Delete Duplicate in SharePoint List

[heydamianards]

Hi All,

Currently, I have a flow "When an Email arrives" then "Create  Item" which creates duplicates in a SharePoint List. There could be 2 or more of the same item for each incident status. 

I would like to create a new flow that would delete the previous duplicate items and retains the latest item.

Also, the duplicate list item has the same title but differs in status(Active, Restored) and created date.

Hoping that someone can guide and help me with this one. 

[efialttes]

Hi!

Can you share a screenshot from your current flow design? THis way we can see the details of your current SP list fields format

Also, which fields will let us know two or more items are duplicates?

Thanx!

[heydamianards]

Hi @efialttes 

Here's the screenshot of the flow & the fields format:

The fields that can have the duplicate values are:

 * Title (e.g. INC123456)

 * Impact (e.g. User unable to use the application)

For sample scenario:

Yesterday, we received incident INC123456 - User unable to use the application and the status of this incident was "active". Now, the flow will create a record in the SP List. Today we received again the incident INC123456 stating that the issue are now resolved then it will create a new record in SP List. Now what we want is to delete the first record which was the "Active" then retain the latest record which is the "resolved".

Hoping that i explained it well.

[v-alzhan-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @heydamianards ,

You could refer to screenshot below to create the flow:

The flow would check from each item in the list to see if there is an item in the list has the same Title with the M365_Insident2, if there is a same title with the M365_Insident2, delete the item. and then outside the apply to each, add a new item to the list.

Best Regards,

Alice

Community Support Team _ Alice Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[efialttes]

Hi!

@v-alzhan-msft is the fastest most intuitive way to solve your challenge.

Once implemented, if you are concerned about performance, you can improve it by replacing the Condition and adding a 'Filter array' action block just before the Apply to Each. Or, by adding a ODATA FiLTer expression in your 'Get items'. So instead of iterating over the whole items list, you will iterate just over the list of items list matching your condition.

Please also note you can probably optimize your first flow (the one that creates items) so whenever you receive a new request, check first if there is an item already created, if true 'Update item', if false 'Create item'. THis way you avoid duplicates since the beginning

Hope this helps

[heydamianards]

Hi @v-alzhan-msft  & @efialttes 

Thank you so much for the help. 

Regards

[heydamianards]

Hi @efialttes 

Can you please provide me the screenshot so i can understand this easily. Thank you so much.

[efialttes]

Hi!

You mean improving performance? I would save first your current flow with a new name, and redesign the old one. So if you mess something when redisigning it you can turn on the copy and turn off the modified one.

Now, my suggestion is to add the following ODATA filter to 'Get items' action block 'Filter Query' input (you will find it by clicking on 'Advanced options':

Title eq '@{variables('M365_Insident2')}'

Now, on the Apply to Each, you can remove the condition and just keep the 'Delete item'

REexecute the flow and compare execution time

Hope this helps

[Dhaval2002p]

@v-alzhan-msft @heydamianards @efialttes 

Hello, Need workflow help.

Task: Find a Duplicate item from List B and change the status column value to Duplicate item
We receive work from List A to List B
I work on List B. I created a Choice column called status- and I added choices of New item, Duplicate item, completed, and Under review.

Sometimes we receive duplicate items in List B from List A, I would like to identify those duplicates every time when a new item is created in List B and I want to change the status to Duplicate item if the manufacturer’s part number is matching.