exporting sharepoint list to Excel

Question

Hi!

I am trying to export a Sharepoint List to an Excel. One of the columns in this list is a Multiline Text field with Append Changes Option. When I export the list to Excel/CSV, it doesnt display all the lines from this field, but instead only displays the first line

Below is the properties for the Comments column:

How can I export the full data inside this column? Any recommendations will be highly appreciated :)

[PII is removed by forum moderator]

Answer 1

Hi Joy Abaja,

Thank you for querying in this forum.

I went through the post carefully and also tested from my side. I created a new SharePoint list and created a Multiple lines of text column, enabled Append Changes to Existing Text. Then I exported the SharePoint list to Excel by clicking Export > Export to Excel from ribbon. I cannot reproduce the issue, the multiple lines of column shows all lines. Below is my test result:

When viewing in SharePoint online:

When the list is exported to Excel:

I do understand the issue affects your daily work and feel sorry about it. For troubleshooting, you may try following methods and check the outcome.

1.Try to use a different web browser(Chrome, Firefox, Edge) to access the SharePoint list, export SharePoint list to Excel and check the outcome.

2.In the same SharePoint list, create a new Multiple lines of text column and re-enter the long texts in the column. Export to Excel and check the outcome.

3.Create a new SharePoint list and test if issue still happens.

In the meantime, could you also confirm information below? This helps us better understand the scenario and help you troubleshoot the issue:

1.Does the issue happen in a specific list or specific SharePoint site?

2.Do other users in your organization has this issue?

Many thanks for your patience and effort. Have a great day!

Best Regards,

Tina

Answer 2

Thank you for your response.

From your test case, you have entered just one long text. However, from my side, that multi-line field is a comment field, whereby, the users enter different lines at different times, as you can see on the timestamp in the screenshot below;

From what i understand, SharePoint stores these lines as different versions, that's why when you extract the report, it only gets the latest version, which in this case is the first line/comment. I need to know how i can get all the versions every time I export it to Excel/CSV.

Many thanks again for your response in advance :)

Answer 3

Hi,

Thank you for posting back and pointing out the difference between my test and yours.

It seems like your Multiple lines of text column has different versions of texts which are entered by users at different times.

I tried to test again by using the way as you described, different users enter texts in the column at different times. Then I go to export the list to Excel. This time I can reproduce the same behavior as you describe, only the latest version of text/the first line of text is exported to Excel.

I have tried to change the column settings but unfortunately I'm afraid there is no out of box feature in SharePoint to change this behavior.

I do understand it has affected your daily work and feel very sorry about it. I agree it would be best user experience if all versions of the texts in the Multiple lines of text column can be exported to Excel.

Given this situation, I sincerely recommend sharing your valuable feedback to Tech Community - SharePoint, this is the specific platform where the developers can know your comments and requirements, improve the product and make it better for you and others. We appreciate your understanding.

As workaround, if you are willing, you may try to create a new column in the list, then use Power Automate flow to put each new version of text into the new column, the new column will show all different versions of texts. Then when you export the list to Excel, all texts will be exported. If you want to try this workaround, to make sure you get the dedicated assistance, I recommend you post a new question in Microsoft Power Automate Community, it is the specific channel handling flow related queries, members and engineers will assist you further.

Appreciate your patience and understanding. Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Tina