Power Apps Escape Double Quotes: 3 Easy Methods with Examples

While working on a Power Apps project for a client, I had to show a message like this in a canvas app:

"The customer said "Deliver it by Friday" and we agreed."

At first, it looked simple. But as soon as I added double quotes inside a Power Fx text string, the formula showed an error “Expected operator. We expect an operator like + at this point in the formula.“. This happens because Power Apps already uses double quotes to identify the beginning and end of text strings.

In Power Apps, you can’t just type a double quote inside a text string. Power Apps uses double quotes to mark where a string starts and ends, so the moment you type an extra one in the middle, the formula engine gets confused.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you every method to escape double quotes in Power Apps — from the official Microsoft-recommended approach to smart workarounds using Char(), string interpolation, and even JSON handling.

I’ll keep every example small and beginner-friendly, so you can copy-paste and test them right away.

Let’s dive in!

How Double Quotes Work & Why Double Quotes Break in Power Apps

In Power Fx, I use double quotes to create a text string.

"Welcome to Power Apps"

The first double quote tells Power Apps where the text starts, and the last double quote tells it where the text ends. Microsoft’s current Power Fx syntax uses repeated double quotes to include one literal double-quote character inside text.

For example, this formula is not valid:

"Click the "Save" button"

Power Apps sees the quote before Save as the end of the text string. The engine has no way of knowing that the middle quote is content and not a delimiter. So we need to tell it explicitly — and that’s what escaping means.

Method 1: Use Two Double Quotes

The easiest and most common way to escape double quotes in Power Apps is to type two double quotes together.

"Click the ""Save"" button"

This displays:

Click the "Save" button

Power Apps treats the two double quotes inside the text as one visible double-quote character.

Simple Label Example:

Select a Label control and set its Text property to:

"Your status is ""Approved""."

The label displays:

Your status is "Approved".

You can see the exact output in the screenshot below:

This is the method I use most often because it is short, clear, and easy to maintain.

Or in a variable in Power Apps, you can write like the below:

Set(varMessage, "Error: field ""Title"" is required")

Or in a Notify() function, you can write like this:

Notify("Please fill in the ""Customer Name"" field", NotificationType.Warning)

Check out Power Apps Distinct Function

Method 2: Using the Char() Function

Sometimes the doubled quotes make a long formula hard to read. In those cases, I use the Char() function with the ASCII code for a double quote, which is 34.

Syntax

Char(34)

This returns a single " character.

Example

"The customer said " & Char(34) & "Deliver it by Friday" & Char(34) & " and we agreed."

Output:

The customer said "Deliver it by Friday" and we agreed.

Here is the exact output, check out the screenshot below:

The & operator joins text values together. This method is particularly useful when a formula already contains lots of quoted text and the repeated quotes start becoming difficult to read. Power Fx uses & for text concatenation, while double quotes define text strings.

Make It Cleaner with a Variable

Here’s a trick I use in almost every app. In the OnStart property of the App (or OnVisible of a screen), I create a global variable:

Set(gblQuote, Char(34))

Now anywhere in my app, I can write:

"The customer said " & gblQuote & "Deliver it by Friday" & gblQuote

Much easier to read, and far less prone to typos than counting quote marks.

Another Handy Example:

Here is another handy example:

"Search for " & Char(34) & TextInput1.Text & Char(34) & " in results"

If the user types Power Apps, the output is:

Search for "Power Apps" in results

When I Prefer Char(34)

• When building JSON strings manually
• When the text is dynamic (coming from a control or data source)
• When I have many quotes in one formula and doubling them becomes unreadable
• When writing formulas that other developers need to maintain

Read Power Apps Convert Text to Number

Method 3: Using UniChar() for Smart Quotes

Char() works with ASCII codes, but if you need typographic (curly) quotes, use UniChar() which accepts Unicode code points.

Character	Function	Output
Straight double quote	UniChar(34)	"
Left curly double quote	UniChar(8220)	"
Right curly double quote	UniChar(8221)	"
Left curly single quote	UniChar(8216)	'
Right curly single quote	UniChar(8217)	'

Example:

Here is an example:

"The customer said " & UniChar(8220) & "Deliver it by Friday" & UniChar(8221)

Output:

The customer said "Deliver it by Friday"

I use this when the app is customer-facing and I want the text to look polished, like it came out of Word.

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Method 4: String Interpolation with $-Strings

String interpolation is a clean option when I need to combine variables and text. In Power Fx, an interpolated string starts with $" and places expressions inside curly braces. This lets you embed formulas directly inside a string using curly braces {}.

The double quote rule is exactly the same — you still double it up.

Example:

You can see an example below:

$"The customer {ThisItem.Name} said ""Deliver by Friday"""

If ThisItem.Name is John, the output is:

The customer John said "Deliver by Friday"

Here is another example with a variable.

For example:

Set(varEmployeeName, "John")

Then I can use:

$"Employee name: ""{varEmployeeName}"""

This displays:

Employee name: "John"

Notice that I still use two double quotes before and after the variable value. String interpolation makes the formula easier to read because I do not need multiple & operators.

Combine with Char(34)

You can also combine with Char(34), like below:

$"Search: {Char(34)}{TextInput1.Text}{Char(34)}"

Output (if input is “Invoice”):

Search: "Invoice"

I really like this one — it’s compact and readable.

Important Gotcha with $-Strings

In an interpolated string, curly braces are also special. If you need a literal { or }, you must double them too:

$"JSON looks like {{ ""name"": ""John"" }}"

Output:

JSON looks like { "name": "John" }

So remember: in $-strings, double the quotes and double the braces.

