SharePoint Taxonomy Multi-Select Rendered as Dropdown

Starting Point

After publishing my guide on displaying SharePoint taxonomy fields as dropdowns, many readers asked, “What about taxonomy fields that allow multiple selections?” or “Can the script handle multi-select scenarios?” I reviewed the user experience, prototyped a few approaches, and settled on a solution that keeps forms clean and intuitive.

Implementation Steps

Adapting the experience for multi-select scenarios only requires one update to the ManagedMetadata.js file from the earlier article. First, determine whether the current field allows multiple selections. That flag can be read directly from the schema context.

Additional UI Components

You will need a few companion elements to make the multi-select dropdown usable:

• A box that lists the currently selected items for the user.
• A hidden field that stores those items for SharePoint.
• A button that opens a modal dialog to add new items.
• A button that removes items the user no longer needs.

Controlling the Displayed Path

The script can show either the term name or the full taxonomy path. Reused terms were problematic because the API only returned the primary path. Reading the term directly from the correct TermSet instead of the global TermStore solves the issue.

Before:

var term = termStore.getTerm(guid);

After:

var term = termSet.getTerm(guid);

Result

Download

We are happy to share the complete script with all adjustments on request – just email office@smarterbusiness.at.