How to Set a Combo Box Default Value in Power Apps (Including Blank)

Our help desk wanted the Priority box on the request screen to start on High, and they also wanted a button that empties it again. I dropped a classic Combo box on the screen, typed “High” into its Default property, and the box stayed empty.

That’s the trap. A combo box doesn’t take a single text value. It reads a table of records from DefaultSelectedItems, and Microsoft has marked its Default property as deprecated. Clearing it is a second trap, because blanking a variable doesn’t always undo what the user already picked.

In this tutorial, we’ll set a combobox default value in Power Apps five ways on the same Service Requests list: a fixed value, blank, a variable, a SharePoint record and a plain text list. Then we’ll add a button that clears the box back to blank every time.

Quick answer: Select the combo box, pick DefaultSelectedItems (not Default) in the property dropdown and type [{Value: "High"}]. For an empty box, use Blank(). To clear it from a button, set the variable to Blank() and call Reset(cbDefVar).

Build the demo screen step by step

If you’ve never built a canvas app, follow these steps to get the same screen. Everything in this post runs on one SharePoint list and one screen. For a tour of the control itself, see my guide to the Power Apps combo box control.

1. Prepare the list. My Service Requests list on the SPGuides site has 623 items. Priority is a Choice column with Low, Normal and High, and Status is a Choice column with New, In Progress and Closed.

2. Open the maker portal. Go to make.powerapps.com, stay on Home and select Start with design.

3. Create a blank canvas app. Under Create, pick Create from blank.

4. Pick the layout. In Start with a blank canvas, select Tablet. Power Apps Studio, the app editor, opens.

5. Add the data source. A data source is where the app reads its data. Select Add data, search for SharePoint and pick the SharePoint connector.

6. Connect to the site. Paste your site URL, such as https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/SPGuides, and select Connect.

7. Pick the list. Check Service Requests and select Connect. The list now shows in the Data pane.

8. Add a blank screen and the combo box. Select New screen > Blank. To rename it, select the screen and use the pencil next to its name in the Properties pane; mine is scrComboDefault. Then select Insert > Input > Combo box.

9. Point it at the choices. With the combo box selected, pick Items in the property dropdown on the left of the fx formula bar and type the formula below. The Choices function returns the column’s options as a table with one Value column.

Choices('Service Requests'.Priority)

To run the app, select the Play button at the top right, or hold Alt and click a control in the editor. Press Ctrl+S to save. More beginner walk-throughs live on the Power Apps tutorials hub.

Why Default doesn’t work on a combo box

Open the property dropdown on a classic combo box and you’ll find both Default and DefaultSelectedItems. Microsoft Learn lists Default as deprecated, so ignore it. DefaultSelectedItems sets the item or items shown before the user touches the control.

Because a combo box can hold several selections, DefaultSelectedItems expects a table. Each record needs the same column the Items table has, which is Value for a Choice column. The square brackets build a one-row table:

[{Value: "High"}]

On my screen, the first combo box (cbDefHigh) opens with High already selected. A plain “High” without the record around it isn’t a table, which is why my first try showed nothing.

How do I set a combo box default value to blank?

Same screen, second combo box. Select it, pick DefaultSelectedItems in the property dropdown, and type Blank() in the formula bar.

Blank()

The box opens empty and shows its Find items placeholder, which is the InputTextPlaceholder text. Nothing is selected, so a form won’t save a Priority unless the user picks one. The classic drop down works differently, as I show in setting a dropdown default value to blank.

Set the default from a variable

A fixed default is fine until the value depends on something the user did. The third combo box (cbDefVar) reads a global variable, so any button can change it. If global and context variables are new to you, read global vs context variables in Power Apps first.

varComboDefault

The Default = Low button sets the variable in its button OnSelect property. The variable must hold a table too, so the record goes inside square brackets:

Set(varComboDefault, [{Value: "Low"}])

A label under the box shows what’s selected and how many rows SelectedItems holds:

"Selected: " & Coalesce(Concat(cbDefVar.SelectedItems, Value, ", "), "(nothing)") & "   |   CountRows = " & CountRows(cbDefVar.SelectedItems)

When the screen opens, varComboDefault is blank and the box is empty. After I clicked Default = Low in Preview, the box showed Low and the label read “Selected: Low | CountRows = 1”.

Clear the combo box back to blank with a button

Here’s the part most guides skip. Learn says an input control resets when its Default changes. If the variable is already blank and the user picks High, setting it to blank again changes nothing, so the box keeps High. I covered more reset patterns in how to reset a Power Apps combo box.

The fix is to blank the variable and then force a reset. Select the Clear to blank button, pick OnSelect in the property dropdown and type:

Set(varComboDefault, Blank());
Reset(cbDefVar)

Reset puts cbDefVar back to its DefaultSelectedItems value, which is now blank, and throws away whatever the user picked. In Preview, the box went empty and the label read “Selected: (nothing)”.

Note: CountRows of the empty selection showed blank, not 0, in my label. If you show a count, wrap it in Coalesce with 0. To push a value into the box instead of clearing it, see setting a combo box value on a button click.

Set the default from a SharePoint record

Most real apps open on an existing request, so the default should come from that item. A Choice field already returns a record with a Value column, so wrap it in brackets and it fits DefaultSelectedItems:

[LookUp('Service Requests', ID = 2).Priority]

Item ID 2 in my list has Priority High, and the fourth combo box (cbDefRecord) opened on High. LookUp on ID with = is delegable for SharePoint, so it works on large lists; the Power Apps delegation guide explains why that matters.

The same idea works for drop downs. I build the drop-down version in setting a dropdown default value from a SharePoint list.

Set the default when Items is a text list

Not every combo box is bound to a list. The last one on my screen uses a hand-typed list of statuses:

["Open", "In Progress", "Closed"]

A text list like this is a one-column table whose column is named Value. So DefaultSelectedItems can be a text list too, without the record syntax:

["Closed"]

The box (cbDefText) opened on Closed. For several defaults on a multi-select box, add more items: ["Open", "Closed"].

Combo box default value inside an edit form

Inside an edit form, the combo box lives in a data card. Per Microsoft Learn, the card’s Default reads the current record, and the control inside reads it through Parent.Default. To change that formula, select the card and choose Unlock to change properties on the Advanced tab.

For a combo box that’s blank on a new form but shows the saved value when editing, set the control’s DefaultSelectedItems like this. I didn’t build this one in the demo app, so swap in your own form name:

If(EditForm1.Mode = FormMode.New, Blank(), Parent.Default)

Common errors and how to fix them

• The default doesn’t show. You typed into Default, or you passed plain text where a record is needed. Use DefaultSelectedItems with [{Value: "High"}].
• Clear doesn’t clear. The variable was already blank, so Default didn’t change. Add Reset() after the Set().
• Reset does nothing in a form or gallery. Learn says you can’t reset controls inside a gallery or edit form from outside it. Use ResetForm for forms.
• Selections vanish in a gallery. A combo box inside a scrolling gallery loses its selections when the user scrolls. That’s a documented limitation with no workaround.
• You’re on the modern control. These steps are for the classic Combo box. The modern combo box in Power Apps has its own property set.

Once the default works, these combo box guides cover what comes next:

• How to Get Modern Combo Box Selected Values in Power Apps?
• Save Multiple Users From a Power Apps Combo Box to a SharePoint Person Field
• Show the Current Logged In User in a Combo Box On a Power Apps Modern Form
• How to Set Power Apps List Box Default Value?

Frequently Asked Questions