# Choice Component - multiple selections

**URL:** <https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470>\
**Category:** Ask for Help\
**Created:** [March 16, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470 "2020-03-16T21:04:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mrt224](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mrt224/32/490_2.png) [@mrt224](https://community.glideapps.com/u/mrt224)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/1 "2020-03-16T21:04:33Z")

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How do I have a choice component so that it will allow multiple selections?

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/2 "2020-03-16T22:08:10Z")

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It’s not an option at this time.

Just curious, how would you expect the multiple selections to be stored in the sheet?

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**Author:** ![mrt224](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mrt224/32/490_2.png) [@mrt224](https://community.glideapps.com/u/mrt224)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/3 "2020-03-16T22:32:41Z")

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To store the options:

Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, …

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/4 "2020-03-16T23:32:16Z")

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So separate columns that are set up as an array of columns? That sounds like an interesting idea. I suppose glide could impose a limit so you can only select the maximum number of items that match the maximum number of columns. I know some people have mentioned putting all of the values in one cell, separated by a comma, I think I like your idea better and it would work great with everything else in Glide that uses arrays. I suppose having the option to either save all selections in one column or save in an array of multiple columns would be beneficial.

@Mark, @david Here’s something to consider for a multi select choice component.

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**Author:** ![Mark](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mark/32/125_2.png) [@Mark](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Mark)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/5 "2020-03-16T23:36:15Z")

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We’ve been thinking about this quite a bit, and have a plan, but it’ll take us a while to implement.

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**Author:** ![Carlos\_DeSilva](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/carlos_desilva/32/19965_2.png) [@Carlos\_DeSilva](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Carlos_DeSilva)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/6 "2020-03-16T23:58:25Z")

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I have a way, but it requires me to show you in screenshots. Allow me some time to put it together.

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**Author:** ![sardamit](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/sardamit/32/263_2.png) [@sardamit](https://community.glideapps.com/u/sardamit)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/7 "2020-03-17T11:17:30Z")

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I did this with what’s available: [https://freelance.glideapp.io/](https://freelance.glideapp.io/)  
I use Skills 1, Skills 2, …, Skills 10 to capture expertise.

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**Author:** ![Club\_Gymini](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/club_gymini/32/6430_2.png) [@Club\_Gymini](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Club_Gymini)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/8 "2020-05-01T12:44:23Z")

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Would be nice that the result would be an Array Column

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**Author:** ![McJagger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mcjagger/32/18616_2.png) [@McJagger](https://community.glideapps.com/u/McJagger)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/9 "2020-06-01T17:16:30Z")

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Just to provide another use case; I’m creating an app where a user can list all the amenities their property has. The selection/option list is very long and there are multiple options. I made a separate list with checklist, and can display easy enough in a table, but can’t make it filter/sort for someone who wants to easily drill down their selection. If there as multiple choice I could simply make the one list, allow multiple choices and push to the results page. I don’t mind if that user has 30 rows of entries, it would work for everything else.

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**Author:** ![MarkGoosen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@MarkGoosen](https://community.glideapps.com/u/MarkGoosen)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/10 "2020-06-14T16:35:48Z")

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Hi Mark, just checking in on the progress of a “multiple choice” list and the ability to possibly display it in a single cell, separated by day a comma (,)?

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**Author:** ![Mark](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mark/32/125_2.png) [@Mark](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Mark)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/11 "2020-06-14T16:37:03Z")

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Sorry, I can’t give you a timeline on this.

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**Author:** ![MarkGoosen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@MarkGoosen](https://community.glideapps.com/u/MarkGoosen)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/12 "2020-06-14T16:44:59Z")

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Cool, no problem. Stay safe

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**Author:** ![Yasin\_Hassanien](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/yasin_hassanien/32/9042_2.png) [@Yasin\_Hassanien](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Yasin_Hassanien)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/13 "2020-06-20T17:17:53Z")

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This is so much needed guys specially if we need a sellection of a courses as an example for a user interest or anything

Is there any workaround guys ?

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/14 "2020-06-22T18:52:28Z")

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I see threw different ways for this to work:

1. Comma delimited list in one cell.
2. Fill multiple columns that are set up as an array column.
3. Create multiple rows. One for each selection.

Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Some have chimed in, but I’m just curious from those that keep asking about this, how would you expect the data to be written to the sheet? Personally, as I stated above, I think it would be most advantageous to write to an array column and set a max limit of selections to match the number of array columns available. Only because it would allow to easily create relations from the the array column.

I’m the meantime, if your choices data is relatively static, you could maybe get away with multiple columns and a checkbox component for each column.

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**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/15 "2020-06-23T01:23:19Z")

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I also think that array column works best, and we can set conditional visibility to make the form looks good when we capture it. It’s my current solution as well.

Just a bit of sharing, there are cases when my clients want checkboxes instead of choice components so I have to do further arrayformulas to take back the real choices from the boolean values that were taken.

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**Author:** ![Robert\_Petitto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/robert_petitto/32/25193_2.png) [@Robert\_Petitto](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Robert_Petitto)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/16 "2020-06-23T01:29:24Z")

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I think array column would be neat as well, but it would work like a user specific column where it wouldn’t be written to the sheet. I don’t see how Google Sheets could interpret this…unless one day Glide also recognizes cells with CSVs as an array column…hmmmm 🤔

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**Author:** ![Yasin\_Hassanien](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/yasin_hassanien/32/9042_2.png) [@Yasin\_Hassanien](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Yasin_Hassanien)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 5:55am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/17 "2020-06-23T05:55:49Z")

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My choices are dynamic totally and its retrieved from an other sheet so I don’t know how this will work because the user has to choose multiple item from this drop down

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**Author:** ![Tyler\_Scheviak](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/tyler_scheviak/32/11811_2.png) [@Tyler\_Scheviak](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Tyler_Scheviak)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/18 "2020-08-20T16:39:39Z")

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Great workaround. I wish it was all done in one list, as I’m sure most are, but this is a lot simpler than adding a choice component for all.

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**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/19 "2020-08-20T17:11:48Z")

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Was thinking about this when the Glide Sheets came out, would we be able to actually create an array column inside Glide Sheets and store choices inside that? Would be very nice if we can.

On the other hand, if that’s not supported and we want an array column we still have to revert back to Sheets. Hopefully they can find a way.

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**Author:** ![Drew](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/drew/32/14085_2.png) [@Drew](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Drew)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470/20 "2020-09-23T17:13:48Z")

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Noob, non-data guy question:

I’d like to create a food diary app. I also want to be able to visualize those food items over time in a chart. My rows are dates. If I create a sheet for a pick-list of food items, I can currently select a food item for that day and enter it into the row for that day. Obviously I’d want to be able to add multiple food items. Rather than using one cell in my day row to collect multiple selections, could it reference the food sheet via relations somehow? (I don’t quite understand the power of relations yet).

Also, to be able to do individual food item tracking, will those additional columns of food items for each day need to be on the main sheet? Sounds like I need a column for each food item?

Even without the multiple selection functionality, I could workaround with let’s say 5 choice picklists for breakfast that would fill five columns (some days I might only pick one item leaving four blank cells that day). Another problem I have is how to add / modify that list of food items so users can add new food along the way.

As you can see, I’m a little confused on how to best structure this. Thanks for any insight!

[Next page](https://community.glideapps.com/t/choice-component-multiple-selections/5470.md?page=2)
