How to Create Tabs in Power Apps [Using Modern Tab List]

If you’ve built a Power Apps form connected to a SharePoint list and it just keeps scrolling down forever — you know the pain. Users hate it. Tabs fix that instantly.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you exactly how to create tabs in Power Apps, walk you through a real example with a SharePoint list, and explain the two most popular approaches you can use today. By the end, you’ll have a fully working tabbed form.

Why Use Tabs in Power Apps?

Let’s say you’re building an employee onboarding form. It has 25+ fields — personal info, job details, emergency contacts, documents. Dumping all of that on one scrolling screen is a nightmare.

Tabs let you break the form into logical sections. Users click a tab, see only the relevant fields, and move on. Clean, fast, easy.

Here are a few common use cases:

• Multi-section forms — Group related fields so users aren’t overwhelmed
• Dashboard views — Show different data tables under different categories (e.g., Open, In Progress, Closed)
• App navigation — Use tabs as a top or side navigation menu

Two Ways to Create Tabs in Power Apps

There are two main approaches:

1. Using the Modern Tab List Control — The newer, cleaner way. Available if you’ve enabled Modern Controls in your app settings.
2. Using Buttons + a Variable — The classic approach. Works in any Canvas app without any extra settings.

I’ll cover both. If you’re starting a new app today, go with the Modern Tab List. If you’re working on an existing app or want full control over styling, the button method still works great.

How to Create Tabs in Power Apps

I’m going to build an Employee Profile Form connected to a SharePoint list. The form will have four tabs:

• General — Name, Job Title, Department
• Contact Info — Email, Phone, Mobile
• Location — Office, City, Country
• Notes — Additional notes

This is a real-world scenario most of us run into all the time.

Step 1: Set Up Your SharePoint List

First, create a SharePoint list called Employee Profiles with the following columns. All are Single line of text unless mentioned otherwise:

• Title (default — use this for employee name)
• JobTitle
• Department
• EmailAddress
• OfficePhone
• MobilePhone
• OfficeLocation
• City
• Country
• AdditionalNotes (Multi-line text)

Go to your SharePoint site → New List → Give it a name → Add the columns above.

Method 1: Using the Modern Tab List Control

This is my preferred approach for new apps. Microsoft introduced the Modern Controls in 2023, and the Tab List control is one of the best additions.

Step 2: Enable Modern Controls

1. Open make.powerapps.com
2. Create a new Canvas App from blank (Tablet layout works best here)
3. Go to Settings → Upcoming Features → Experimental
4. Toggle on Modern controls and themes
5. Close settings

Once enabled, you’ll see a “Modern” section when you insert controls.

Step 3: Insert the Tab List Control

1. Go to Insert in the top menu
2. Search for Tab List (or find it under the Modern controls section)
3. Drop it at the top of your screen
4. Resize it to span the full width

Step 4: Set the Items Property

Click the Tab List control and go to the Items property in the formula bar. Replace whatever’s there with this:

["General", "Contact Info", "Location", "Notes"]

You should now see four tabs appear in the control.