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SharePoint list form branching option missing or not working

A SharePoint list item form has no branching button. To show or hide a column based on another column, select Edit form, then Edit columns, then the options menu (...) on that column, then Edit conditional formula, and write a formula such as =if([$Category] == 'Product Management', 'true', 'false'), where true shows the column and false hides it. Microsoft Lists forms, the shareable forms you make from a list with New form, are a separate tool with their own branching.

When the option seems missing or does nothing, check five things in this order: you are in the wrong tool, the column type is not supported, the formula uses the display name instead of the internal name, the choice text does not match, or you are testing the wrong form.

First, are you in the right tool?

Three different tools get called "branching".

A Microsoft Q&A thread titled "Branching Option not showing on Forms in Microsoft Lists" shows how easy the two are to mix up. The asker made a form with New form in Lists and could not see the branching icon. The reply says to click a question, open the "..." menu and add branching. That advice is for a Lists form, not for the item form.

Microsoft's page "Show or hide columns in a list form" describes the list form tool. It says: "You can show or hide columns in a list form based on another column's value by specifying a formula." It does not call the feature branching. Look for the words Edit conditional formula.

Where the option lives

Exact names may differ on your screen. Microsoft's page gives this path.

  1. Open the list.
  2. Open an item so you see the item details form.
  3. At the top of the form, select Edit form, then Edit columns.
  4. In the Edit columns pane, find the column you want to show or hide.
  5. Select the far right edge of the column name to show the options menu (...).
  6. Select Edit conditional formula.

The option sits on the dependent column, the one that appears or hides. You do not set it on the column that controls it. Microsoft's help page for this step is "Show or hide columns in a list form".

Conditional formula and conditional formatting are two different tools. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: a formatting rule changes how a column or row looks in a view, and the show-if formula decides whether a column appears on the form. Search results mix the two, so check which one a video or post is teaching.

If you are in a document library, Microsoft's page starts from a file instead: select a file, then in the Information pane find Properties and select Edit all.

Cause 1. The column type is not supported

The formula does not work with every column type. Microsoft's page lists these as not supported:

This applies to the column you test in the formula. A rule that says "show this when Tags includes Urgent" fails if Tags allows multiple choices.

What to do instead for each type. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule:

Cause 2. The formula uses the wrong column name

Microsoft's page says: "The column is represented by specifying the internal name of the field preceded by a dollar sign and surrounded by square brackets."

Three points follow.

  1. The internal name is set when the column is first created. If you later renamed the column, the screen name changes and the internal name does not.
  2. Spaces in a column name are stored as _x0020_. Microsoft's Power Apps page shows the pattern: a lookup column named "Lookup column" has the internal name Lookup_x0020_column. So the formula for a column called "Request type" would use [$Request_x0020_type]. Do not put quotes or spaces inside the square brackets.
  3. Quotes belong around the text values, not around the column. A name with spaces gets quoted only in Power Apps formulas, where Microsoft's example writes 'Issue Status'. In the list form formula the column goes inside [$ ] and the text value goes in single quotes.

One way to find the internal name (our advice, not a Microsoft rule): open List settings, select the column, and look at the end of the address bar. The part after Field= is the internal name.

A Microsoft Q&A thread titled "Specify conditional formula to show or hide columns doesn't work properly in a list form" shows this problem. A field disappeared from the New item form. The accepted answer says: "You should check the internal name of Stage column." It then gives a formula with [$Stage] and a double equals sign.

Cause 3. The text in the formula does not match the choice

The text in single quotes must match the choice exactly. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: number your choices, such as 1 New, 2 In review, 3 Rejected. In the formula you must then write the whole value, number included.

Example list: Requests.

Rule on Reason for rejection:

=if([$Status] == '3 Rejected', 'true', 'false')

Microsoft's page says: "Returning true shows the column on the form while returning false hides the column." If you typed 'Rejected' while the choice is '3 Rejected', the result is always false and the column never shows.

Other shapes:

The or example comes from a Microsoft Q&A answer that shows three fruit values joined with ||. Microsoft's page itself shows an and example with &&, written as [$StartDate] >= Date('4/6/2020') && [$EndDate] <= Date('6/10/2020').

Cause 4. You test in the wrong form, or with the wrong value

The formula reads the value in the controlling column. That changes what you see.

The Microsoft Q&A answers describe the effect on the New item form and the Edit form. Microsoft's page does not list the Display form. Our advice: test on a New item and on an existing item.

Close the form and open it again after you save the rule. Then try a different browser window if it still looks old.

Cause 5. The list was customized with Power Apps

Microsoft's Power Apps page says you can customize a SharePoint form by using Power Apps, including "Addition or removal of fields" and "Interactive features". A customized form is a different form from the built-in one. If your list uses a Power Apps form, rules are managed in that app, and the Edit columns pane may not be what you see. Microsoft's pages do not show how the two settings interact. Ask whoever built the form, or see "Power Apps or a SharePoint list form: which one do you need?".

Branching in a Lists form does not work

If you built a shareable form with New form and the branched questions never appear, that is the Lists forms tool, not the item form. In a Microsoft Q&A thread titled "Sharepoint List Forms conditional branching does not work", a Microsoft External Staff moderator said the feature had reached general availability and named tenant configuration as one possible cause. A later reply in the same thread said the default form does not accept conditional formulas and that Power Apps is needed. The replies disagree, and neither is marked as the accepted answer. Ask your admin. Say which list, which form, and what you see.

Quick test, step by step

  1. Make a test list with the Requests columns above.
  2. Open an item. Select Edit form, then Edit columns.
  3. On Reason for rejection, choose Edit conditional formula.
  4. Paste the formula with [$Status] and '3 Rejected'. Select Save.
  5. Select Save on the Edit columns pane, then close the form.
  6. Open a New item. The Reason box should be hidden.
  7. Set Status to 3 Rejected. The box should appear.
  8. Open an existing item with Status 4 Approved. The box should be hidden.

If step 6 shows the box, the formula is wrong for this form or the form is cached. If the box never shows at step 7, check the internal name and the choice text.

What to avoid

Honest limits

A show-if formula is a small tool. It handles one column at a time and a short list of column types. If you need a field whose choices change, a calculated warning or a different control, a Power Apps form is the next step. That form is something a person must keep up. One way to start: fix one form your team complains about, and keep the rule to one dependent column.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

SharePoint list form conditional fields: how do they work?

You set a show-if formula on the dependent column under Edit form, Edit columns, then Edit conditional formula. Returning true shows the column and returning false hides it.

SharePoint list form conditional formula: what does it look like?

It starts with an equal sign and an if function, such as =if([$Category] == 'Product Management', 'true', 'false'). The column is written as its internal name after a dollar sign, inside square brackets.

SharePoint list form edit conditional formula: where is it?

Open an item, select Edit form, then Edit columns, then the options menu (...) at the right edge of the column name, then Edit conditional formula. Exact names may differ on your screen.

SharePoint list form branching logic: is there a branching button?

Not on the item form. It uses the show-if formula, one dependent column at a time. Microsoft Lists forms made with New form are a separate tool, and Microsoft's SharePoint blog says they have conditional branching.

Which column types cannot be used in the formula?

Microsoft lists multi-select Person or Group, multi-select Choice, multi-select Lookup, time calculations in Date and Time, Currency, Location, Calculated and Managed Metadata columns. Use a single-select Choice or Yes/No column instead.

Sources