How to make a look-up column "multi-select"

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Posted on by jharville

Hello!

Is it possible to have a multi-select lookup column? If so, how do you set it to *multi-select* ?

I have created two lists:

* 'tagList' only has one column ('tags'), which contains individual tags (type: single line of text) listed in their own row inside of that column.

* 'itemList' contains all of my items (which use multiple columns) ... and one of the columns: 'tagLookup' , is a lookup-column (that looks up to the 'tags' column inside my 'tagList'), but the user can only select one item...not multiple.

(I saw that if you take away the "Enforce Behavior Relationship" of the lookup column, you can allow multi-select for the column. But wouldn't we want to enforce the behavior relationship to allow consistency between the lookup column and that list it looks up to?)

Is there another way to allow multi-select for that lookup column without having to disable "enforce behavior relationship" ?

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jharville on at

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Re: How to make a look-up column "multi-select"

@WarrenBelz

As always, thank you for the help. This is really insightful and I think I'll approach my scenario differently.
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WarrenBelz 146,679 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Re: How to make a look-up column "multi-select"

Hi @jharville ,

Firstly, any lookups / filters you can do with a SharePoint lookup column can easily be done directly in Power Apps using the same data and criteria. You can then store the results in text columns (as many as you want) and everything will be Delegable and also sort/filter/group/patch without the issues that come from Lookup columns.

When you are dealing with multiple selected values and you want a related value to each, you have a "many-to-many" relationship (which as you have discovered cannot be done in Lookup columns) and need a collection formed by looping through the selected values and collecting the relevant values in a table.

I have a blog on this process that may assist.

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jharville on at

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Re: How to make a look-up column "multi-select"

@WarrenBelz

Thank you for the response. I was thinking of using a lookup so that a specific user can maintain/update the tags located in the 'tagList' SharePoint list, and the "tagLookup" column in the 'itemList' would update in real-time with the changes made in the 'tagList'.

If I were to use a Choice-column in my 'itemList' (and scrap 'tagList' and the "tagLookup" column inside 'itemList'), would you know if I'd be able to use multiple tags (inside an item's row in the choice-column) as filter criteria? I am building a booking room app, and want to use the tags (which are room amenities) located in my column as filters to pull up specific rooms.

For example: In the Choice-column (let's call it "tagChoice") for an item, there is "TV's" , "Laptops" , and "Table". Could I use a filter in my app where a user can select those 3 tags (out of a multi-select combo-box containing all tags for all rooms) and only have rooms with those 3 tags available show up? 'itemList' is the list that contains each room as an item.

I have my booking app already built & functional, I just need to use tags within a column (whether it be a look-up or choice type) as filter criteria to pull up specific rooms.
WarrenBelz 146,679 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Re: How to make a look-up column "multi-select"

Hi @jharville ,

The whole idea of a Lookup column in SharePoint is a relational query which needs a defined outcome (incidentally Lookup columns are a bad idea in Power Apps for a whole bunch of reasons). So if you have multiple choices, then you cannot do the relational query on other fields in the target list. I use Choice columns if I want to store multiple values.

Please click Accept as solution 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 giving it Thumbs Up.