Patch a SharePoint Person column from Power Apps, plus Choice and Lookup columns

A form saves fine with SubmitForm, but your own Patch fails, or seems to do nothing, as soon as it touches a SharePoint Person, Choice or Lookup column. The reason is the same every time: those are complex columns. Power Apps expects a record with the right fields, not the text you see on screen.

1. See the real error first

Patch rarely fails loudly. Wrap it so you see SharePoint's message:

IfError(
    Patch(Requests, Defaults(Requests), { Title: txtTitle.Text }),
    Notify("Save failed: " & FirstError.Message, NotificationType.Error)
)

The message usually names the column at fault, such as "Field 'Department' is required" or "The specified user could not be found".

2. Choice columns

A Choice column takes a record with a Value field.

Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Status: { Value: "Approved" } })

Safer: take the record from the column's own choices, so a typo can't save a value that isn't on the list:

Patch(
    Requests, ThisItem,
    { Status: LookUp(Choices(Requests.Status), Value = "Approved") }
)

Multi-select choice: a table of those records.

Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Tags: Table({ Value: "Urgent" }, { Value: "Finance" }) })
// or, from a combo box with Items = Choices(Requests.Tags):
Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Tags: cmbTags.SelectedItems })

3. Lookup columns

A Lookup column takes a record with the ID of the item in the other list and its display Value.

Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Customer: { Id: 12, Value: "Contoso" } })

If you have the customer's item from the other list, map it:

With(
    { c: LookUp(Customers, Title = "Contoso") },
    Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Customer: { Id: c.ID, Value: c.Title } })
)

Or use a combo box with Items set to Choices(Requests.Customer), which already returns Id and Value:

Patch(Requests, ThisItem, { Customer: cmbCustomer.Selected })

4. Person columns

A Person column takes a record that identifies the user by their claims string. Fill every field; send empty text for the ones you don't have.

Patch(
    Requests, ThisItem,
    {
        AssignedTo: {
            Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|" & Lower(User().Email),
            DisplayName: User().FullName,
            Email: User().Email,
            Department: "",
            JobTitle: "",
            Picture: ""
        }
    }
)

To pick someone else, the simplest is a combo box with Items set to Choices(Requests.AssignedTo), then patch cmbAssignee.Selected. To search the whole directory instead, use the Office 365 Users connector and build the record from the result:

With(
    { u: cmbPeople.Selected },  // Items: Office365Users.SearchUserV2({ searchTerm: Self.SearchText }).value
    Patch(
        Requests, ThisItem,
        {
            AssignedTo: {
                Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|" & Lower(u.Mail),
                DisplayName: u.DisplayName,
                Email: u.Mail,
                Department: "",
                JobTitle: "",
                Picture: ""
            }
        }
    )
)

Multi-person column: a table of those records.

Patch(
    Requests, ThisItem,
    {
        Reviewers: ForAll(
            cmbReviewers.SelectedItems As r,
            {
                Claims: "i:0#.f|membership|" & Lower(r.Mail),
                DisplayName: r.DisplayName,
                Email: r.Mail,
                Department: "",
                JobTitle: "",
                Picture: ""
            }
        )
    }
)

5. The simple columns, for completeness

The table uses the modern Checkbox. With a classic Check box, read chkPaid.Value instead. A Number input control already holds a number, so patch { Amount: numAmount.Value } with no conversion.

When it still fails

If you're filtering big lists to find the item to patch, see Power Apps delegation and the 500-row limit.

Sources

• Microsoft Learn: Patch function
• Microsoft Learn: Choices function
• Microsoft Learn: IfError function
• Microsoft Learn: Text Input modern control
• Microsoft Learn: Decimal, Float, and Value functions
• Microsoft Learn: Checkbox modern control
• Microsoft Learn: Check box control (classic)
• Microsoft Learn: Number Input modern control
• Microsoft Learn: Connect to SharePoint from a canvas app: data type mappings
• Microsoft Learn: Office 365 Users connector