Flow to send only one Email per scheduled trigger

[DavyNix]

Hi All,

Built a flow which reads file names found in a SP folder (library), adds them to a HTML table, which it embeds into a nicely formatted Email and then finally moves the files on to another folder.  I had a problem in that the Email would send even when the folder was empty.  Got some help from the community to add a condition which seemed to work. 

Unfortunately after some further testing, I realised the flow now generates a separate (identical) Email for each file it finds in the folder.    I've solved one issue and gained another!  Any ideas how to tackle this?

Thanks - David.

[Pstork1]

Can you provide a screenshot of where in your flow you send the email?  I suspect you are getting multiples because you send the email inside the loop instead of after you finish processing all the files.

[DavyNix]

Hey - thanks for the reply:

[Pstork1]

I don't know exactly what you need to do without seeing your actual data.  But basically you'll need to move the Create HTML table and send email outside the loop that is processing the files.  Inside the loop you'll need to aggregate the data into one array using some form of append to array where you are doing the Create HTML table now.  In the table you are creating now, does it create multiple lines per file or just one line?  I'm not sure what you are using the filter array step for.

[DavyNix]

Hi @Pstork1 ,

Thanks, I'll explain from the from the top! Grab a coffee...

The requirement is to list the contents of the folder into a nicely formatted Email and then move the files to another folder once complete.  Flow should send only if the folder has files and should only send 1 Email listing all files.
Email generates well:

Flow:

1. Reoccurring Trigger
2: List the contents of the folder

From here on everything sit's within an apply to each:

3. Check length of output from step 2 to confirm folder contains files

length(outputs('List_folder')?['body'])

4. Discount folders

From here on it's just case of generating the HTML table to place inside the body of the Email.

So the logic feels simple but I don't know how to structure the the Flow so that the Email generation sits outside of the 'apply to each'.  Very to new to Power Automate as you may have guessed.

Thanks for your help!

[Pstork1 · Accepted solution]

So since there is only one line per filename then the Apply to each loop processing each file should only be adding that filename to an array variable.  Once the loop has processed all the files then you can convert the array variable to an HTML table and send the email.

[DavyNix]

So create HTML and Email should just be outside of the loop?  I'll go try that.

[DavyNix]

Well that was embarrassingly simple - Thanks @Pstork1 

[DavyNix]

@Pstork1  - actually I spoke too soon.  I'm back to my original problem.  The Email now sends even if the folder is empty.  This was the reason for adding:

The proceeding actions outside of the 'apply to each' do not seem to to interact with with anything inside the 'apply to each'.  For example I can't use the array I created to build the HTML table.

Does the condition which checks for file have to sit within an apply to each?  This is what's causing all of my problems.  

Thanks,

[DavyNix]

I think what's happening is that the 'IsFolder 'condition must sit inside an 'apply to each'.  If I don't have the 'IsFolder' then the Email sends anyway as the main folder contains a sub folder called 'forms' which I don't seem to be able to delete or even see via sharePoint.

so frustrating...

[Pstork1]

Once you've taken the Send email out of the Apply to each loop you need to put a condition around it to test if the array has anything in it before converting it to HTML and sending it.  Its possible that the apply to each runs and doesn't find any files.  In that case the array will be empty and the email shouldn't be sent.

[DavyNix · Accepted solution]

Hi @Pstork1 the issue I found is that the create HTML table wasn't able to read the array created within the apply to each.   I found a simple workaround.  I set the check for items value to greater than 1.  So anything other than the hidden folder triggers the rest of the flow to complete.

Thanks for your help.

[Pstork1]

You aren't supposed to create the table inside the apply to each.  You need to build the array and once its complete (after exiting the apply to each) then you build the HTML table from the array.