Apply to each does not continue to other items after the first iteration

[aries-]

Hi.

I'm building a flow for the flow bot to send a choice of options to a user on Teams, based on information in an Excel table. The point of this flow is to send a message to a user if a message hasn't been sent already.

The information in the Excel table contains the email of the recipient (Brukernavn), the type of equipment they have (Type) and if they have already been sent a message (Sendt melding). There is a filter array in my flow which checks if "Sendt melding" contains "Nei" which is written in the excel document in 5 of the rows, that means the message has not been sent, and the flow bot is supposed to send a message to the specified user in each of those rows.

I'm running the flow by testing it manually.

The Excel document is located in my personal OneDrive documents.

The issue i'm having is that when the flow reaches Apply to each it only goes through 1 of the 11 iterations/items.

The message goes through with all of the correct information, but only once. I expect it to send 5 messages. The flow keeps running indefinitely without sending any more messages. It never finishes and has to be canceled manually. I get no errors from it. As you can see in the screenshot Apply to each just loads with the orange loading icon.

I have checked that i don't have a limitation specific to Apply to each, as i have another flow using Outlook and Teams with a nested Apply to each, that has to iterate through more than 11 items, and it works fine.

Maybe this is an issue specific to Excel? Is there a better or more optimized way of doing this?

The flow:

The flow when run:

Excel table:

[Matthy79]

Filter array has to be outside of the apply to each and after that you only apply to each filtered items. If you want to use dynamic content you may need a parse json.

[creativeopinion]

@aries- The logic of your flow needs to be adjusted. You need to loop through the body output from your Filter Array action—not the values from the List Rows Present in a Table action. To learn more about how to use the Filter Array action, please refer to this YT Tutorial I uploaded.

I cover a similar scenario in this YT Tutorial: DID YOU KNOW that your Power Virtual Agents CHATBOT Can Return Values from SharePoint List?!

To learn more about the Apply to Each action check out this YT Tutorial: 3 Mistakes YOU 🫵 are Making with the Apply to Each Action in your Microsoft Power Automate Flow

In this video tutorial I’ll go over how to avoid these common mistakes when using the Apply to Each action in a Power Automate flow:

1️⃣ Looping through a Single Item

2️⃣ Creating Unnecessary Nested Loops

3️⃣ Looping through an Unfiltered Array

At the end of the video I share a few helpful insights when it comes to using the Apply to Each action in your flow.

I'll also cover:

✅ How to avoid the Apply to Each action with a single item array

✅ How to use the item() function to access dynamic content in an array

✅ How to prevent unnecessary nested Apply to Each action loops

✅ How to use the Select action

✅ How to convert an array to a string with the Select action

✅How to use the Filter Query field

✅ How to count the number of items in an array

✅ How to use a condition control

✅ How to use the concurrency control

✅ How to set a top count

✅ How to use Compose actions for troubleshooting

Hope this helps!

If I helped you solve your problem—please mark my post as a solution ✅.
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👉 Tips and Tricks on TikTok

[aries-]

Hi. Apologies for the late response. So far i have changed my flow so that the filter array is outside apply to each, and loops through the body output of the filter array. However, i didn't understand what else i should do. The flow i have now with your suggested changes still behaves in the same way. I looked through the videos you suggested but they didn't help me much in understanding what was wrong with my flow.

I have also tried the same logic / solution using a SharePoint list instead of an Excel table, and got the same exact result.

Do you have any direct solutions to my issue? @creativeopinion 

Here is the flow i have now:

[creativeopinion]

@aries- 

Toggle on Pagination

By default, the List Rows Present in a Table action returns up to 256 rows from a table in a single call. If you have more than 256 rows—you'll need to toggle on pagination and set a threshold to ensure all your rows are being returned.

Keep in mind the more rows this action needs to return the longer this action will take. 

Use a Filter Query Instead

Since it seems like you are only using a single condition, use the Filter Query in the List Rows Present in a table action. This action will only accept a SINGLE condition. Also, your column name must not include spaces.

If you use the Filter Query in this action—the Filter Array action isn't required.

Return Count

Whenever I use a Filter Query in a List Rows Present in a Table action, I always like to return the count of items returned in a Compose action. This is helpful when building a flow and can also be used to troubleshoot your flow.

Insert a Compose action. Add an Expression. Use the length() function.

Select the Dynamic content tab and insert the body dynamic content from the Filter Array action into the length() function.

Hope this helps!

If I helped you solve your problem—please mark my post as a solution ✅.
Consider giving me a 👍 if you liked my response! If you're feeling generous— ☕️  Buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/acreativeopinion

👉 Watch my tutorials on YouTube
👉 Tips and Tricks on TikTok

[aries-]

Hi. Thank you for showing me how to simplify my flow. I have replaced my Filter array with a Filter Query. I have also added a Compose action to see how many items are returned, and it matches with my prediction of 5 items. You can also see this in Apply to each at the bottom of the screenshot.

Unfortunately i still have the same issue as before. Pagination is not the cause of the problem as i only have 11 rows. Increasing Pagination to 5000 and toggling it has had no effect. I have also fixed the issue with spaces.

Have you been able to recreate the flow? If so, does it work for you?

Current flow

Current flow after run