Power Apps List box Control [Complete Guide]

Did you know how to work with a List box control in Power Apps? If not, I hope this Power Apps tutorial will help you understand everything about Power Apps List box control and its uses.

Additionally, we will learn key properties of a Power Apps list box control and how to add a list box in Power Apps.

Furthermore, you will know how to add items to the Power Apps list box and get the selected values in Power Apps with various examples.

Power Apps List box Control

Power Apps list box is a user control that displays a list of items, allowing users to select one or more options.

You can use the “Items” property of the list box control to add items.

The List Box control in Power Apps differs from the drop-down control in that, unlike the Radio control, it always shows all available options and allows users to pick several items simultaneously.

Refer to the image below for how a Power Apps List box control looks like:

This is the overview of the Power Apps List box control.

Check out Set Default Value in Power Apps List Box Control

Power Apps List box Properties

In this section, I will explain the properties of the Power Apps list box control.

These are the properties of a Power Apps list box control.

How to add a Power Apps List box Control

Here, I will show you how to insert a list box control in Power Apps:

• Sign in to Power Apps with your valid Microsoft 365 Credentials.
• Create a Blank canvas app -> On the Power Apps screen, insert a List box control.[Click on +Insert -> Expand Input -> Select List box].

• The List box control will appear like the screenshot below.

• By default, the toggle control name will be “ListBox1“; you can Rename it using “lst” based on your requirement.

This is how to insert a Power Apps List box control. Then, let us see how to add items to the above list box.

Check out Power Apps Container Control

Add items to the Power Apps List box control

Power Apps allows us to manually add items to a List box control from other sources like SharePoint, Excel, Collections, etc.

So, let us check how to bind values to a Power Apps List box manually and from a SharePoint list.

1. Power Apps List box add items manually

Here, I will show you how to add items manually in the Power Apps List box control.

• On the Power Apps screen, insert a List box control -> Set its Items property to:

 [
    "Power Apps",
    "Power Automate",
    "Power Bi",
    "Power Virtual Agent"
]

• Now, I will rename the List box control to “lst_PowerPlatform” as shown below:

• Save, Publish, and Preview the app. Now, the list box control contains the items that we added manually.

This is how to add items manually in the Power Apps List box control.

Check out Power Apps Create Custom Progress Bar Using SharePoint Choice Values

2. Populate Power Apps List box items from a SharePoint list

Here, I will explain how to bind the List box values using a SharePoint list as a data source in Power Apps.

For this, I have a SharePoint list [Project Details] with a column below:

We will bind the above list Title column values to a Power Apps list box control like the screenshot below.

To work around this example, create a blank canvas app by using the SharePoint list and follow the below steps:

• On the Power Apps screen, insert a List box control -> Set its Items property to:

Distinct(
    'Project Details',
    Title
)

Where,

1. Project Details = SharePoint list name
2. Title = SharePoint list title column

• Save, Publish, and Preview the app. The Power Apps List box control now contains the values from the above SharePoint list title column.

This is how to bind items to a Power Apps List box control from a SharePoint list.

Read Create Login Page in Power Apps Using SharePoint

Power Apps List box Get Selected Values

This section will explain how to get the selected values of a Power Apps List box.

Example:

I have created a Blank canvas and added a List box that contains the “Loan Types” [Which I added manually].

Whenever the user selects a single or multiple values from the list box, that selected value will display on the Text label.

Follow the below steps to achieve it:

• On the Power Apps screen, Insert a List box -> Set its Items property to:

[
"Home Loan", 
"Gold Loan', 
"Car Loan"
]

• Insert a Text label -> Set its Text property to:

Concat(
    lsb_LoanType.SelectedItems,
    Value & ","
)

Where,

1. lsb_LoanType = List box control name

• Save, Publish, and Preview the app. Now, when the user selects multiple values from the list box control, those selected values will be displayed on a text label.

This is how we can get a Power Apps List box selected values.

Power Apps Set List Box Selected Value

This section will cover setting the Power Apps List box selected value.

For Example, I have a SharePoint Online list [Power Platform Training] that has various columns like:

I created a Power Apps Canvas app and added an Edit form. The form contains a List box control [Course] and a Date picker control [Course Start Date].

