Flows triggered when item modified in SP List

[SwanKoay201]

Hi,

I am building a flow which sourced from SP List. I used an Automated cloud flow. The requirement of the flow is:-

If an item in the SP List is modified on the field 'ACD Status' = Skeletal ACD Completed, the flow will send notification email to the members per the field 'Tech Preparer' (this is a multi-person field) and a few other person name fields (single person fields). Below is the flow set up:

When user made multi line changes in SP List. e.g. user changed 'ACD Status' = Skeletal ACD Completed for item 001 and item 002 at the same time, the flow sent out 4 emails (2 emails for item 001 and 2 emails for item 002), any reason why? can someone help me with this? Thank you in advance! 

[SwanKoay201]

Hi,

Can someone help me with the above-mentioned issue? is it something that i need to add a formula to remove duplicate modified item before the Send Email action? If yes, how to do that?

[ChadVKealey]

The "Send email" action is inside an "Apply to each" which (I assume) is taking the output of the "Get items" action. This is problem #1. You should use the "Get item" (singular) action using the ID from the trigger output to get just the item that was modified. After replacing that action, you can get the recipients using the dynamic content for the single-select person columns (be sure to select "<column-name> Email" from the dynamic content) and the select/join process for the multi-select person columns. You already have those actions, but they're inside that loop. You can clear their inputs, then move them outside the loop, or just delete them and re-create outside the loop. Bottom-line is you need to eliminate that loop.

[SwanKoay201]

Hi Chad,

I have changed the Get Items to Get Item with id=ID field > Compose Inputs=Get Item ID output. It works fine. But when i tried to move the Send Email out from Apply to Each loop, it doesn't allowed me to do so because the recipient (multi-person field) is from the Join output within the loop..how do i fix this?😂

[SwanKoay201]

Also, @ChadVKealey , i tried re-create the Compose>Select>Join for multi-person field, when i input the multi-person field in the 2nd Compose, it doesn't auto-set with the Apply to Each as compared to if i used Get Items, is that so?

[ChadVKealey]

I'm a bit confused. As long as you put the Send email action below the Get item action, you can directly add the emails from any single-select person columns to the "To" field. For the multi-select person columns, the technique shown here https://youtu.be/fjYNT0EgzAU (Select > Join) will get you those addresses. You can use the Join action, a Compose with the join() expression, or just put that expression directly into the To field...whichever is easiest, they'll all work.

[SwanKoay201]

@ChadVKealey 

Apologies for not giving you the clear picture. Summarized again how the flow should work: When an item is created or modified > Get changes for an item or a file > Condition (field Status=Completed) > If yes > Get item > Send Email. For the Send Email, I want it to be in one single email send to 'single person' field (manager) and 'multi-person' field (team members), these single & multi-person field will be in the Send Email 'To' loop.

Initially, after the Condition, i used Get items > Compose (Input from Get items value) > Apply to Each > Compose (input is the multi-person field) > Select > Join > Send Email, in this set up, the flow works well if user only modified 1 item which met the Condition, where 1 email sent out to team members and manager. But, when user edit multiple items which all met the Conditions, the flow send out duplicate emails per item (e.g. if 2 names in the multi-person field, there are 2 same emails sent for one item. If user edit item A, B & C, there are 2 emails per item, so total 6 emails). As you mentioned, i tried to move the Send Email out from the Apply to Each loop, but it does not allow because of the Send Email 'To' is using the output from Join. 

The issue now is, when i changed to Get item > Compose (Get item value as the Input) > Compose (Team member multi-person field as the Input), the Apply to Each does not triggered. Ideally if Apply to Each is triggered, i can follow the same steps as in your video clip (Compose > Select > Join) to get the email address for multi-person field, then in the Send Email 'To' loop, i can use the output from the Join for multi-person field (team members) and add the single person field (manager) in the 'To' loop as well. 

Hope the above clarified, appreciate if you could advise? Thank you!

[ChadVKealey]

The source of the multiple emails is the Apply to each loop. You don't need it. Clear out the "To" field of your send email action and you can move it outside the loop. Then, delete the loop. Repeat/rebuild the Select > Join sequence using the multi-select person field output from the "Get item" (singular) action, being sure to get the "<column-name> Email" property and join them with semicolons (;). Populate the To field of your email with the single-select person fields (specifically the "<column-name> Email" property) and the output of the Join. 

Note that because the flow is running when each item is modified, if 5 items are modified, a separate email will be sent for each item. Or, if one item is modified multiple times (say, 3 or 4 times over the course of 10 minutes), then 3 or 4 emails will be sent. If things are being frequently modified, this could get annoying to the people getting those emails.

[SwanKoay201]

hi @ChadVKealey 

One thing i realised, if i used Get Item > Compose, the Inputs of Compose does not have the Get Item value as opposed to Get Items. Due to this, i can't get the item value output correctly in the Select > Join. See screen comparison between Get item vs Get items:

 

[ChadVKealey]

But, why are you even putting that value into the Compose? What is the purpose of it or where are you using it down the line? 

[SwanKoay201]

@ChadVKealey 

Not sure if my flow logic is making sense, this is how i want it to be -- When an item is created or modified > Get changes for an item or a file > Condition (field Status=Completed) > If yes > Get item > Send Email. I have to have the Get Item after the Yes Condition, otherwise i can't get the output of the met criteria item to further build on the Select/Join for multi-person field. i have the flows screenshot in my initial post, you may have a look on it, however, that screenshot i was using Get Items after the Yes Condition. In case if you see my flow is not correct, please advise how should i tweak it? Thank you so much!

[ChadVKealey]

OK, see this video...I think it should help you get where you want to go: https://youtu.be/U4TJRi6r3pE

[SwanKoay201 · Accepted solution]

@ChadVKealey 

Thank you sooooooooo....much! it works the way i want it to be! you are so kind Chad, i didn't expect you will record a short video to guide me through the detail steps on how to solve my flow! Your video surely will benefit the wider newbie who is learning and exploring how to build power automate flow.

Once again, BIG THANK YOU @ChadVKealey You really make my day!😘