Forum Discussion
MS List suddenly not displaying (or saving) multiple selections from column
Hi. Wondering if anyone has any insight into the following problem. Hopefully I will explain this clearly.
I created a List around a year ago which uses a lookup column to pull names from a separate List of employees. The target column "Employees" is set to allow multiple selections, and at the time I created the List, if you selected two, or three, or however many names in this column, the resulting List item would show all of these names.
Today it was brought to my attention that for some reason, only the first employee selected shows up in the List now. I've tested and verified this-- you can still select multiple names, but only the first one appears in the List item once saved. Changing the view-- table, grid, calendar, Gallery, etc. has no apparent effect.
I don't know why or even when this stopped working-- could have been days or weeks ago but was just noticed. Also, not sure whether this is simply a display problem or if the new List items are now actually only saving the first of multiple entries (I suspect it's the latter but hope I'm wrong).
For what it's worth, I confirmed that the column is still configured to allow multiple selections.
If anyone has any insight on this problem or troubleshooting suggestions, I'd be grateful.
Thanks.
It’s quite an interesting issue. I’ve never experienced this behavior myself. But here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try, in case you haven’t already explored them:
1. Confirm whether the data is actually being saved
Open the item in Edit mode (click on Edit all) and check the lookup field.
- If only one value appears: the issue is with saving
- If all values appear: the issue is with display/rendering
This helps narrow down the root cause.
2. Check if the source list has unique permissions
If the lookup source list or individual items have restricted permissions, SharePoint can sometimes fail to save multiple lookup values correctly.
3. Edit a property to refresh the lookup column schema: You can try updating the original lookup column (for example, add a description, save it, then remove the description and save again). This sometimes forces SharePoint to refresh the column schema and resolve the issue.
If that doesn’t help, re‑creating the column is the most reliable fix.
✔️ [Toggling the ‘Allow multiple values’ setting resolved the problem]
Temporarily turning off Allow multiple values and then turning it back on can force SharePoint to refresh the internal schema for a lookup column.
Steps:
1) Edit the lookup column
2) Uncheck Allow multiple values
3) Save
4) Re‑open the column settings
5) Turn Allow multiple values back on
6) Save again
This forces SharePoint to rebuild the field definition, which often fixes situations where multi‑value selections stop saving correctly.
⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTES (Data‑loss warning)
This workaround does carry a data‑loss risk.
When you toggle Allow multiple values, SharePoint rewrites the internal field schema and drops all but the first stored value for every existing item. If your list already contains valid multi‑value data, make sure to back it up or export it before using this workaround.
4. Try creating a brand‑new lookup column
This is the quickest way to confirm whether the issue is with the column itself.
Create a new test column with:
- Lookup > same source list
- Allow multiple values > Yes
Then try saving multiple selections.
If the new column works: The original column is likely corrupted. Re‑create it and migrate the data to the new column.
If my post solved your issue or answered your query, please mark it as a Solution and give it a Like.
6 Replies
It’s quite an interesting issue. I’ve never experienced this behavior myself. But here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try, in case you haven’t already explored them:
1. Confirm whether the data is actually being saved
Open the item in Edit mode (click on Edit all) and check the lookup field.
- If only one value appears: the issue is with saving
- If all values appear: the issue is with display/rendering
This helps narrow down the root cause.
2. Check if the source list has unique permissions
If the lookup source list or individual items have restricted permissions, SharePoint can sometimes fail to save multiple lookup values correctly.
3. Edit a property to refresh the lookup column schema: You can try updating the original lookup column (for example, add a description, save it, then remove the description and save again). This sometimes forces SharePoint to refresh the column schema and resolve the issue.
If that doesn’t help, re‑creating the column is the most reliable fix.
✔️ [Toggling the ‘Allow multiple values’ setting resolved the problem]
Temporarily turning off Allow multiple values and then turning it back on can force SharePoint to refresh the internal schema for a lookup column.
Steps:
1) Edit the lookup column
2) Uncheck Allow multiple values
3) Save
4) Re‑open the column settings
5) Turn Allow multiple values back on
6) Save again
This forces SharePoint to rebuild the field definition, which often fixes situations where multi‑value selections stop saving correctly.
⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTES (Data‑loss warning)
This workaround does carry a data‑loss risk.
When you toggle Allow multiple values, SharePoint rewrites the internal field schema and drops all but the first stored value for every existing item. If your list already contains valid multi‑value data, make sure to back it up or export it before using this workaround.
4. Try creating a brand‑new lookup column
This is the quickest way to confirm whether the issue is with the column itself.
Create a new test column with:
- Lookup > same source list
- Allow multiple values > Yes
Then try saving multiple selections.
If the new column works: The original column is likely corrupted. Re‑create it and migrate the data to the new column.
If my post solved your issue or answered your query, please mark it as a Solution and give it a Like.
Thank you VERY MUCH for your detailed and actionable suggestions, sir.
Referencing them in order:
I discovered, unfortunately, that the expected values did not appear in Edit mode, thus the problem was with saving.
I double-checked the permissions to the source list, and the users of the target list have read access to the source list, so this does not appear to be the problem.
Editing the properties of the list did not fix the problem.
Creating a new lookup column DID correctly allow saving multiple selections
That being the case, is migrating the data from the existing to new column as simple as copy/pasting from one to the other, or is there a better way to do it?
More importantly-- and I thought I would ask since you clearly know the product fairly well (and certainly far better than I do) is there any way to know how this corruption occurred and how to prevent it from happening again?
For example, is there something inherently problematic about multiple selections in Lookup columns as opposed to say, a choice column? When making this list, I chose the former because the list of employees frequently changes, so I thought it would make more sense to keep that in its own list rather than constantly having to add/remove options in a choice column.
But now I wonder if that's a reliable way to approach it. As things stand, data that's been collected has been lost as a result of this issue, and I've got a feeling I could easily find myself in the same situation in a week, a month, or a year. Would really like to avoid that if at all possible.
Again, very much appreciate your help!
Thanks for the updates.
Could you please try one more option? Last time I suggested updating the Description property, but since you mentioned that the field is saving only one value, let’s try this:
Temporarily turn off “Allow multiple values” Uncheck Allow multiple values, save the column, then turn it back on and save again. Sometimes this forces SharePoint to refresh the field schema.
If this also doesn’t work, then yes creating a new column is the only reliable fix.
Regarding whether to use Choice, Lookup, or Managed Metadata: How many values do you have in the employee list?
- If the list is small (around 20 or fewer), Managed Metadata is a good option.
- If the list is large, Lookup is still appropriate.
For copying/migrating values, you can use:- PowerShell (Custom Script)
- Power Automate (Build automate to perform this task)
Both can read values from the old column and update the new one.
