#PowerPlatformTip 131: ‘ForAll & Patch Optimization in PowerApps’

TL;DR: Speed up bulk updates in Power Apps by putting ForAll inside Patch so records update in one batched call.

💡 Challenge

Your Power App slows down when updating many records in SharePoint or another data source. This usually happens when you wrap Patch inside ForAll, producing one API call per record. And if some source IDs don’t exist in the target, Patch creates new records for them while updating the existing ones.

✅ Solution

Rearrange the logic: move ForAll inside Patch to enable a batched update. Just be aware of the missing-ID behavior and handle it if needed.

🔧 How It’s Done

1. Review the original formula

🔸 ForAll wrapped around Patch, one call per record:

ForAll(
    GalleryName.AllItems,
    Patch(
        SharePointList,
        LookUp(SharePointList, ID = ThisRecord.ID),
        { Column1: ThisRecord.Column1Input.Text }
    )
)

2. Rearrange for batch updates

🔸 Put ForAll inside a single Patch:

Patch(
    SharePointList,
    ForAll(
        GalleryName.AllItems,
        {
            ID: ThisRecord.ID,
            Column1: ThisRecord.Column1Input.Text
        }
    )
)

3. Handle missing IDs

🔸 Patch creates new records if IDs don’t exist.

🔸 Filter out invalid IDs before running Patch if you want to avoid unintended creations.

🎉 Result

🔸 Faster: updates are processed in a single batch.

🔸 Handles missing IDs: update only existing records, or create new ones, your choice.

🔸 Cleaner code: easier to read and maintain.

🌟 Key Advantages

🔸 Up to 50% faster updates for large datasets.

🔸 Flexible handling of missing IDs based on your scenario.

🔸 Reduced API calls and improved scalability.

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🛠️ FAQ

1. Why did my Power App become slow when updating multiple records? When you wrap Patch inside ForAll, each iteration triggers a separate API call. Many records means many calls, which slows performance.

2. How does swapping ForAll and Patch improve performance? Moving ForAll inside Patch batches all record updates into a single call, reducing the total number of API calls and speeding up execution.

3. How can I prevent unintended record creation during Patch? Filter your items to only include IDs already in the target data source (e.g. Filter(GalleryName.AllItems, ID in SharePointList.ID)) so Patch updates existing records only.

🔗 Related Tips

• #PowerPlatformTip 57: Mastering Patch, the fundamentals behind bulk Patch operations.
• #PowerPlatformTip 81: Fast DataSource Updates, more ways to speed up data writes.