Sort Choices

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I created a picklist of provinces and I tried to order it geographically. I regret doing this. Can I sort the choice list alphabetically?

When I view the list and click Member command list > View more, it shows a number attached to each province:

BC	296,030,000
AB	296,030,001
SK	296,030,002
MB	296,030,003
ON	296,030,004
QC	296,030,005
NB	296,030,006
NL	296,030,007
NS	296,030,008
PE	296,030,009
YT	296,030,010
NT	296,030,011
NU	296,030,012

I've already tried manually retyping the list into alphabetical order, but that actually changed the province that was assigned. I suspect that the nine-digit number stayed stuck to the record even though I changed the two letters for the province.

An article says "You should use the Power Apps portal to work with global choices unless you need to address any of the following requirements:... Change the order of options". It says what not to use (Power Apps portal). However, what do I use to sort the order of options?

The documentation says that once you create a choice list as either global or local, it can't be changed. However, it doesn't say that the sort order can't be changed.

Thanks,
Shane.

[Mira_Ghaly · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous

To be able to sort choices from you need to switch to the classic interface.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

How do I switch to the classic interface? There isn't an option in Choices.

Thanks,

Shane.

[Mira_Ghaly]

@Anonymous 

Go to make.powerapps.com

Solutions, Create a solution if you do not have one and add your table inside the solution along with your choice columns

Click on the 3 dots, click switch to classic

[EricRegnier]

Hi @Anonymous,
Are you using canvas app, model-driven app or Portals as a user interface? You can't change datatype (local to global or other type) unfortunately once the column has been created. Another option if you can create a new column to be more flexible is using a lookup instead of choice and have a Display Order column which you can set and update any time. See pros/cons for tip #9 at https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Apps-Community-Blog/Top-15-best-practices-when-configuring-Power-Platform-and/ba-p/850804
Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

@EricRegnier,

I'm using Dynamics, which is a model-driven app.

@Mira_Ghaly,

I was able to make the change in classic view, but the change didn't show up in the new unified view. I spent three hours trying to figure out what I did wrong, then the changes appeared. I guess it just takes about three hours for changes made in the classic view to copy over to the new unified view. Also, the new sort order only appears in the form. It doesn't show when editing the Choice (which is OK).

Shane.

[EricRegnier]

It doesn’t take 3 hours, changes should be real-time. Also, have you published all customizations. Maybe that was it?

[Anonymous]

After sorting the Option set I clicked Save > Publish. I then clicked Save > Publish All Customizations in the Classic workspace. I don't know why the changes didn't show up immediately.

Shane.

[codevenkat]

Hi Shane,

Generally customizations will take place immediately. In case if you are not getting updates, try to close all active browser windows and try to relogin and see .

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