1. Getting Started with Modern Table & Form Controls
The Modern Table and Modern Form controls make it much easier to build clean, responsive, and data-driven applications in Power Apps. Instead of manually designing layouts, these controls provide a modern user experience that automatically adapts to different screen sizes while working seamlessly with data sources such as SharePoint.
To begin, create a new Canvas App (Tablet layout) in Power Apps and connect it to your preferred data source, such as a SharePoint list. Before using these controls, make sure Modern Controls and Themes are enabled from Settings → Updates, as the Modern Table control is only available when this feature is turned on.
To save development time, Power Apps provides built-in screen templates. The Header and Table template already includes a responsive container and a Modern Table control, allowing you to connect your SharePoint list immediately instead of creating the layout from scratch.
2. Connecting the Modern Table with a Form
After setting up the Modern Table, the next step is connecting it to a form so users can view or edit records. Power Apps provides another ready-made template called Header and Form, which includes a responsive form container that can be connected to the same SharePoint list.
The form should display the record selected in the Modern Table. This is done by setting the Item property of the form to the selected table record. When a user clicks a row in the table, the app navigates to the form screen, where the selected record is loaded automatically for editing.
To ensure the form opens in edit mode for existing records, configure the form’s DefaultMode property to Edit. This creates a smooth workflow where selecting any row from the Modern Table immediately opens its corresponding form without requiring additional configuration.
3. Managing Form Actions and Navigation
A well-designed form should allow users to either save their changes or cancel them without affecting existing data. Add Submit and Cancel buttons to the form to handle these actions.
The Submit button saves all changes back to the connected data source using the form’s submit action. Once the record is successfully saved, the form can automatically navigate back to the Modern Table screen, allowing users to continue working with other records. The Cancel button resets the form and discards any unsaved changes before returning to the previous screen.
One common issue with the Modern Table control is that it remembers the previously selected row. When users return to the table after editing a record, the retained selection can trigger navigation back to the form automatically. To prevent this behavior, you can refresh the data source or use a reset variable that clears the table selection whenever the form screen is closed. This ensures users return to the table normally instead of being redirected back to the same record.
4. Working with Person Fields in Modern Forms
Many business applications require assigning tasks or records to specific users. In Power Apps, this is handled using Person columns, which are typically displayed as a Combo Box inside the form.
Instead of limiting users to only previously selected people, you can connect the Combo Box to the Office 365 Users connector. This enables real-time searching across your organization’s Microsoft Entra ID directory, making it easy to find and assign any employee directly from the form.
When configuring the data card, ensure the Combo Box displays user-friendly information such as Display Name, while the Update property correctly stores the selected user’s information back into the SharePoint Person column. This approach provides a much better user experience than manually maintaining a static list of users.
5. Creating Records and Performing Bulk Updates
Modern Table controls support both single-record editing and bulk operations, making them ideal for business applications that manage large datasets.
Adding a New button allows users to switch the form into New Mode, where they can create records without affecting existing data. Likewise, selecting an existing row opens the form in Edit Mode, enabling users to modify the selected record.
For scenarios where multiple records need to be updated simultaneously, the Modern Table control supports Multi-Select mode. Users can select several rows, choose a new value—such as a Priority level—from a dropdown, and update all selected records in a single operation. This is achieved by collecting the selected records, updating the collection, and patching the changes back to the data source, significantly reducing repetitive manual edits.
6. Building a Complete Data Management Experience
The combination of Modern Table and Modern Form controls creates a complete record management solution within a Power Apps canvas application. Users can browse data in a responsive table, open records for editing, create new entries, search for users through Microsoft Entra ID, and even perform bulk updates without leaving the app.
By combining responsive layouts, modern controls, SharePoint integration, and Power Fx logic, developers can build professional business applications with minimal effort. Whether you’re managing tasks, employee records, projects, or any other business data, these controls provide a scalable foundation for creating clean, efficient, and user-friendly Power Apps solutions.
