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Power Platform Community / Forums / Copilot Studio / Adaptive cards limitat...
Copilot Studio
Suggested Answer

Adaptive cards limitations for long dropdown list

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Posted on by 40

Problem:
I need to present a long, structured list of items to users in Copilot Studio without leaving the chat UI, but Adaptive Cards have practical size and rendering limits (payload size, scrollability, and UX). The full list does not fit reliably in a single card.

 

Considered option:

Using AI Builder (Create text with GPT) to return the list as JSON or formatted text. However, this approach is non‑deterministic: output quality varies, performance can degrade with model updates, and there is no guarantee of stable structure across runs. Additionally, there are token and character limits.

 

Question:

What are recommended, non‑LLM‑dependent patterns for handling large lists in Copilot Studio?

Specifically:


  • How can large datasets be rendered or navigated without hitting Adaptive Card limits?

  • Are there established patterns using Power Automate, pagination, external links, or downstream UI surfaces (Power Apps, Dataverse views, etc.)


  •  

Looking for approaches that are predictable, scalable, and production‑safe.

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Ethan Wintill Profile Picture
    10 on at
    The pattern I've used is to prompt the user for a search string, show the top 5 hits with an option to search again or cancel. If you use an input variable on the topic you can skip the prompt step entirely. As for the search mechanism I would just do a simple contains or you can do regex with the IsMatch() function. I know you said no LLM solutions, but if you take the user's original query via System.activity.Text or an input variable you can pass it to AI builder or OpenAI API along with the long list and have it return the top 5-10 matches, so the user doesn't even have to find their choice in the huge dataset.

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