When a new email arrives, save attachments to OneDrive with a preview

[Tacurwick]

this is the flow I created using a templet:

The email being sent looks like this:

but the file saves like this:

and I get this error:

I am trying to understand why the file is not saving as a PDF in OneDrive and why I can't get a preview or open it.

[creativeopinion]

@Tacurwick You haven't defined a file extension in the Create a file action. 

Get the File Extension

You can get the extension of the file from the Attachment Name.

You can add Compose actions to your Apply to Each action to extract that information. The first Compose action is optional (however, if you are new to Power Automate—it'll make it easier to build the expression in the second Compose action).

In the first Compose action, insert the Attachments Name dynamic content. 

In the second Compose action, you are going to build an expression with two functions:

• split() to split the attachment name at the period.
• last() to get the extension after the attachment name has been split.

Start with the split() function. The split() function takes two parameters:

split([string to split],'[separator]')

Switch to the Dynamic content tab and insert the outputs from the Compose action that has the Attachment Name.

Add a comma and single quotes. Between the single quotes insert a period.

This action will split the Attachment name at the period into an array. To get the last item in the array (aka the file extension) you need to wrap the entire expression in the last() function.

Got to the start of the expression. Tip: Press the up arrow key.

Insert last ( 

Go to the end of the expression. Tip: press the down arrow key. 

Insert a closing bracket.

Run a test. Click on the Compose action to view the Outputs. Confirm that the extension of your attachment(s).

Create File

Add a Create File action. Ensure that you are inserting a period before you insert the outputs from the Compose action that contains the file extension.

Insert the Attachments Content dynamic content in the File Content field of the Create File action. 

Hope this helps!

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[Tacurwick]

Hello @creativeopinion! This has helped some, but I am still getting stuck, only now I can't figure out why it will not save.

I was able to get this part updated:

But when I go to add the next part and save it I get an error message saying " Flow save failed with code 'InvalidTemplate' and message 'The template validation failed: 'The repetition action(s) 'Apply_to_each_attachment_from_specific_user' referenced by 'inputs' in action 'Create_file_when_condition_is_satisfied' are not defined in the template.'.'. "

At one point in the directions you say "Run a test. You'll see that the Compose action will now have the attachment extension." However, when I do that the Compose action does not have the attachment extension. I am also not sure where the formula that begins with first comes in.

Many thanks!

[creativeopinion · Accepted solution]

@Tacurwick I would recommend removing the Create file action in your flow first. I've updated the original instructions as I made an error with one of the screenshots. 

Run a test at this point of your flow. Refer to the original post instructions. 

[Tacurwick]

@creativeopinion This was helpful, thank you. 

I was having issues saving the flow with what I had in there for the name. I can play around with that later, but when I took out the beginning formula it saved. I ran a test and it did not fail. My end result is confusing.

the new formula for Create file step:

everything checks out here, but then when I go into my files I have two? One that is the correct PDF attachment, the other that is some other type of attachment.

Any idea what might be causing this?