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How to Save People to a SharePoint Person Column with Patch in Power Apps

· 5 min read
Jagdish Kumawat
Jagdish Kumawat
Founder @ Dewiride

A SharePoint Person column that allows several people takes a table of person records. A people picker built on Choices already gives you that table in its SelectedItems, so saving the people is one field in the Patch record.

Syntax​

Syntax
Patch(DataSource, BaseRecord, {PersonColumn: ComboBoxName.SelectedItems})
PartWhat it is
DataSourceThe SharePoint list.
BaseRecordDefaults(DataSource) to add an item, or the item to change (How to Create or Update a SharePoint List Item with Patch in Power Apps).
PersonColumnThe Person column, one that allows several people.
ComboBoxName.SelectedItemsThe people chosen in the people picker. Microsoft's combo box page describes it as a table of the records currently selected.

The column gets exactly the people in the table: anyone taken out of the box is taken out of the column when the item is saved.

The example below is the Save button of a form that adds and edits departments. Its people picker chooses each department's approvers.

Prerequisites​

  • A people picker on the same Person column, Choices(List.PersonColumn, Self.SearchText) (How to Add a People Picker in Power Apps). The example's is cmbApproversED, on the Approvers column of a Departments list.
  • A button that saves the item with Patch.

Step 1: Add the Column to the Patch Record​

In the example, btnSaveED adds or updates the department, and the people are one line of the record:

btnSaveED → OnSelect
UpdateContext({locIsSaving: true});
IfError(
    Patch(
        Departments,
        If(IsBlank(locDepartment), Defaults(Departments), locDepartment),
        {
            Department: Trim(txtNameED.Text),
            Approvers: cmbApproversED.SelectedItems,
            IsActive: tglActiveED.Checked
        }
    ),
    UpdateContext({locIsSaving: false});
    Notify("The department wasn't saved. " & FirstError.Message, NotificationType.Error),
    UpdateContext({locIsSaving: false});
    Notify(If(IsBlank(locDepartment), "The department was added.", "Your changes were saved."), NotificationType.Success);
    Back()
)
  • Approvers: cmbApproversED.SelectedItems saves the people chosen. They're the records Choices returned for the column, so they need no conversion.
  • IfError shows SharePoint's message if the save fails (How to Handle Errors in Power Apps with IfError).

The expanded formula bar with the OnSelect of btnSaveED, a Patch of Departments that sets Department, Approvers and IsActive: tglActiveED.Checked, with the referenced controls highlighted, above the Edit department form

Step 2: Try It​

In Preview, Day Surgery had one approver, Olivia Bennett. I searched for Daniel Brooks and chose him too:

The Edit department screen in Preview with Name Day Surgery, Approvers Olivia Bennett, Daniel Brooks, the Active toggle on and a green Save button

After Save, the app said Your changes were saved., and the Departments list in SharePoint showed both people in Day Surgery's Approvers column:

The Departments list in SharePoint with the columns Department, Approvers and IsActive, where Day Surgery shows two approvers, Olivia Bennett and Daniel Brooks, and Emergency Department, Radiology and Finance one each

Then I opened Day Surgery again, unticked Daniel and saved. Olivia was the only approver again: the column holds exactly the people in the box.

Common Mistakes​

MistakeWhat happensDo this instead
Expecting Save to add to the people already savedThe column gets the box's people only; anyone not in it is removedKeep everyone who should stay ticked

Troubleshooting​

SymptomLikely causeFix
The department wasn't saved.SharePoint refused the changeRead the message that follows it, from FirstError.Message
Someone disappeared from the columnThey were unticked before SaveChoose them again and save

FAQ​

Do I need the Office 365 Users connector?​

Not for this: the people come from Choices on the SharePoint list, and Patch saves them to the same list.

What about a column that allows only one person?​

Then the column holds one record, not a table. Microsoft's combo box page says Selected returns the single selected item when SelectMultiple is false. The example's column allows several people, so that case isn't shown here.

Conclusion​

Put the people picker's SelectedItems in the Patch record for the Person column. The column then holds exactly the people chosen: add one in the box and it's added, untick one and it's removed.

Additional Resources​