SharePoint Document Issues

How to Use a Lookup Column as a Source for Another Lookup in Microsoft Lists

Huda Qurayshi Sep 25, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user is trying to configure a target list to reference a source list column that is already a single-value Lookup column, but the column is unavailable in the selector.

How to Use a Lookup Column as a Source for Another Lookup in Microsoft Lists

Product: Microsoft Lists / SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Creating a second Lookup column in a target Microsoft List that pulls data from a source list's existing Lookup column.
Observed behavior: The existing single-value Lookup column does not appear as an available source option when creating a new Lookup column.

Before you start

Ensure you have owner or edit permissions for both the source and target lists to modify column configurations and view list relationships.

Solution 1Recommended

Verify Lookup Column Availability and Limitations

Follow standard setup procedures for list relationships while understanding that chained Lookups are restricted by Microsoft's design.

Microsoft Lists and SharePoint do not natively support "chained lookups" (using a Lookup column as the primary source for another Lookup column). When you attempt to do this, the system intentionally hides the existing Lookup column from the selector.

To ensure you are setting it up correctly and to confirm the limitation, follow the standard creation steps.

Navigate to the target list

Open Microsoft Lists or your SharePoint site and navigate to the target list where you want to create the new column.

Initiate column creation

Click on 'Add column' at the top of your list view and select 'Lookup' from the dropdown menu.

Select the source list

In the configuration pane, choose your intended source list from the 'Select a list as a source' dropdown menu.

Check available columns

Click the 'Select a column from the list above' dropdown. If your desired source column is a Lookup column itself, it will be missing from this list due to platform limitations.

Verify Lookup Column Availability and Limitations

Feature Limitation: If the single-value Lookup column is not available in the column selector, the configuration is not supported by Microsoft Lists out-of-the-box. Review Microsoft's official documentation on list relationships for alternative data structures.

Solution 2

Workaround: Use Projected (Secondary) Columns

Instead of chaining lookups, project additional fields from the original list into your current list during the initial lookup setup.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't my Lookup column appear in the source column dropdown in Microsoft Lists?

Microsoft Lists restricts certain column types from being used as a source for another Lookup column. Specifically, you cannot use another Lookup column, a Choice column (with multiple selections allowed), or a Person/Group column as a primary lookup source.

Can I link more than two lists together in Microsoft Lists?

Yes, you can link multiple lists independently by creating separate Lookup columns in a central list. However, you cannot directly chain them in a cascading manner (e.g., List C looking up a lookup column in List B that points to List A) using standard list settings.

Are there alternative workarounds for chained lookups in SharePoint?

While native chained lookups aren't supported out-of-the-box, you can project additional columns from the primary source list, or use Microsoft Power Apps to build a customized form that handles cascading dropdowns and complex list relationships.

Document & File Issues