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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / PAD - Select item in d...
Power Automate
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PAD - Select item in dropdown

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Posted on by 8

Hello, 

 

I have to select an item in dropdown. Desktop is returning me "List does not contains the 'item'". or invalid selector. 

Can someone please help  ? 

jhiv_0-1704978720847.png

second selector used : 

jhiv_1-1704980663073.png

Edit: The dropdown list has more than 15 items. 

I have the same question (0)
  • eetuRobo Profile Picture
    4,545 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Is the drop down open? Sometimes it doesn't find the item for me if the drop down is not open first.

    I would suggest having the elements bit more simple if possible. That way you could make it select the element.
    I assume you have 'Set drop-down list value on web page' -action which has Operation: select option by name or index? I got that same error when I tried to recreate the problem myself.

    Try using Clear all options:

    eetuRobo_0-1704978045933.png

    And then modify the UI element so that the element picks whatever you want it to choose.

    eetuRobo_1-1704978182750.png

     

  • jhiv Profile Picture
    8 on at

    No, the dropdown is not open. 

    jhiv_0-1704978604567.png

    i do not have the selector text as in your case. 

    jhiv_1-1704978679641.png

     

  • eetuRobo Profile Picture
    4,545 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Do you know which index the selection is you want to choose? If so you can use the "Ordinal". Ordinal = 0 is the first, 1 is the second etc.

    eetuRobo_0-1704979080493.png

    That Ordinal 2 picks the third dropdown option

    Edit: Also I recommend changing the div from id to something else since that seems like it might change on every refresh. Usually those types of long random string Ids are not static.

  • jhiv Profile Picture
    8 on at

    It is not working by ordinal either name. I have changed the selector. now i am getting this error. 

    jhiv_0-1704981061771.png

    jhiv_1-1704981106607.png

     

  • eetuRobo Profile Picture
    4,545 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Have you tried to Test or Repair the UI element? It might show you where the Selector misses the element you are trying to pick. Also I would try to Test the element when it drop down is both closed and opened to see if it finds it then. 

    eetuRobo_0-1704981666982.png

     

  • Verified answer
    Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    The Set drop-down list value in web page action only works with drop-down lists that are a <select> element with an <ul> or <ol> list of items as its child and containing <li> items as the options.

     

    What you share in the screenshots is not like that, meaning that the drop-down in question is not a real drop-down. That is why PAD is not able to set its value. 

     

    What you need to do in a case like this is build a workaround by using Press button on web page to expand the drop down, then using Extract data from web page to extract the available items in the list, and then find the right value you're looking for in the results (by either using a loop, or Find or replace in data table) and then using Press button on web page again to send a click to the item you want to select.

     

    You will need to modify the selector for the item you're trying to select. See here for reference on how to do it: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/build-custom-selectors as well as this video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PcyBa22Jj8&ab_channel=Thomas%22Shaky%22Petersen

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    I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

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