Changing drop down on existing list entries

[jwa33]

We have a SP list with thousands of items and would like to rename one of the options people have been choosing in one of the fields. We can change it now and it'll reflect all future entries, but is there a way to go back and change the existing ones without doing it one by one?

[#2]

@jwa33 When you change the choice option in column settings, it will not change the selection for existing items automatically.

How many items are there with that particular choice option selected?

Here are few options:

1. From UI: Open All items list view (without any filters) --> Apply filter on choice column, filter by the old choice option --> Switch to "Edit in grid view" --> Change the old choice option to new option for 1st row --> drag the new option cell vertically for all items/rows. Check: How do we vertically delete values from a single column? 
2. Bulk update the list items with new option using PowerShell or Power Automate flow or Power Apps functions or SharePoint REST API (or any other programming techniques you are good with).

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[#3]

@jwa33 a couple of ways. Go into grid view and filter for the value you want to change, change the first one then copy the cell contents down the list.

The other way would be to build a flow in Power Automate, use a manual trigger, add a get items action and set the filter query to {value} eq {yourvalue}. Then add an apply to each and inside it add an update item action and set the value field to the new value. Save and run.

Rob
Los Gallardos
Microsoft Power Automate Community Super User.
Intranet, SharePoint and Power Platform Manager (and classic 1967 Morris Traveller driver)

[#4]

It's thousands of entries (5-10k).

Yeah, running something via PowerAutomate seems like the best option at this point if there isn't a straightforward way, we're missing that allows a mass change of something.

[#5]

@jwa33 Yes, you can do it using Power Automate flow.

1. Add indexing on this list column from list settings.
2. Use power automate to fetch the list items with that particular option selected - you can use pagination in Get items action to fetch up to 100000 items. However, I will suggest you to do it in smaller batches to avoid any issues.
3. Then in apply to each loop, you can update the item with new choice option.

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