Converting SharePoint List Form to a PowerApp

Question

I'm looking for input on the best approach to converting a SharePoint list form to a PowerApp. The list currently has the following field type:

• 15 text fields
• 5 choice fields
• 5 multi-select choice fields
• 3 multi-line text fields (not rich text)

There are 20,000+ items in the list, with 1k+ new items added every month.

When creating the PowerApp, should each choice field be converted to a new list? I'm wanting to make the fields as dynamic as possible and avoid hard coded values.

I'm not opposed to moving all of the list items to a CDS entity if it helps.

Answer 1

You can use PowerApps to customize the SharePoint list form. There is a command in the command bar of a modern list to do that

If you don't want to use Choice fields, you can use simple text fields and in PowerApps connect to SharePoint lists as the source of the dropdown options. Then you can let the end users maintain the values for the dropdowns easily.

With this approach, the SharePoint list maintains all other functionality, i.e. you can use list views and embed list view web parts in SharePoint pages. A customized form will not work on a mobile device, though.

You can also build a stand-alone PowerApp that stores items in the SharePoint list. This is independent of the SharePoint list form customization. Such an app could be used on a mobile device, but there are limitations around the number of list items that the app can pull from the SharePoint server at any one time. It may not be suitable for big lists.

PowerApps is easy to learn and there are lots of resources just a web search away.