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Escape Double Quotes in a JSON String

This is a common real-world scenario. For example, I may need to send JSON to a Power Automate flow, custom connector, or API.

Here is a simple JSON value:

{"Name":"Bijay","Department":"IT"}

To store this JSON as a Power Apps text string, I need to escape every JSON double quote by repeating it:

"{""Name"":""Bijay"",""Department"":""IT""}"

Power Apps interprets this as:

{"Name":"Bijay","Department":"IT"}

JSON with a Variable

If I have a text input called txtEmployeeName, I can write:

"{""Name"":""" & txtEmployeeName.Text & """,""Department"":""IT""}"

If the user enters Alex, the result becomes:

{"Name":"Alex","Department":"IT"}

For larger JSON payloads, manually building strings can become difficult. Where possible, use Power Fx functions such as JSON() to generate JSON from records or collections instead of manually assembling every quote.

The Better Way – Use the JSON() Function

Power Fx has a built-in JSON() function that handles all the escaping for you.

Set(
    varJSON,
    JSON(
        {
            Name: "John Doe",
            City: "Seattle"
        }
    )
)

Output:

{"City":"Seattle","Name":"John Doe"}

No manual escaping needed at all. This is my go-to for any JSON work.

JSON() with a Collection

ClearCollect(
    colEmployees,
    {Name: "John", Dept: "IT"},
    {Name: "Sara", Dept: "HR"}
);

Set(varPayload, JSON(colEmployees))

Output:

[{"Dept":"IT","Name":"John"},{"Dept":"HR","Name":"Sara"}]

What If the Data Itself Contains a Quote?

Here’s the beautiful part — JSON() escapes it automatically:

Set(varJSON, JSON({Comment: "He said ""Hello"" loudly"}))

Output:

{"Comment":"He said \"Hello\" loudly"}

Notice JSON() used the backslash escape (\") which is the JSON standard. You don’t have to think about it.

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Escape Quotes Inside Filter and Search Formulas

A common real-world scenario — filtering a SharePoint list where the search term contains a quote.

Example with Search()

Here is an example of escaping quotes inside search formula.

Search(
    'Customer Feedback',
    TextInput1.Text,
    "Title",
    "Comments"
)

This works fine as-is, because TextInput1.Text is already a text value. You do not need to escape user input — Power Fx handles it because the value never becomes part of the formula text.

Key point I always tell my juniors: You only escape quotes in literal strings you type in the formula bar. Values coming from controls, variables, or data sources are already strings and need no escaping.

Example with Filter and a Literal Quote

Here is an example of escaping quotes inside Filter:

Filter(
    'Product List',
    Title = "5"" Screen Protector"
)

Here I’m filtering for a product literally named 5" Screen Protector.

Or using Char(34):

Filter(
    'Product List',
    Title = "5" & Char(34) & " Screen Protector"
)

Handle Quotes in Patch to SharePoint

When patching text that contains quotes to a SharePoint list, the same rules apply.

Example

Here is an example.

Patch(
    'Project Tasks',
    Defaults('Project Tasks'),
    {
        Title: "Review the ""Q4 Budget"" document",
        Status: "Pending"
    }
)

This saves the literal text Review the "Q4 Budget" document to SharePoint.

With Dynamic Values

Here is how you can do while working with dynamic values.

Patch(
    'Project Tasks',
    Defaults('Project Tasks'),
    {
        Title: "Review the " & Char(34) & DropdownDoc.Selected.Value & Char(34) & " document"
    }
)

Clean, readable, and no counting quotes.

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Escape Quotes in HTML Text Control

The HTML Text control adds another layer, because HTML attributes also use double quotes.

Problem

<div style="color:red">Hello</div>

If I put this directly in the HtmlText property, I need to escape all four quotes.

Solution A – Double Them Up

"<div style=""color:red"">Hello</div>"

Solution B – Use Single Quotes in HTML

HTML happily accepts single quotes for attributes, so this is my favorite shortcut:

"<div style='color:red'>Hello</div>"

No escaping needed at all! I use this in every HTML Text control I build.

Solution C – Use HTML Entity

If you want a double quote to display in the rendered HTML, use the entity:

"<p>He said &quot;Hello&quot;</p>"

Rendered output:

He said "Hello"

A Full Practical Example

Here is a complete example:

"<div style='font-family:Segoe UI; padding:10px; background:#f3f3f3'>
    <b>Note:</b> Please review the &quot;Annual Report&quot; before Friday.
</div>"

Clean, readable, zero escaped quotes.

Conclusion

Escaping double quotes in Power Apps looks intimidating the first time you see """" in a formula, but once you understand the rule, it becomes second nature.

Here’s the short version of everything I covered:

• Double the quote ("") to display one quote — this is the official Power Fx method
• Use Char(34) when formulas get long or dynamic, and store it in a global variable for readability
• Use UniChar(8220) and UniChar(8221) when you want polished curly quotes
• In $-strings, double both quotes and curly braces
• Use JSON() instead of hand-writing JSON — it escapes everything for you
• Use single quotes in HTML attributes to avoid escaping entirely
• Never escape values from controls or data sources — only literals you type yourself
• Remember: Power Fx has no backslash escaping

My personal workflow? I add Set(gblQuote, Char(34)) to App → OnStart in every new app I build. It takes five seconds and saves me from squinting at quote marks for the rest of the project.

Give these methods a try in your next app, and you’ll never get stuck on that “Expected operator” error again.

You may also like:

• Power Apps OnStart Property
• Power Apps Notify Function