📘 Galleries in PowerApps: The Ultimate In-Depth Guide (2025)

Galleries in PowerApps are foundational building blocks for creating rich, data-driven applications. Whether you’re building an employee directory, a product catalog, or a customer feedback app, Galleries in PowerApps let you display and interact with data in powerful ways.

In this article, we’ll cover everything from the basics of galleries to advanced tips, complete with real examples and best practices for performance and design.

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🧠 What Are Galleries in PowerApps?

Galleries in PowerApps are controls that allow you to display multiple records from a data source in a repeating layout. Think of a gallery as a dynamic list where each item is rendered using a customizable template.

You can use galleries to show:

• Lists of users
• Products with images
• Calendar-style events
• Nested/grouped data
• Editable data rows

Each gallery item is a visual representation of a record from your data source.

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🧰 Types of Galleries in PowerApps

PowerApps offers multiple gallery types, each designed for a different layout or interaction style:

🔹 1. Vertical Gallery

Displays items in a top-to-bottom layout. Best for lists and data tables.

🔹 2. Horizontal Gallery

Displays items side-by-side. Useful for showcasing images, cards, or categories.

🔹 3. Flexible Height Gallery

Allows each row to dynamically change height based on content (e.g., long text fields).

🔹 4. Blank Gallery

Starts with no predefined layout. Gives full control over template design.

🔹 5. Image Gallery

Optimized for displaying images with thumbnails and descriptions.

Each of these Galleries in PowerApps can be customized with controls like text labels, images, icons, and buttons.

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⚙️ Key Properties of a Gallery in PowerApps

Understanding the properties of a gallery is essential for using it effectively:

Property	Description
Items	The data source to display (e.g., SharePoint list, collection)
TemplateSize	Height (vertical) or width (horizontal) of each item
WrapCount	Number of items per row (used in wrap layouts)
Selected	Returns the record selected by the user
AllItems	Provides access to all visible records in the gallery
Default	Sets the initially selected item
Visible	Controls whether the gallery is shown
OnSelect	Triggers actions when an item is tapped or clicked

By using these properties wisely, you can control the look, feel, and functionality of Galleries in PowerApps.

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🔗 Connecting Data to a Gallery

You can connect a gallery to many types of data sources:

• SharePoint Lists
• Microsoft Dataverse
• Excel Tables (via OneDrive)
• SQL Server
• Static collections (Collect(), ClearCollect())

Example: Binding a Gallery to SharePoint

Gallery1.Items = Employees

This connects the gallery to the “Employees” SharePoint list.

To filter it:

Filter(Employees, Department = "HR")

To show sorted data:

SortByColumns(Employees, "Name", Ascending)

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🎨 Customizing Gallery Templates

Each gallery has a template, which is the layout used for every item. You can add:

• Label controls for names, titles, or other text
• Image controls for user photos or product images
• Button or Icon controls for actions (like delete/edit)
• Toggle or Checkbox for selections

Example Template:

• Title: ThisItem.Name
• Subtitle: ThisItem.Department
• Icon: OnSelect → Navigate(DetailScreen, ScreenTransition.Fade)

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🔍 Implementing Search, Filter, and Sort

You can build advanced dynamic galleries using built-in PowerApps functions.

Combined Search + Filter + Sort

SortByColumns(
    Filter(
        Search(Employees, txtSearch.Text, "Name"),
        Department = ddDepartment.Selected.Value
    ),
    "Name", Ascending
)

This allows users to:

• Search by name
• Filter by department
• Sort by name

It’s a common pattern in Galleries in PowerApps.

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🔁 Nested Galleries (Master-Detail Views)

You can use nested galleries to display grouped or related data.

Example:

• Outer Gallery: Categories
• Inner Gallery: Products filtered by category

Filter(Products, Category = ThisItem.CategoryName)

This is useful for inventory apps, course lists, or multi-level data relationships.

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🧠 Advanced Gallery Techniques

🧾 1. Inline Editing

Allow users to edit values directly inside a gallery:

• Replace Label with TextInput
• Use UpdateContext() or Patch() on Save

📱 2. Responsive Galleries

Use Flexible Height Gallery and dynamic TemplateSize for mobile-friendly apps.

🔄 3. Virtual Galleries (Lazy Loading)

For large datasets, use paging techniques to load data in chunks:

If(CountRows(MyCollection) < TotalCount, Collect(MyCollection, NextPageData))

🎯 4. Custom Selection Logic

Manually highlight selected rows with conditional formatting:

Fill = If(ThisItem.IsSelected, LightBlue, White)

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🚀 Best Practices for Galleries in PowerApps

To make your galleries fast and efficient:

• ✅ Avoid too many controls inside a template (keeps rendering fast)
• ✅ Use delegable queries for large data sources (especially SharePoint/Dataverse)
• ✅ Use With() function to simplify complex formulas inside galleries
• ✅ Use global collections only when necessary (to avoid memory issues)
• ✅ Test on mobile devices to ensure smooth performance

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📌 Real-World Use Case: Task Management App

Let’s say you’re building a task management app:

• Data Source: SharePoint list Tasks
• Fields: Title, DueDate, Status, AssignedTo
• Gallery Layout:
  • Title: ThisItem.Title
  • Due Date: Text(ThisItem.DueDate, "dd-mmm-yyyy")
  • Status Indicator: Red if overdue
• Actions: Mark complete, edit, or delete task using icons

Search + Filter Example:

Filter(
    Search(Tasks, txtSearch.Text, "Title"),
    Status <> "Completed" &&
    AssignedTo.Email = User().Email
)

This is a classic scenario where Galleries in PowerApps shine.

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🧾 Summary

Galleries in PowerApps are versatile, customizable, and indispensable for building interactive apps. Whether you need to present a simple list or implement nested, dynamic views, galleries provide the tools to do it.

Key Takeaways:

• Master the gallery properties (Items, Selected, TemplateSize, etc.)
• Use filter/search/sort logic to enhance usability
• Customize templates for user-friendly UIs
• Follow performance and delegation best practices

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Here’s a comprehensive overview of PowerApps Gallery, organized for easy understanding and reference. You can also check the reference here

PowerApps Full Course reference is here