Power Apps Modern Combo box

If you've ever felt a bit overwhelmed by the Combo Box control in Power Apps, you're definitely not alone. It's one of the most powerful (and sometimes puzzling) components out there. But don't worry, in this guide, we’re diving into the modern Combo Box, and by the end, you’ll have a solid grip on how to make it work for you.

Now if you are more of a visual learner than a reader, there is a full-length video Deep Dive for the Modern Power Apps Combo Box. Me I prefer seeing that reading, so hopefully the video also helps you.

Getting Started: Enabling the Modern Combo Box

Before you can use the modern Combo Box, you need to turn on the feature in Power Apps:

• Go to Settings > Updates > Modern Controls and Themes > Toggle ON

• Insert a Combo Box from Insert > Input > Combo Box

  
  

  

  
  

Populating the Combo Box

By default, the Combo Box comes with sample items (Item 1, 2, 3), but that's not what we want. Connect it to a real data source like a SharePoint list, Dataverse table, or SQL. In the video, a list called "Mega" with 10,000+ items is used.

One key limitation: the Combo Box only loads the first 800 items. That might sound like a lot, but if your list is bigger, you’ll need to filter or search more effectively.

Filtering Items

To narrow down the results, you can use the Filter() function. For example:

Filter(Mega, AnimalType = "Cow")

This helps make large data sources manageable within the 800-item cap.

Search Functionality

Modern Combo Boxes only search the first 800 items. For a more robust, traditional search, use the Search() function like this:

Search(Mega, Self.SearchText, "Title")

This makes your Combo Box smarter, especially with large data sets, but keep in mind delegation warnings.

Default Selected Items

Setting default values can be tricky. The DefaultSelectedItems property expects either a record or a table.

To default to a specific item:

LookUp(Mega, Title = "Item Title 22")

Or use a custom JSON record, but be careful it must be an exact Record match:

{Title: "Item Title 22"}

If you are struggling with setting the DefaultSelectedItems use this video Power Apps Combo Box DefaultSelectedItems. The video is old but the content has not changed.

Multiple Selections

Turn on Allow Multiple Selections to enable checkboxes in the Combo Box. This makes it easy for users to select more than one value.

To pull out selected data, use:

Concat(ComboBox1.SelectedItems, Title, ", ")

This gives you a nice, comma-separated string of all selected titles.

Working with People Search

Want to select users from Office 365? Add the Office365Users connector, then set the Combo Box items like this:

Office365Users.SearchUserV2({searchTerm: Self.SearchText}).value

Use DisplayName for the field shown in the Combo Box, and pull email addresses using:

Concat(ComboBox2.SelectedItems, Mail, ";")

Bonus: Rounded Corners and Styling

Finally, a small but delightful update, modern controls now support border radius! That means rounded corners are just a click away. Style away to match your app’s vibe.

Wrapping Up

The modern Combo Box in Power Apps brings a lot of new features and a bit of a learning curve. But once you get the hang of filtering, searching, and managing selected items, it becomes a flexible and user-friendly control. Don’t forget to explore delegation limits and always test with your actual data.

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