SharePoint Choice field with "Allow 'Fill-in' choices:". Should the Fill-in choice be saved inside the Choice field options?

Question

SharePoint Choice field with "Allow 'Fill-in' choices:". Should the Fill-in choice be saved inside the Choice field options?

john john 1,021

We have a SharePoint field named "options" of type Choice and which allow Fill-in, as follow:

Now if we create a new list item and we type-in a new choice (for example "MY NEW CHOICE"), as follow:-

and we save the new list item, then the Choices inside the field definition will not get modified (will not contain the new choice). but when we create or edit a list item >> the Choice field will show the new fill-in choice, as follow:-

so is this normal? or my tenant has an issue, since the new fill-in choice will not get updated inside the field's definition choices (which will only contain 3 choices; A,B & C without the fill-in choice "MY NEW CHOICE"), as follow:-

?

ZEYNEP GREEN 0 Reputation points

2023-05-23T01:08:48.9433333+00:00

Hi,

I cannot find an answer anywhere. However, this post seems to me that someone described the issue that I have. I have a form (list) on SPO. I've created a choice field with Yes/No and let users put their explanation as fill in choices if their answer is yes.

when I click on new entry, the choice field shows Yes, No and whatever fill in options was put in previously. I don't want this to be listed. I only want yes and no. This was great in SharePoint 2013 but SPO is not doing what I want it to do.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Moser Tony (LET) 0 Reputation points

2023-12-07T13:54:18.8766667+00:00

We have the same issue.
OLSON, SCOTT KRISTOPHER 0 Reputation points

2024-04-24T15:26:23.32+00:00

I have this exact same issue as well. Users enter misspelled options and there is no way I can find to remove or edit these added choices since they are not appended to the Choice field.
Ed Z 21 Reputation points

2024-12-30T14:34:53.2733333+00:00

At least I see I'm not the only one with this issue. No solution, unfortunately. It's almost 2025 now, the original post is from 2022 and I have never encountered this behavior before.

What puzzles me is that users tell me that it isn't consistent: some see only the defined choices, others see all earlier submitted values - regardless if they submitted the list items themselves or not.

If anyone found the solution, please tell.

2 answers

Your answer

ZEYNEP GREEN 0 Reputation points

2023-05-23T01:08:48.9433333+00:00

Hi,

I cannot find an answer anywhere. However, this post seems to me that someone described the issue that I have. I have a form (list) on SPO. I've created a choice field with Yes/No and let users put their explanation as fill in choices if their answer is yes.

when I click on new entry, the choice field shows Yes, No and whatever fill in options was put in previously. I don't want this to be listed. I only want yes and no. This was great in SharePoint 2013 but SPO is not doing what I want it to do.

Any solutions?

Thanks
Moser Tony (LET) 0 Reputation points

2023-12-07T13:54:18.8766667+00:00

We have the same issue.
OLSON, SCOTT KRISTOPHER 0 Reputation points

2024-04-24T15:26:23.32+00:00

I have this exact same issue as well. Users enter misspelled options and there is no way I can find to remove or edit these added choices since they are not appended to the Choice field.
Ed Z 21 Reputation points

2024-12-30T14:34:53.2733333+00:00

At least I see I'm not the only one with this issue. No solution, unfortunately. It's almost 2025 now, the original post is from 2022 and I have never encountered this behavior before.

What puzzles me is that users tell me that it isn't consistent: some see only the defined choices, others see all earlier submitted values - regardless if they submitted the list items themselves or not.

If anyone found the solution, please tell.

Answer 1

CaseyYang-MSFT 10,461

Hi @john john ,

With "Allow 'Fill-in' choices" function enabled you can have users fill in their own choices if their item does not appear in the list. So it is not a issue, "MY NEW CHOICE" will not be saved inside the Choice field options and this behavior is by design. Per my test, like you said we can reuse this new choice field. It seems like this new choice field is added to the New item form instead of the Choice field options(in column settings).

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john john 1,021 Reputation points

2022-02-14T04:12:46.203+00:00

@CaseyYangMSFT-4714but we are able to re-use the fill-in choices even without adding them to the field definition!! so is this my question,, how this is been done.. and is it an issue?
CaseyYang-MSFT 10,461 Reputation points

2022-02-14T09:22:14.613+00:00

Hi @john john ,

Sorry for my misunderstanding, I have updated my answer.
CaseyYang-MSFT 10,461 Reputation points

2022-02-17T02:30:48.26+00:00

Hi @john john ,

Would my answer be helpful to you? Is there any update on this thread? I am looking forward to your reply. Thank you.

Answer 2

Hi!

We are facing exactly the same issue.

Has anyone found a way to delete these additional choices that should not be there (i.e. "MY NEW CHOICE" above)? As a temporary workaround, this would already help. Otherwise, the drop-down menu gets cluttered up to the point of not being usable anymore.

To answer your question above, john john, no, I do not think this is the normal behaviour for two reasons: first, when we used a previous version of SharePoint, this did not happen. Second, it still does not happen for some of us with the new version. But unfortunately we can't find out where the source of the problem lies.

Kind regards

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SharePoint Choice field with "Allow 'Fill-in' choices:". Should the Fill-in choice be saved inside the Choice field options?

2 answers

Your answer