Microsoft Lists - multiple problems with lookup columns not behaving as expected

Question

Hi.

I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out two problems I'm having with Microsoft Lists, and I'd appreciate it if anyone here can help me.

Situation: I have created three source Lists (employees, supervisors, jobs) and-- so far-- one target list.

On the target List, I have lookup columns referencing the aforementioned source Lists.

Problem #1: On the target List the "Employees" column is set to "allow multiple entries", and although the column does allow multiple selections, only the first selection is saved in the List.

Problem #2: Also on target List, the lookup columns are set to "Deletions from Source list affect this List=NO". And yet, if I delete any entries from the source Lists (say, employees who have left the company), they disappear from the target List as well.

So either I am missing something (entirely possible), or these two settings simply don't work (which also wouldn't surprise me).

If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix these problems, I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi Joseph Moran (joseph.moran),

 

Good day! hope you are doing well.

 

Thank you for quick response. After further investigation from our end the only option left to try and recreate the list and check if the issue still persists as it may have been corrupted.

 

We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

 

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator

I don't have high hopes that creating a new list will fix anything, but I'm willing to try. Will need a day or so to get to that, so will update ASAP. Thanks.

Answer 2

Well, credit where it is due-- you were right. I created a new target list, and NOW multiple entries from that lookup column are correctly saved.

It's a bit disconcerting because I created this new target list exactly the way I created the old one, so not sure what would have been different the second time round, but in any event I'm glad it's working now.

The other problem I am having remains, however, which is when I delete an item from one of the source lists (say, a supervisor name), it is also deleted from the target list. This is in spite of the fact that the lookup column on the target is set to Deletions from the source list affect this list is set to NO.

More accurately, the item is not actually deleted in the target list, but rather it's hidden in the list view, but if you open up the specific item, the deleted name is still there. Hopefully the screen shots I'm including illustrate this.

Bottom line, I would expect the deleted name to remain visible in target list view as well. Is this possible?

Hi Joseph Moran (joseph.moran),

 

Good day! hope you are doing well.

 

Thank you for quick response. After further investigation from our end the only option left to try and recreate the list and check if the issue still persists as it may have been corrupted.

 

We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

 

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator

I don't have high hopes that creating a new list will fix anything, but I'm willing to try. Will need a day or so to get to that, so will update ASAP. Thanks.