Appended multi-line text duplicating

Question

Appended multi-line text duplicating

62515088 15

I am having an issue with a list that is duplicating a multi-line text field. I have the Notes section set up with "Append Changes to Existing Text" and this is a required field. This list requires attachments and when a user goes into the list item to review the attachment it duplicates the previous note, even though there were no edits being made to the item. Is this a known issue and if so is there a workaround for this? Below are screenshots of the column set-up and an example of the duplications User's image

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AllenXu-MSFT 24,981 Reputation points Moderator

2024-02-06T06:37:36.1733333+00:00

Hi @Jennifer Jernigan, As per my test, I couldn't reproduce this issue in my environment. Does this problem only appear on this list or on other lists as well?
62515088 15 Reputation points

2024-02-06T12:39:55.23+00:00

This is the only list that I have that contains the "Append Changes to Existing Text", so yes, this is the only one that is impacted. I will update another list and add this scenario to see if the same issue occurs.
62515088 15 Reputation points

2024-02-06T13:33:16.79+00:00

The same scenario is occurring on a different list. I updated the multi-line text field to being a required field along with the "Append Changes to Existing Text". I went into an existing item that has an attachment and the notes in the field duplicated. See example below.
AW 0 Reputation points

2024-05-09T13:54:11.27+00:00

I'm having the same issue. Based on the date/time stamps in my instance, it seems anytime I selected the cell but then realized I had no edits, it saved by default. I also exported a view to Excel prior to enabling this column as appended changes.
SG 5 Reputation points

2024-06-18T18:21:19.29+00:00

Hi - tracking this issue as well. We have a list with append changes turned on that can be edited directly via comments in the list form, or through an instant cloud flow. When a comment is added via instant cloud flow, it posts with a specific format. In our case the duplicates appear to occur without this instant cloud formatting. So I believe the duplicates occur when people are posting comments directly in the list form. Duplicates will post multiple times and associate same comment to different users.
Dave Palmer 0 Reputation points

2025-03-18T14:53:20.02+00:00

Same issue here, and struggling to find an answer anywhere. Only difference in our column settings to above screenshot from original post is Plain text (instead of Enhanced), 6 lines (instead of 10) and not a required column (instead of required). Our settings are in screenshot inserted below...

And a similar screenshot of what we see (there appears to be no rhyme or reason, sometimes it's a couple of dupes, sometimes more, sometimes timestamps are the same, sometimes different)...

Weirdly, we've even seen dupes where the name of the commenter has changed (top comment below is a different name to the bottom two)...

If there is no known fix - is there a way to delete the dupes? Especially confusing with different time stamps (so we can only assume the oldest is the original)
JW 0 Reputation points

2025-05-06T01:37:35.21+00:00

I'm getting this for a document library. I have a workflow that updates an append-only field at various stages of the process, and that seems to work fine. The problem occurs when a user then opens the document and makes a change shortly after the workflow performs a task (auto-save and co-authoring is enabled). When a new version is generated by the user performing their edit, it seems to take the most recent comment made by the workflow, and then adds it again it to the append-only comment field. However, it doesn't appear twice in the version history of the document...

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AllenXu-MSFT 24,981 Reputation points Moderator

2024-02-06T06:37:36.1733333+00:00

Hi @Jennifer Jernigan, As per my test, I couldn't reproduce this issue in my environment. Does this problem only appear on this list or on other lists as well?
62515088 15 Reputation points

2024-02-06T12:39:55.23+00:00

This is the only list that I have that contains the "Append Changes to Existing Text", so yes, this is the only one that is impacted. I will update another list and add this scenario to see if the same issue occurs.
62515088 15 Reputation points

2024-02-06T13:33:16.79+00:00

The same scenario is occurring on a different list. I updated the multi-line text field to being a required field along with the "Append Changes to Existing Text". I went into an existing item that has an attachment and the notes in the field duplicated. See example below.
AW 0 Reputation points

2024-05-09T13:54:11.27+00:00

I'm having the same issue. Based on the date/time stamps in my instance, it seems anytime I selected the cell but then realized I had no edits, it saved by default. I also exported a view to Excel prior to enabling this column as appended changes.
SG 5 Reputation points

2024-06-18T18:21:19.29+00:00

Hi - tracking this issue as well. We have a list with append changes turned on that can be edited directly via comments in the list form, or through an instant cloud flow. When a comment is added via instant cloud flow, it posts with a specific format. In our case the duplicates appear to occur without this instant cloud formatting. So I believe the duplicates occur when people are posting comments directly in the list form. Duplicates will post multiple times and associate same comment to different users.
Dave Palmer 0 Reputation points

2025-03-18T14:53:20.02+00:00

Same issue here, and struggling to find an answer anywhere. Only difference in our column settings to above screenshot from original post is Plain text (instead of Enhanced), 6 lines (instead of 10) and not a required column (instead of required). Our settings are in screenshot inserted below...

And a similar screenshot of what we see (there appears to be no rhyme or reason, sometimes it's a couple of dupes, sometimes more, sometimes timestamps are the same, sometimes different)...

Weirdly, we've even seen dupes where the name of the commenter has changed (top comment below is a different name to the bottom two)...

If there is no known fix - is there a way to delete the dupes? Especially confusing with different time stamps (so we can only assume the oldest is the original)
JW 0 Reputation points

2025-05-06T01:37:35.21+00:00

I'm getting this for a document library. I have a workflow that updates an append-only field at various stages of the process, and that seems to work fine. The problem occurs when a user then opens the document and makes a change shortly after the workflow performs a task (auto-save and co-authoring is enabled). When a new version is generated by the user performing their edit, it seems to take the most recent comment made by the workflow, and then adds it again it to the append-only comment field. However, it doesn't appear twice in the version history of the document...

Answer 1

AllenXu-MSFT 24,981 Moderator

Hi @62515088,

Thanks for your reply. I tried to reproduce this issue by the steps in this link: https://lazymorning-my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g/personal/allenx_lazymorning_onmicrosoft_com/EV3TF9LLCuxLiTEa-JCYkssBy-qN4wG2ec5cmMXPvdc59g?e=WUghAM. Is there any difference between us?

AllenXu-MSFT 24,981 Reputation points Moderator

2024-02-20T09:15:01.6433333+00:00

@62515088, how's going today? Do you have further concerns regarding this issue? Please feel free to talk with us if you have other questions.
AW 0 Reputation points

2024-05-09T13:52:26.0133333+00:00

The link above states it has been disabled when clicked. (see visual)

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Appended multi-line text duplicating

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