Unable to show only the questions that were answered in email body after form has been filled out

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

I have a created /a form and set it up in a way that all questions do not need to be answered. After the form has been completed, it is sent through email. When I put together the email body, I am unable to set it up in a way where it will only show the questions that have been answered. 

For example, I have 20+ questions but only 5 or 6 will be answered. I can choose to list certain questions.. lets say question 1, 2, 5, 7, and 13. But based on how the form is filled out, the answered questions could be question 1, 2, 8, 11, 21. 

The screenshot below is my current set up. If it is easier to completely redo the flow I am open to that.

[v-yamao-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

Do you want to show questions that have been answered in the email body?

Please take the following flow for a reference.

In the email body, I would like to show the Choice field when it is not null. If it returns null, then it won’t be displayed in the email body.

I used the following code for the Choice field:

if(empty(body('Get_response_details')?['r5c3f7b0ad3574259895b40096e9403be']),'','Choice:')

It is configured likes below:

Hope it could be your reference.

Best regards,

Mabel

[GabrielStJohn]

Hey, @Anonymous!

Thank you for posting on the Flow Community Forum! It appears as though @v-yamao-msft would like some more information in order to further assist you properly with your issue. Please share any additional information that was requested in order to decrease the amount of time that it will take for you to be assisted!

Thank you for being an active member of the Flow Community!

-Gabriel
Flow Community Manager

[BeckyM]

Hello,

Does this solution show the questions as well as the answers in the email?

I have a form with 99 questions and a lot of branching. I am wanting to send an email with each response to show the questions and answers, but only the ones that have actually been answered. Is this possible?

Many Thanks

Becky

[Anonymous]

Hi Becky,

Did anyone come back on this? I have the same issue and can't find a solution anywhere.

Thanks,

Freddie

[BeckyM]

Hi Freddie,

Unfortunately not,  I am still yet to find a solution for this!

Thanks

Becky

[Anonymous]

Ok. Seems a few people are asking for this, I guess no one has a solution yet annoyingly. Thanks for getting back to me!

[Anonymous]

Hi @BeckyM 

I have managed to work out how to do this myself (after a LOT of trial and error). There is probably a nicer/more efficient way of doing this but here is how I achieved only including answered questions and their responses, collected from a form, in an email.

My flow steps are: When a new response is submitted > get response details > create item in SharePoint > send an email (V2). I also have some variables so I can convert some date answers. But you probably won't need these. My send an email currently looks like this in flow: 

But it looks worse than it really is. I will explain the logic now.

The first 4 questions & answers you see at the top of the screenshot are mandatory, hence I haven't added any special logic to them. You would replace the SharePoint dynamic content/Output logic with your MS Form Answers whenever you see me use one here.

Rather than hard coding the question name, you wrap the question name in an 'if' statement. My first example of this would be 'ContractTitle' and the first if statement you see in the screenshot is: 

if(empty(outputs('Create_item')?['body/ContractTitle']), '', 'Contract Title: ') and what this logic does is sees whether there is an answer for the contract title question. If there is no answer submitted, it enters two single quote marks '' (which is effectively just a blank), if the user has answered that specific question then it enters 'Contract Title: '. After the first if, I then put the response to the question. Obviously if no answer is submitted then this will just show as blank anyway (which is the functionality we want). Then after the question response I have another if statement which is: 

if(empty(outputs('Create_item')?['body/ContractTitle']), '', '

<br>')

This looks up to see whether contract title has been answered. If there is no answer in that field then I have another double single quote mark ('') which again is just blank. If there is an answer for contract title I have a '<br>' which is HTML code for a carriage return (so it will drop down a line if an answer has been submitted).

I then start the exact same process all over again for the next question following the same logic. So without leaving any spaces or hitting the return button I just carry straight on with another if statement:

if(empty(outputs('Create_item')?['body/ContractOwnerName']), '', 'Contract Owner Name: ')

Followed by the answer field

Followed by: if(empty(outputs('Create_item')?['body/ContractOwnerName']), '', '

<br>')

Following that logic throughout means my email looks like this and only includes answered form questions 🙂 : 

Let me know if you want me to explain/help further. This has worked for me!

Thanks,

Freddie

[BeckyM]

Hi Freddie,

Thank you for sharing your solution.

I have given this a go but when adding the if statements to the email body it seems to be removing the question completely and only showing the answer. Not sure if I am typing the correct question names into the first if statement maybe? Is this linked to the create item in SharePoint action in the flow?

Many Thanks

Becky

[Anonymous]

Hi Becky,

Yes it is linked to the create item in SharePoint action.

If there is an empty field/column in the created SharePoint item then the question will be blank in the email. I guess that is where my flow is different to yours.

What happens if you do something like: 

if(empty(outputs('Get_response_details')?['body/r58cd8f95aefc473ab8ff9aa9fa280baa']),'','Vendor Number?')

(that is what mine would look like because one of my questions is vendor number)

So the basic part is:

if(empty(select the relevant form question from get response details here), '', 'type the text you want in the email here before your form answer')

Then straight after that if statement you would add the dynamic content for the form answer. If the form answer is blank then nothing will show (what we want to happen).

Then straight after that you would have another if statement like this: 

if(empty(outputs('Create_item')?['body/ContractTitle']), '', '

<br>')

That looks up to see if the item is blank/empty. If it is empty then nothing is written ('') but if something is in that field then '<br>' is entered, which is a line break. So for you it would be something like:

if(empty(outputs('Get_response_details')?['body/r58cd8f95aefc473ab8ff9aa9fa280baa']), '', '

<br>')

Or in English terms:

if(empty(select the relevant form question from get response details here), '', 'start a new line which is '<br>'')

I hope that isn't too confusing and I hope it works 🙂 

Fingers crossed.

Freddie

[BeckyM]

This has worked, thanks Freddie!

Many Thanks

Becky

[Anonymous]

Glad to hear it, Becky!

Feel free to mark my comment as the solution, then others will know there is a work around 🙂 

Thanks,

Freddie