When a user chooses a value from the “Course” List box, the “Course Start Date” Date picker automatically selects a corresponding date based on the selected Course, as shown below:

Follow the below steps to achieve this:

• Sign in to Power Apps with your valid Microsoft 365 Credentials.
• On the Power Apps screen, insert an Edit form. Then, add a new data source for the above SharePoint list and set the Edit form’s Data source property.

'Power Platform Training'

Where,

1. Power Platform Training = SharePoint list name

• Instead of the Course Combo box, insert a List box control as shown below:

• Select the List box control -> Set its Items property to:

Choices('Power Platform Training'.Course)

Where,

1. Power Platform Training = SharePoint list name
2. Course = SharePoint list column name

• Select the Date picker control -> Set its DefaultDate property to:

If(
    lst_PowerPlatform.Selected.Value = "Power Apps",
    "01/15/2024",
    If(
        lst_PowerPlatform.Selected.Value = "Power Automate",
        "01/10/2024",
        If(
            lst_PowerPlatform.Selected.Value = "Power Bi",
            "01/25/2024",
            "01/20/2025"
        )
    )
)

Where,

1. lst_PowerPlatform = List box control name
2. Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Bi = SharePoint list choice column values

• Once your app is ready, Save, Publish, and Preview the app when the user selects a value from the List box [Course]. Then, the Date picker [Course Start Date] will automatically select a corresponding date based on the selected course.

How to Set List Box Default Value in Power Apps

In this section, you will understand how to set a default value to a Power Apps List box control using two different scenarios:

• Set the default value of the Power Apps List box manually
• Power Apps set the default value of the List box using a SharePoint list

Power Apps Set List Box Default Value Manually

Follow the steps below to set a Power Apps List box control default value manually.

Example:

I created a Power Apps canvas app and added a List box control containing some tool names [added manually] like Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agent.

Next, whenever the user opens or loads the app, the Power Apps List box control will automatically display its default value Power Apps as shown below:

Follow the below steps to achieve this:

• Sign into Power Apps with your valid Microsoft 365 Credentials.
• Create a Blank canvas app -> On the Power Apps screen, insert a List box control -> Set its Items property to:

[
    "Power Apps",
    "Power Automate",
    "Power Bi",
    "Power Virtual Agent"
]

• Select the Power Apps List box -> Set its Default property to:

"Power Apps"

• Save, Publish, and close the app. Then, reopen and preview the app. The List box control value will be selected as “Power Apps” by default.

This is how to manually set the Power Apps List box control default value. Moving forward, we will see how to set a Power Apps List box control default value using a SharePoint list.

Power Apps Set List Box Default Value From SharePoint List

Connect the SharePoint list as your data source to set a Power Apps List box default value using a SharePoint list.

Example,

I have a SharePoint list [Customer Details] that has various columns like:

I created a Power Apps Canvas app and added a List box control connected to the above SharePoint list column [Country].

Next, the Power Apps List box control will automatically display its default value [US] whenever the user opens or loads an app.

Let me show you how to achieve this:

• Create a Power Apps Blank canvas app -> Connect to the SharePoint Online list -> as in the screenshot below:

• On the Power Apps screen, insert a List box control -> Set its Items property to:

Distinct(
   'Customer Details',
    Country
)

Where,

1. Customer Details = SharePoint list name
2. Country = SharePoint list column name

• Select the Power Apps List box -> Set its Default property to:

"US"

Where,

1. US = SharePoint list column value

• Save, Publish, and close the app. Then, reopen and preview the app. The List box control value will be selected as “US” by default.

This is how to set the Power Apps List box default value using the SharePoint list.

Conclusion

I hope this Power Apps tutorial gave you complete information about “Power Apps List box control.”

Moreover, I have taught you the key properties of a Power Apps list box control and many more:

1. How to add a list box in Power Apps
2. Add items to the Power Apps list box
3. How to get and set the selected values in Power Apps List box control

Additionally, you may like some more Power Apps tutorials:

• Power Apps Slider Control
• How to Use Power Apps Date Picker Control
• Power Apps Gallery Control
• Power Apps Camera Control
• Filter Power Apps Collection With Search Text Input

Bijay Kumar

After working for more than 18 years in Microsoft technologies like SharePoint, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI), I thought will share my SharePoint expertise knowledge with the world. Our audiences are from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. For my expertise knowledge and SharePoint tutorials, Microsoft has been awarded a Microsoft SharePoint MVP (12 times). I have also worked in companies like HP, TCS, KPIT, etc.