SharePoint List Form clearing form fields randomly

Question

I am new to using SharePoint Lists and List Forms. I've set up two lists for my organization and throughout testing I have noticed that the there were 3 or 4 times when all the form fields were cleared. In addition to fields being cleared from the form, any descriptions were erased and the questions reverted to their internal names rather than their display names. I asked Copilot about this and it suggested this was due to a "silent failure" within SharePoint after I made updates to required fields. However this happened again today and I have not updated any fields within the form or connected list. I have been making updates with flows that affect the list via Power Automate.

So is this a known issue? Is there anything I can do to prevent this happening?

Answer 1

Dear @Brittany Carson, 

Good day, and I appreciate the clear explanation of your concern.   

Power Apps, customized list forms can occasionally fail to load or temporarily fall out of sync with the list schema, making the form look reset. In some cases, SharePoint/Microsoft Lists may display internal column names instead of display names due to client or language-related rendering limitations. 

Here are some options you can consider: 

Option 1: Restore the customized Power Apps form to a known stable version 

If your list form was customized using Power Apps, it is possible that the form temporarily fell out of sync with the list schema. Restoring a previous working version is often the quickest way to recover field labels, descriptions and layout. 

Go to Power Apps. 

Open Apps and locate the list form app. 

Select the app, then open Details. 

Choose Versions. 

Select a previously working version and choose Restore. 

Publish the restored version to make it active for users. 

This approach is typically effective if the customization was unintentionally overwritten or reverted. 

Option 2: Temporarily switch back to the default SharePoint form 

If users need to continue working immediately and you want to prevent further resets while troubleshooting, you may temporarily revert to the default SharePoint form. 

Open the SharePoint list. 

Go to List Settings. 

Select Form settings. 

Choose Use the default SharePoint form and save. 

If needed, you can later regenerate a fresh Power Apps form once the environment is stable. 

This option helps isolate whether the issue is related to the Power Apps customization itself. 

Option 3: Check for language or client-related rendering differences 

There is a documented behavior where SharePoint may display internal column names instead of display names under certain client or language conditions.  

Quick checks to try: 

Please open the form in an InPrivate or Incognito browser window to rule out cached assets. 

Compare your browser language and Microsoft 365 display language with another account where the form renders correctly. 

These steps help determine whether the behavior is environment or account-specific, rather than an issue with the form configuration itself. 

Option 4: Contact Microsoft Support  

If the form continues to reset after restoring the app version and verifying language and cache settings, I sincerely recommend reaching out to your IT administrator to create a support ticket via Microsoft 365 Admin Center > Support > Help & Support for further investigation. 

A technical support engineer can perform a remote session to investigate the situation, verify the backend configurations, and run any necessary synchronization tools to resolve the problem. If the issue requires further attention, they can escalate it to a specialized team for deeper analysis.    

As a moderator, I don't have the tools to investigate your specific account directly because this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas. However, I will try my best to guide you as clearly as possible.    

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding.  

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Answer 2

This behavior is not documented as a known issue in the provided references. However, there are a few areas to check based on related SharePoint form and workflow behavior:

1. Verify that the list form definition itself is not being replaced or reset by a provisioning process or customization. In SharePoint, list forms are defined by <Form> elements that specify the URL and type (DisplayForm, EditForm, NewForm). If another solution or customization reprovisions the form (for example, a template, feature, or deployment script), it can effectively reset the form to a default state, which would make fields appear with internal names and lose descriptions.
   • The form definition is controlled by attributes such as Type (DisplayForm, EditForm, NewForm), Url, and UseDefaultListFormWebPart. If a form is reprovisioned with UseDefaultListFormWebPart="TRUE", SharePoint can recreate a default ListFormWebPart, which may drop customizations and show internal names.
2. If the list form is customized with Power Apps (SharePointIntegration), confirm that no formulas or lifecycle events are clearing state or resetting controls unexpectedly:
   • The default generated form uses SharePointIntegration and SharePointForm1 with autogenerated formulas for Item, OnNew, OnEdit, OnView, and OnSave. If these formulas are modified incorrectly, the form can show unexpected values or reset fields.
   • Collection variables in a customized form persist for the entire session and are not automatically reset when the form closes. If collections or variables are used to populate field defaults and are cleared in OnView or other SharePointIntegration properties, fields can appear blank when the form opens again.
   • Imperative functions (such as Launch()) in SharePointIntegration properties can cause unexpected behavior because lifecycle events can trigger in the background even when the form is not visible.
3. Confirm that Power Automate flows are not updating list schema or form configuration, only list item data. The documented Power Automate issues around forms primarily concern connector limits, invalid connections, and field/response limits, not schema resets. However, if a flow or another process is modifying list columns (for example, deleting/recreating columns, changing types, or renaming), the form can revert to showing internal names or lose descriptions.
4. If workflows (SharePoint 2013 platform) are used in parallel, be aware that certain column types (such as Multiple lines of text with Append Changes) can behave unexpectedly when workflows update list items. While the documented issue is about blank values in workflow output, it illustrates that background updates to list items and status fields can have side effects on how data is stored and displayed.

To reduce the chance of this happening again:

1. Lock down schema changes
   • Avoid automated changes to list columns (create/delete/rename) from flows or scripts once the form is in use.
   • If a provisioning solution is used (site scripts, templates, or custom solutions), ensure it is not reapplying list or form definitions on a schedule.
2. If using a Power Apps customized form
   • Review SharePointIntegration properties (OnNew, OnEdit, OnView, OnSave, OnCancel) and ensure they only call supported form functions like NewForm, EditForm, ViewForm, SubmitForm, ResetForm, and RequestHide as documented.
   • Avoid using SharePointIntegration.Selected directly for item selection; instead, use SharePointIntegration.SelectedListItemID with LookUp as recommended, to ensure the correct item is loaded and not an empty or default record.
   • Clear or initialize collection variables explicitly in OnView or other appropriate events so that stale state does not overwrite visible fields.
3. If the form is not customized with Power Apps
   • Check whether any custom solution (SPFx, declarative schema, or feature) is redefining <Form> elements for the list. If so, ensure it is not being redeployed or updated in a way that resets the form.

If the issue continues and cannot be tied to a specific customization or automation, collect detailed repro steps (including timestamps and any flows or customizations that ran around that time) and open a support request so that logs can be reviewed.

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References:

• Form element (List)
• Understand SharePoint forms integration
• Troubleshoot known issues with forms in flows
• Workflow that uses the SharePoint 2013 Workflow Platform Type contains blank values in output from the "Multiple lines of text" column