Mass Edit Form Controls in Power Apps: A Hidden Selection Trick
A clever workaround to select all DataCardKeys or DataCardValues in a form for bulk styling updates.
When you’re refining the look of a Power Apps form, you often need to change the font, colour, border, or size of all labels or input fields. Doing it one card at a time is tedious and wastes hours. The standard approach – selecting multiple controls – fails because each data card is a separate container and you cannot select items across cards simultaneously.
But there is a clever, hidden technique that lets you grab every DataCardKey (the label) or DataCardValue (the input) in one go. Here’s how and why it works.
The Selection Dilemma
Inside a Power Apps form, a DataCard contains several child controls. To change the font weight of every label, you would normally need to open each card, select the label, and apply the change. The built‑in multi‑select tool does not cross card boundaries, which makes bulk editing frustrating.
The workaround exploits an odd behaviour: when you switch the form’s layout property from Vertical to Horizontal and then immediately undo that action, Power Apps leaves all the child controls selected across every data card. It’s a state that the user interface (UI) doesn’t usually produce, and it gives you a one‑time chance to edit many controls at once.
Step‑by‑Step: Example with an Inventory Form
Imagine you have a Inventory Management app and its form contains these fields:
- Product ID
- Product Name
- Quantity on Hand
- Price per Unit
- Supplier
All DataCardKey controls use the default Calibri 12pt font, and you want to change them to Segoe UI Semibold 11pt. Instead of editing each card, follow this method.
1. Select the Form
In the Tree View, click on the form container (e.g., Form1). Make sure the whole form is highlighted, not an individual card.
2. Switch Layout to Horizontal
With the form selected, go to the Properties pane on the right. Find the Layout dropdown (below the form’s data source) and change it from Vertical to Horizontal.
3. Undo (Using the Button Only)
Immediately click the Undo button in the top‑left corner of the app authoring toolbar.
The undo must be done with the toolbar button, not the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z. The keyboard shortcut does not trigger the same behaviour.
4. Review the Selected Controls
After the undo, you’ll see that inside every data card, the child controls – both DataCardKey and DataCardValue – are selected. The selection handles appear around each of them.
5. Deselect the Type You Don’t Want to Change
If you only want to edit the keys (labels) or only the values (inputs), deselect the other group.
- Open the Tree View and use the search box to filter for either
DataCardKeyorDataCardValue. - Hold the Ctrl key and click each item in the search result to remove them from the selection.
For instance, to work only on the labels, search for DataCardKey and Ctrl+click every result to deselect them. Only the keys will remain selected.
6. Apply Your Styles
With the correct group still selected, make any property changes in the right pane. Set Font to Segoe UI Semibold, Size to 11, and optionally tweak Color or Padding. Every selected control updates instantly.
Extra Tips and Gotchas
- If you accidentally deselect something, you can simply repeat the trick (change layout to horizontal and undo again) to reset the selection.
- The method works for both Display and Edit forms.
- The Undo‑Button‑Only rule is critical. If you use
Ctrl+Z, the controls will not remain selected. - Once you touch any other control or perform another undo/redo, the special state is lost. Apply all your changes immediately after the selection.
Common Questions
Will this cause any performance or delegation issues? No. The trick only affects the authoring experience. It has no impact on runtime behaviour or data delegation.
Can I style several forms at once? No, you must repeat the steps for each form separately.
Does it work if the form layout is already horizontal? Yes. You can switch to vertical first, then switch back to horizontal and undo, or try the sequence in reverse – the key is that an undo must follow a layout change.
Final Recommendation
This workaround is a huge time‑saver when you want to maintain a consistent look across a form. Keep it in your toolkit for any bulk‑styling session, and remember to use the Undo button, not the keyboard shortcut.
Before you try it on a production app, test the steps on a copy of your app. The selection state can be confusing at first, but once you understand the pattern, you’ll rely on it repeatedly.
References
- Original source for this technique: Power Apps Hack To Style All Form Controls In Seconds by Matthew Devaney (2022).
- Microsoft Learn documentation on Power Apps forms: Understand Power Apps forms (check for the most current layout properties).
- Community discussion where the trick was first shared: Power Users Forum – Hack: Mass Change Form Fields.
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