Dynamic MS List Form Content

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Dynamic MS List Form Content

Marcus 0

Hi,

I'm looking to create a MS List Form to capture a inspections and I'm looking for some initial guidnace please. It may not even be possible...

Each inspection will assess mulitple peices of equipment for a given "group", but I only need to capture the details of the faulty items. I have the tables:

Assessment list - a row per assessment
Equipment list - list of the equipment, linked to the Group list
Group list - list of groups that the equipment belongs to

I would like the form to:

When a group is selected on the form, I would like all the items of equipment for that group to be shown (just a textual list will be fine)
The ability to select an item of equipment and capture the fault (a status and notes)

I only have a basic knowledge of Lists and Automate. My approach is clunky, but I cannot see any other way to accomplish this. My intial thoughts are:

Create an automate flow, to update a column in the group list (say "current equipment list"), and create textual list of all the equipment in that group, any time the Equipment list changes.
- Problem, even if I have a textual list of the equipment per group, how can I get this into the form, when a group is selected?
Assessment list have a number of "fault" columns. Fault-1-equipment, Fault-1-status, Fault-1-notes, Fault-2-equipment, Fault-2-status, Fault-2-notes for, say 5 slots.
- Once the item is created, a automate flow can be used to convert a single Assessment, into mulitple rows of an AssessmentFaults list (date, equipment item, fault status, notes)

Note: I don't have access to Power Apps

I'd be greatful for any help to point me in the right direction.

Thankyou,
[Moderator note: personal info removed]

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Gabriel-N 17,785 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Please note that Q&A forum is a public platform, and moderators will modify the question to hide personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

Hello @Marcus

What you’re trying to achieve makes sense, but unfortunately Microsoft Lists forms have some limitations here. Out of the box, forms cannot dynamically display or load related items (for example, showing all equipment based on the selected group). They also don’t support cascading or filtering data from another list in real time.

Your idea of using Power Automate to build a text list is creative, but the form itself won’t refresh dynamically when a user changes the group, so it won’t behave as expected.

Without Power Apps, the more practical approach would be:

Use lookup columns (Group and Equipment), and let users manually select only the faulty equipment
Store faults in a separate list instead of multiple “Fault1/Fault2” columns, which will be more scalable and easier to manage

If dynamic behavior (showing equipment automatically per group) is a strict requirement, then Power Apps would be needed to achieve that experience.

Also, please note that this forum is not specifically focused on Power Automate. If you’d like more in-depth guidance for this scenario, I would recommend posting your question in the official Microsoft Power Platform Community, where subject matter experts and product specialists may be able to assist further.

Additionally, if you are a Power Platform admin, you might consider creating a support ticket through the Power Platform admin center so that Microsoft support can provide more targeted assistance for your case.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction.

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Marcus 0 Reputation points

2026-05-26T08:44:40.0733333+00:00
Hi @Gabriel-N ,

Thanks for your comments. May I clarify your point:

Store faults in a separate list instead of multiple “Fault1/Fault2” columns, which will be more scalable and easier to manage

I would like to strore the faults in a separate list. From my limited List knowledge, I suggested my approach would be :

for the Assessment list, to have 5 sets of fault colums: Fault-1-equipment, Fault-1-status, Fault-1-notes, Fault-2-equipment, Fault-2-status, Fault-2-notes. This will allow 5 sets of fault questions on the form

Using Power Automate, capture the new form item, and create an individual row for each fault within a separate list.

I'm assuming the fault information has to be in the Assessment list, for Power Automate to transform and add it to the second "Fault" list.

Could you please confirm if this would be the correct approach. Or is there a better alternative?

Thanks again,
Marcus
Gabriel-N 17,785 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-26T15:13:56.22+00:00

Hello @Marcus

Thank you for your update. Please don’t undersell your idea, it’s actually a good one. However, could you please allow me some time to look into this further so I can provide a more accurate answer? Thank you for your understanding.
Gabriel-N 17,785 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-27T12:52:29.97+00:00
Hello @Marcus

Sorry for late reply.

Based on my research, I think your approach is generally correct given the constraint of not using Power Apps. The overall pattern I see would look something like this. The intended flow for the user would be: “Select the Group, review the equipment list below, then complete only the fault rows you need.”

1> Assessment list (the one users fill out via the form)

Has a Group lookup

Has an EquipmentSummary (read-only text showing the equipment list for that group)

Has 5 fault slots (Fault‑1 > Fault‑5: Equipment, Status, Notes)

These are basically just input slots so users can record multiple faults in one go.

2> AssessmentFaults list (where the data is actually stored cleanly)

One row = one fault

Includes: Assessment (lookup) | Equipment | Status | Any extra fields you need | Notes

3> Power Automate flow

Trigger: When an item is created or modified in the Assessment list

Then create 5 identical logic blocks (one per fault slot):

Condition: “If Fault‑X‑Equipment is not empty”

Action: Create a new item in the AssessmentFaults list using the values from that slot + the Assessment ID

Repeat for slots 1 through 5

However, since I don’t have your exact list structure or environment, I’d recommend testing this setup on your side first. Feel free to share your results or any issues, I’ll do my best to help further within what I can.

Hope this points you in the right direction
Marcus 0 Reputation points

2026-05-28T14:37:55.9133333+00:00

Hi @Gabriel-N - thanks for the feedback. Sounds like I'm going the in right direction.

If I manage to create a flow that builds a list of equipment in the "EquipmentSummary" field for each group, how can I display that in the MS Lists form, after the user makes a selection from the Group drop down? It needs to be visible for the user to visuially check what equipment should be available for that group.

Thanks again,
Marc
Gabriel-N 17,785 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-30T14:57:14.84+00:00

Hi @Marcus

Thank you for your question. Kindly allow me some time to test this on my side so I can provide a more precise answer. Thanks for your patience.

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Dynamic MS List Form Content

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