Bootstrap-select Add Item And Select It
Answer : You have a typo. Instead of: $('#myselect').append('<option val="'+newitemnum+'">'+newitemdesc+'</option>'); You need: $('#myselect').append('<option value="'+newitemnum+'">'+newitemdesc+'</option>'); Here is a JSFiddle demo: http://jsfiddle.net/xbr5agqt/ The "Add and select 'Soy Sauce' option" button does the following: $("#myselect").append('<option value="'+newitemnum+'">'+newitemdesc+'</option>'); $("#myselect").val(4); $("#myselect").selectpicker("refresh"); One slightly faster approach (used by the "Add and select 'Relish' option" button) is to append the new <option> element with the selected attribute already applied: $("#myselect").append('<option value="'+newitemnum+'" selected=...