How to create a flow that sends initial email when file is created/added, then sends reminder emails until file is moved/deleted?

[ssutherland]

Hello all!

I have been messing around with Flows for a bit and have had some luck but this one has got me a bit stumped. As the subject states, I want to create a flow that does the following:

There will be a folder called "POs" and inside that folder is "New" and "Completed"

1. When a file is created or dropped into the "New" folder, an email is sent out to several members letting them know there is a new item

2. Every "x" number of days (say two for example), a reminder email is sent to review that file. 

3. The reminder email continues to send every "x" number of days until that file is either moved to the "Completed" folder or deleted.

I've tested a few things but I can't seem to get the order and syntax just right. I was able to get the initial email sent (easy part) and tried a few recurrence/loop actions but nothing.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you 🙂

[v-litu-msft]

Hi @ssutherland,

 You could use the Do Until action to do that, every two days check the file properties and send reminder, if the modified date does not equal the created date, end the loop:

One point need to notice is the Limits of Do Until action should set a longer, I set it 720h, 30 days.

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

[ssutherland]

Hi Lin Tu! Thank you for the suggestion. Apologies if I am misunderstanding, but I've run into several immediate problems when trying to replicate this.

First, when I use the "Get File Metadata" action it is requiring me to select a file:

Normally this would be fine but in this particular flow I need it to trigger every time a new file is added.

Next, when trying to edit the "Do Until" action I can't even change some of the fields and the ones used in your example aren't available to me (body/Created, etc.)

Obviously there must be something simple I am missing so any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much 🙂

[v-litu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @ssutherland,

1. You could input the file id into the File identifier field, it could make it dynamic:

2. Please add the Get file properties action first, then the Created and modified will appear. 

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

[ssutherland]

Lin Tu,

Thank you so much for all of your help so far! After reading back through your suggestions, I was able to tweak a few things and get it working... but with two big issues... First, the flow doesn't run unless I actually CREATE a new file in the Sharepoint folder. For example, if I add (drag/drop) a file the flow doesn't start. But as soon as I create a new file directly in Sharepoint online the flow will run and will run for all files in that folder (even the previous ones that I dropped in). 

The other problem that I am facing is that the flow will complete/stop as soon as even one file meets the condition. Like above for example, if I have 10 files in the folder the flow will successfully run on all of them but as soon as I move one of the files to a different folder or delete it the flow stops for all files since it thinks that the "Do Until" has been satisfied.

I hope that all makes sense, if you need any more info or screenshots let me know!

[v-litu-msft]

Hi @ssutherland,

1. If you drag the folder from another SharePoint folder into it, it will be considered a file moved, not a newly file.

2. Could you please share the run history? if a file completed, it only stops run its own run, it would not influence other runs.

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