# How to assign multiple values to a multiple checkboxes property using contact's create or update api

**URL:** <https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209>\
**Category:** APIs & Integrations\
**Tags:** contacts\
**Created:** [April 20, 2020, 11:18am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209 "2020-04-20T11:18:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pritamgb](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/pritamgb/32/31184_2.png) [@pritamgb](https://community.hubspot.com/u/pritamgb)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 11:18am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209/1 "2020-04-20T11:18:37Z")

</div>

I am using contact’s create or update API to update the information of a contact. Also, I have created a custom property which is a multiple checkboxes property. I want to assign multiple values to this field using API. How I can achieve that?

Example:

custom property name: abc\_xyz

values: pqr, efg, uvw, etc.

Lets say I want to assign pqr, uvw to property abc\_xyz.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Willson](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/willson/32/84663_2.png) [@Willson](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Willson)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 11:46am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209/2 "2020-04-20T11:46:05Z")

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Hey @pritamgb

You can send the selected options as strings with each option separated by a semi-colon.

```auto
{
"property_name":"internal_value1;internal_value2"
}

```

This would then update to show multiple values per the multi-checkbox selection.

I hope this helps!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GinoMaul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@GinoMaul](https://community.hubspot.com/u/GinoMaul)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209/3 "2024-03-26T14:24:23Z")

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How about if “property\_name” has a value of “internal\_value0” already. Will that get overwritten with “internal\_value1;internal\_value2”?  
Is the correct call to append to existing data? Adding a semi-colon to the start of the first data?

```lia-code-sample
{
"property_name":";internal_value1;internal_value2"
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gespindola1](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/gespindola1/32/200217_2.png) [@Gespindola1](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Gespindola1)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/how-to-assign-multiple-values-to-a-multiple-checkboxes-property-using-contacts-create-or-update-api/20209/4 "2024-11-10T19:02:25Z")

</div>

If you want to update an existing record without overwriting the existing values, adding a semi-colon to the start will work.

```lia-code-sample
{
 "property_name":";new_internal_value"
}

```

Tests can be done [here](https://developers.hubspot.com/beta-docs/reference/api/crm/objects/contacts#patch-%2Fcrm%2Fv3%2Fobjects%2Fcontacts%2F%7Bcontactid%7D)