How to Display SharePoint Form Responses as Bullet Lists | Fix Text Formatting
Question details
The user needs Microsoft Forms responses to display correctly as a bulleted list in a SharePoint multiple-lines-of-text column rather than rendering as a continuous string of plain text.
- Product
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Automating survey responses from Microsoft Forms through Power Automate into a SharePoint list for record-keeping and review.
- Observed behavior
- When responses are transferred to SharePoint, bullet points and line breaks are stripped, causing the data to appear as unformatted, sequential plain text.
Ensure you have 'Edit' or 'Owner' permissions for the target SharePoint list and verify that your Microsoft 365 license includes access to Power Apps and Power Automate.
Customize the SharePoint Form with Power Apps
Using Power Apps instead of Microsoft Forms provides a deeply integrated experience, allowing rich text features like bullet lists to be seamlessly saved and displayed directly in the SharePoint list.
By replacing the default input method with a customized Canvas App, you bypass the formatting limitations of standard Microsoft Forms-to-SharePoint workflows. The custom app stays connected directly to your list.
Open the specific SharePoint list where you want your responses stored and properly formatted.
On the top command bar, click on 'Integrate', hover over 'Power Apps', and select 'Customize forms' from the dropdown menu.
Once Power Apps Studio opens, select the data card for your multiple-lines-of-text column. Change the control type to a Rich Text Editor so users can natively input and format bulleted lists.
Click 'File' in the upper-left corner, select 'Save', and then click 'Publish to SharePoint'. This sets your Power App as the default form for the list.
Use HTML Tags within Power Automate
If you must continue using Microsoft Forms, you can modify your Power Automate flow to wrap the form responses in HTML bullet list tags before passing them to SharePoint.
Manage Exported SharePoint Data Easily with WPS Office
While Power Apps and Power Automate handle your data intake, analyzing and presenting exported SharePoint lists often requires a dedicated productivity suite. WPS Office is a highly compatible, free alternative to Microsoft Office that easily handles rich text, complex bullet lists, and raw survey data exported from SharePoint.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Get the free WPS Office installer from the official website and run it on your device.
- 2. Export SharePoint Data: In your SharePoint list, click 'Export' and select 'Export to Excel' to download your response data as a CSV or XLSX file.
- 3. Analyze and Format: Open the exported file in WPS Spreadsheet to seamlessly format columns, clean up text strings, and generate analytical charts from your survey responses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I build a 30+ question survey directly in Power Apps instead of Microsoft Forms?
Yes. Power Apps can act as a complete, highly customizable replacement for Microsoft Forms. You can design a Canvas App with multiple screens to neatly manage 30 or more questions, apply conditional logic, and save rich-text answers straight to your SharePoint list.
How do I make Microsoft Forms attachments visible in my SharePoint list?
The default SharePoint attachment field does not automatically pull attachments from Microsoft Forms. To make them visible, you must create a multiple-lines-of-text column in SharePoint and use Power Automate to parse the JSON attachment response from the form, appending the generated file links to that new text column.
Why do line breaks from Microsoft Forms disappear when sent to a SharePoint column?
Plain text columns in SharePoint often ignore or strip the carriage return characters submitted by Microsoft Forms. To retain line breaks, ensure the destination SharePoint column is set to 'Multiple lines of text' with 'Enhanced rich text' enabled, and format the incoming data with HTML <br> tags using Power Automate.
