List flow

[nikola_bgd]

Hi,

I am having difficulties making flows in sharepoint lists. 

This is how my lists look:

LIST (1): Column A | Column B | Column C | Column D | Column E

LIST (2): Column A | Column B | Column C | Column E

LIST (3): Column A | Column B | Column E

Information from LIST (1) needs to be propagated to other lists (2) and (3), except column E. So all these lists have different user permission in sense that most of the users are restricted from accessing LIST (1). Information from Column E should be propagated from lists (2) and (3) to list (1).

Any ideas?

Cheers

[faustocapellanj]

Hi @nikola_bgd,

The first thing that needs to be established is the relationship between the lists through the respective list item, and in order to establish this relationship is through an unique ID to identify the items. For example, let's say you start everything in LIST (1). You create an item in this list, set its unique ID to ITEM-0001, and then this item gets created in LIST (2) and LIST (3) by using a Flow. Once the item is created in the other lists, a user goes to LIST (2), opens item ITEM-0001 and updates column E. This list would contain a flow that will use the step "Get items" from LIST (1) to find the matching item (ITEM-0001), and once it finds it, it will update column E.

One question since it's not clear from your post: will column E in LIST (1) be overwritten by the values coming from LIST (2) and LIST (3) or will it append the values?

I hope my example is clear enough, but if it isn't, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Regards,

Fausto Capellan, Jr

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @nikola_bgd,

Do the three SharePoint lists contain data?

How do you want to insert data from List (1) into List (2) and List (3) except E column using Microsoft Flow?

Do you want to overwrite the original data or create new data when propagate data from List (1) to List (2) and List (3)?

Could you please show more details about your scanario?

Best reagrds,

Kris

[nikola_bgd]

Hi @faustocapellanj, thanks for answering.

Column E in List (1) will be appended by values from lists (2) or (3)

So you suggest to create two flows, one that copies items from list 1 to other lists, the other flow would be associated with lists 2 or 3 and would use "Get items" from List (1) to find matching item (Item-0001) and once it finds it, it will update column E?

Thanks again!

[nikola_bgd]

Hey @v-xida-msft

Users insert data into List (1) and a flow copies items into Lists (2) and (3).

Lists (2) and (3) and their fields would not be editable, except the column E.

I hope this is more clear now.

Thanks for your help!

Nikola

[faustocapellanj]

Hi @nikola_bgd,

That is correct. I think this would be the easiest approach for you to accomplish your task. The easiest flow will be the one that originates in LIST(1) to copy the item to LIST(2) and LIST(3). The flows from LIST(2) and LIST(3) are easy as well, but will require more steps than the LIST(1) flow. Since today's a holiday, I can put the flows together for you tomorrow.

Regards,

Fausto Capellan, Jr

[faustocapellanj]

Hi @nikola_bgd,

I am working on the Flows connected from LIST(2) and LIST(3) to LIST(1), but you can look at the Flow from LIST(1) since it's the simplest one. One thing I have to point out to avoid confusion, steps 2 and 3 are SharePoint - Create item, but I renamed them to make it easy to identify which one does what. See the screenshot below:

[faustocapellanj · Accepted solution]

@nikola_bgd,

This is the Flow that connects from LIST(2) and LIST(3) to LIST(1). You will need a separate Flow for each list.

1. The first step is When an item is created or modified. This just connects to your Site and the pertaining list.
   
2. The second step is a Condition to check if Column E is not empty. If it is, the Flow stops, but if it's not, then it moves to the next step. For this condition, you have to edit it in advanced mode. You can see the expression for the condition below.
   

   @not(equals(coalesce(triggerBody()?['ColumnE'], ''), ''))

   
   
   
3. If Column E is not empty, the next step is Get items. In this step a query will run against LIST(1) to retrieve the item with the same name from ColumnA. For ColumnA, I renamed the Title column and used it to create the unique identifier for all 3 lists. For example, in LIST(1), ColumnA will be set to ITEM-0001 and subsequently, LIST(2) and LIST(3) will have their ColumnA set to the same value. In the screenshot below see the Filter Query field so you can have an idea.
   
4. Once LIST(1) has been queried, you will then have to check if the query returned true or false. Same as step 2 above, you have to edit the condition in advanced mode. The condition checks the length of the returned item. If it's 1, then it returned true and the Flow moves to the step where the item from LIST(1) is updated, but if not, then the Flow stops. See the expression for this condition below.
   

   @equals(length(body('Get_Items_from_ListOne')?['value']),1)

   
5. The next and final step is the Update item. In here, you select your Site and LIST(1). You then set value to the Id, Title, and ColumnE. For ColumnE, I tried to append the value from ColumnE in LIST(2). While that works just fine, you will have an issue if ColumnE in LIST(1) is empty in which there will be an empty space above the value from ColumnE in LIST(2).
   

I tried to be as thorough as possible with the instructions, but if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

Regards,

Fausto Capellan, Jr

[nikola_bgd]

Thank you very much.

[faustocapellanj]

You're welcome!