Using Multi-Select Picklists Within A Flow

Have you ever tried using multi-select picklists within a Salesforce Flow?  Did you update the picklist field with a new value and instead of adding the new value it replaced the existing value(s)?

I’ve found this to be a very unintuitive aspect of Salesforce Visual Flow.  If you do it wrong, you update the multi-select picklist field with new values, but wipe out the already existing values.  I have good news, however, because today I will show you a workaround!

Adding, Not Replacing, A Multi-Select Picklist Value In Flow

First store the existing picklist values as a multi-select picklist variable in your Record Lookup step.

Ensure the variable is set to “Picklist (Multi-Select)” data type.

Use a “Multi-Select Picklist” field within a Screen Element for users to interact with.

Create a new choice to be used as the default and set it to the variable that was set in the Record Lookup step.

Now create a new choice for every option you would like to provide your user.

After you are done creating the necessary choices, ensure you set the correct one as the default choice as shown on the “Screen” image above.

Now create a Record Update step to update the desired multi-select picklist field from the value in the screen field.

That’s it!  But, what if you want to update using a different type of Screen Element field?  Check out below to see how you would update with a boolean field.

Create a boolean field.

Then, after creating a Decision step to determine whether the user has checked the box, create an Assignment step.  The Flow will utilize this step only if the box is checked.  Here, I’ve used another variable to store the record’s current picklist values.  Ensure that you use the “Add” operator and that you add a semicolon before the picklist value.

Now add a Record Update step to update the picklist value with the variable’s value.

Now we’re ready to run through the entire process!  Check out the Opportunity below.  The Multi-Select picklist field “Topics” currently has the values: Purchasing & Accessories.

Our Screen Element properly displays those as the two chosen fields, and gives use two available choices: Warranty & Service.

I’ve gone ahead and added both of them and click “Next” in the flow.

The Record Update takes place, and if I refresh the Opportunity, I now see the additional values were added to the two already existing values.  It didn’t wipe out what was already there…perfect!

Now, in my Flow I reach the boolean checkbox.  I check and click “Next.”

Now when I refresh my Opportunity and click into the Topics field I see the following in the box and just below it.  All 5 values have been selected within the field and only “Replacement” has not been selected.

There you have it, we were able to successfully update a multi-select picklist within a Flow using two different methods & fields (one requiring an assignment step).  We successfully updated the values without removing or replacing the existing values.  Way to go!

Check out the rest of the Go With The Salesforce Flow Series for more Visual Flow tips & tricks!