Issue with Renaming and Moving Excel File in Power Automate after changing the context

[Nico_0710]

Hello Power Automate community!

I'm currently facing an issue with renaming and moving an Excel file within my Power Automate flow. The flow retrieves data from a Planner and transfers it to an Excel file named "Vorlage_PlannerDruck - Kopie".

Subsequently, I attempt to rename and move the file, but I encounter an error. Then I copy a template and rename it again to "Template_PlannerPrint - Copy", so the flow works again the next time I run it.

The error message states: "The file id '/Aufgaben Abteilungsdurchlauf/SPS_PS_AWT/Exceldateien_Planner/Vorlage_PlannerDruck - Kopie.xlsx' is not valid." This error occurs consistently, despite trying various troubleshooting steps.

I've already ensured that the file ID and path are correct, and I have the necessary permissions to access and modify the file. Previously, the renaming and moving operation worked without any issues until I introduced a step involving the Planner and Excel file manipulation.

I've attempted to introduce a delay using the "Delay" action, but it did not resolve the problem. Additionally, I've considered permission settings, but everything seems to be in order.

If anyone in the community has experienced a similar issue or has suggestions for resolving this problem, I would greatly appreciate your insights and assistance. I'm open to alternative approaches or workarounds to achieve the desired renaming and moving functionality. I have added the important part of my flow below.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

[v-jefferni]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

Your screenshots are fuzzy, please edit your post and attach images in large size. Where or which action did you get the error? 

Anyway, in those OneDrive actions, you need file identifier instead of file path to identify the file. You can select the file via view folder or manually select file identifier from dynamic contents.

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

Hi @v-jefferni 

Thanks for your reply.

I got the error in the first action "Move or rename a file". 

I hope the images are less fuzzy now. 

 

[Nico_0710]

The problem is that I don't have a "fixed" file that I want to edit. This file is called "Template.xlsx" The flow is to edit a file, rename it and move it from the folder to another.
After this is done, I want to compile a file and rename it back to "Template.xlsx". The reason I am doing this is because the template file is an excel spreadsheet with certain fields that I need to access. After I want to edit this, I want to move it and prepare everything so that my flow can run again.

[Nico_0710]

In the picture below, you can see where the error is triggered.

This is the error message: 

{"statusCode":400,"headers":{"Pragma":"no-cache","Transfer-Encoding":"chunked","x-ms-request-id":"edac5722-08d5-456a-9ce0-c1710b6891d2","Timing-Allow-Origin":"*","x-ms-apihub-cached-response":"true","x-ms-apihub-obo":"false","Cache-Control":"no-cache","Date":"Mon, 17 Jul 2023 14:07:12 GMT","X-AspNet-Version":"4.0.30319","X-Powered-By":"ASP.NET","Content-Type":"application/json","Expires":"-1","Content-Length":"200"},"body":{"status":400,"message":"The file id '/Aufgaben Abteilungsdurchlauf/SPS_PS_AWT/Exceldateien_Planner/Vorlage_PlannerDruck - Kopie.xlsx' is not valid.","source":"api.connectorp.svc.ms"}}

If anyone can help me, I would be very grateful.

 

 

[Nico_0710]

@v-jefferni 

Do you have any ideas how I could try fixing this flow ?

I don't get it to work.

[v-jefferni]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

The error message has told you that it requires file id rather than file path:

"The file id '/Aufgaben Abteilungsdurchlauf/SPS_PS_AWT/Exceldateien_Planner/Vorlage_PlannerDruck - Kopie.xlsx' is not valid."

If you need dynamic file to be copied, then you should get the file identifier first. You can get it from a previous action such as Get file properties and Create file.

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

Hey @v-jefferni, 

thanks for your reply.

The action "get file properties" is a Sharepoint action. However, I have the file to be renamed and moved on my desktop and not in Sharepoint.
Is there another possibility with a "One Drive for Busineess" action?

[Agnius]

If your file is on your desktop, try using the File System connector to connect directly to your machine, instead of OneDrive.

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[v-jefferni]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

Please post a screenshot of the entire flow with its trigger and actions, so I can understand your scenario and logic of the flow, and know some action could be used in this flow. For your question, there is a Get file metadata using path action will return file Id if you save the file in OneDrive for business and the only thing you know of this file is its path.

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

Then I have to create a connection, but its not working

[Agnius]

Can you provide more context as to what exactly is not working? You need the on-premise data gateway installed on your machine for the File system connector to work.

[Nico_0710]

Of course, here is the flow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[v-jefferni · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

The logic is confusing me. Do you want to add new rows to a template excel table based on tasks, copy the excel file to another place and restore the file that has been modified to the initial status?

If this is the case, I think you need to change the logic, since a copy of file will have new file identifier, the flow in next run cannot find it dynamically. You can copy the file first, so it's a fixed file that can be selected from OneDrive folder in the List rows present in a table action. File identifier of the copy could be found easily:

The tables in this copy will be exactly the same as the original file, so you can manually type in the table name "Tabelle".

At last, use a dynamic object in the Row to add the new row:

{
    "Aufgabe":CheckListTitleDynamicValue,
    "ColumnName1":DynamicValue1,
    "ColumnName2":DynamicValue2,
    "ColumnName3":DynamicValue3,
    "ColumnName4":DynamicValue4,
    ....
}

You can use this new table to create an HTML table and use it in Email, then after Send an Email action delete this file because this copy is no longer needed.

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

I have tried to do everything as you suggested. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, or I'm probably doing something wrong.
How do I insert and format the dynamic values?
I have inserted a screenshot of my current status.

 

[v-jefferni]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

Please delete the action then add it again. There should not be any column names inside this action. 

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

I got it, thank you. Now I'll test my flow.

[v-jefferni]

Hi @Nico_0710 ,

I notice that you have invalid json error as well in the action. Please note that there should be double quotes to include each dynamic content.

Solved: Re: Updating an excel sheet which is a subject of ... - Power Platform Community (microsoft....

Best regards,

[Nico_0710]

Hey @v-jefferni,

Thanks for your help. My flow is running and everything seems to work fine so far.

There is no error message or anything else.
However, the Excel file that I copy at the beginning and then edit with the help of the ID cannot be copied.

My flow shows me that it was successful.

However, it does not copy itself to the folder I want.

The excpression in the picture:   first(body('filter_array'))?['displayName']

Thats how my action "Copy file" looks.

I hope you can help me out.

Thanks in advance!

Greetings Nico