When a list item is modified, send an email with an attachment based on two criteria from the library

[jgoldstein3]

Hi everyone,

I’m seeking assistance with a Power Automate flow to add a specific library item based on a modification occuring to a list item

1. Trigger: When an item in a SharePoint list is modified.
2. Condition: If the status of the list item changes to “Approved”.
3. Action: Send an email with a specific attachment from a SharePoint library based on conditions.

Here are the conditions for selecting the attachment from the SharePoint library:

• The ID of the list item matches the “Attachment ID” field in the library. (Note: This field is different from the SharePoint library “ID” itself.)
• The category of the library item is equal to "Form”.

I’m struggling with configuring the flow to retrieve the correct attachment from the library based on these conditions and attach it to the email. I have the ID of the list item from the trigger. The library has an “Attachment ID” field that corresponds to the ID of the list item. It’s worth noting that there can be multiple attachments with the same Attachment ID, which is why I need to use the Category column as additional criteria to capture the specific attachment I need to attach.

Any suggestions or examples on how to set up this flow would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[creativeopinion]

@jgoldstein3 To prevent your flow from triggering each time an item in your SP List is modified and only have your flow trigger when an item in your SP List is modified and the status is Approved, you'll need to use a Trigger Condition in your flow trigger.

Check out this YT tutorial: 4 Ways You Can Use Trigger Conditions in Your Microsoft Power Automate Flow

If you are using an Automated Cloud flow trigger in your flow—you need to consider adding trigger conditions.

Do YOU 🫵 know what a trigger condition is? Trigger conditions can be set in most flow triggers. These conditions you set must be true for the trigger to fire. In this Power Automate tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use trigger conditions in your flows to control when your Power Automate flows trigger.

If your plan has flow run limits—you can avoid triggering your flows unnecessarily by using trigger conditions.

I’ll cover four different flow examples that would benefit from trigger conditions:

⚡️ Triggering a flow when a column is changed to a specific value

⚡️ Triggering a Flow When an Event Updated or Deleted

⚡️ Triggering a Flow When a New Folder is Created

⚡️ Triggering a Flow When a Specific Email is Received I’ll also show you a trick on how to easily create the expressions needed and give you a few tips on how to troubleshoot your flow.

IN THIS VIDEO:

✅ Four different flows that would benefit from trigger conditions

✅ What is a trigger condition?

✅ How to add a trigger condition to your flow

✅ How to trigger a flow when a column is changed to a specific value

✅ How to trigger a flow when an event is updated or Deleted

✅ How to trigger a flow when a new folder is created

✅ How to trigger a flow when a specific email is received

✅ How to troubleshoot a trigger condition

✅ How to prevent case sensitivity issues with a trigger condition

✅ How to use the filter array action to easily compose an expression that can be used in a trigger condition

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Manual Trigger

However, in the meantime while you build and test your flow I would recommend using a manual trigger. This will help to speed up the flow building process. 

You can replace the manual trigger with the automated trigger once you've finished building your flow. Add a Get Item action and insert the ID of an item for testing purposes—an item that matches your criteria (where the status is Approved)

Get File

Add a Get files (properties only) action to your flow. You'll need to use a Filter Query. You will need to use the internal column name of your Attachment ID column. Keep in mind that the internal column name may not always match the name displayed in your Sharepoint list. If you aren't sure how to get the Internal Column name, you can refer to this section of one of my YT Tutorials.

Note: Replace the blue text below with the ID dynamic content from the Get Item action. If your Attachment ID column is storing a number the single quotes around the ID dynamic content isn't necessary. However, if the Attachment ID is storing text you will need the single quotes.

AttachmentID eq '[ID Dynamic Content from the Get Item Action]'

It's not really necessary but you could insert a 1 into the top count field. 

Return File Count

Whenever I use a Filter Query in a Get files (properties only) action, I always like to return the count of items returned in a Compose action. This is helpful when building a flow and can also be used to troubleshoot your flow.

Insert a Compose action. Add an Expression. Use the length() function.

Select the Dynamic content tab and insert the value dynamic content from the Get Items action into the length() function.

Run a test.

Initialize an Array Variable

Initialize an Array variable in the root of your flow. You'll use this variable to collect your attachments.

Condition Check

Add a Condition action to your flow. If items have returned (aka there is number stored in the Compose action—that is not equal to 0), add the rest of your actions to the Yes branch. If not, do nothing.

Insert the output from the Compose action storing the file count into the first value field. Change the operator to is not equal to and enter a zero into the second value field. 

Loop through Files

Add an Apply to Each action to the Yes branch and insert the value dynamic content from the Get Files (properties only) action. The Apply to Each action will loop through each file returned.

Collect Attachments

Watch this section of one of my YT Tutorials where I cover how to collect multiple files into an array. Please note that in this tutorial covers how to get files from a single file upload question and a multiple file upload question in MS Form. However, the concept covered in this section of the tutorial applies to your flow. Ensure you are adding the Append to Array variable action inside the Apply to Each action—this is because you want to loop through each of your attachments. This section of the tutorial is similar to your scenario—however you do need to get the array structure from the first section of the tutorial I shared.

Hope this helps!

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[jgoldstein3]

I watched your video on trigger conditions for automated flow and I incorporated that here. The flow failed however at the get files step. So as I see it here I get the item that was modified in the list and I'm trying to get files from the library using the library Attachment ID that equals to the list ID. The filter query pulled the correct ID number 54 from my automated flow so i'm not sure what I did wrong here. Below is the library that shows the multiple attachments with the Attachment ID of 54. In the Get Files step I typed 'AttachmentID eq ..' and also tried 'Attachment ID eq..'. I'm thinking that the issue may be with field name i'm typing. 

[creativeopinion]

@jgoldstein3 You'll need to verify the internal column name of the Attachment ID column. Also you need to remove the square brackets. I should have clarified that you need to replace the square brackets and the content within the square brackets with your dynamic content.

The single quotes aren't required either because you need to compare numbers.  I'm assuming your attachment ID column is storing a number... if it's a text column then you will need to wrap your ID dynamic content in single quotes.

[jgoldstein3]

Perfect, removing the brackets worked. And you were correct with the field spelling of AttachmentID. I followed your steps previously mentioned on looking in the URL of the library column settings. 

[creativeopinion]

@jgoldstein3 Great! Are you expecting more than one file to be returned? 

[jgoldstein3]

Yes there are 3 files with the attachment ID of 54. I will want the file with the category of 'Refund Request Form' and attach that to the email. 

[creativeopinion]

@jgoldstein3 No worries. I've updated the original post with additional instructions. Follow along and let me know if you run into any issues.

[jgoldstein3]

I'm stuck.  I'm not sure what dynamic content to enter in the compose action with the apply to each. I watched your videos but i'm not sure i'm grasping it.

Above are the options i have from the dynamic content. Not sure what to put in the json() .

[creativeopinion]

@jgoldstein3 Sorry for the confusion. In your case, You don't need the two Compose actions before the Get file content using path. Those are required for the MS Form flow. I would recommend using the Get file content action and inserting the Identifier dynamic content into the File Identifier field.