♥
Visit my blog Practical Power Apps LinkedIn

Was this reply helpful? Yes No