Looking for the Best Solution

[ACPBSCi]

Greetings, all.

If this is in the wrong forum, please advise and I will gladly move.

I am fairly new to PowerApps and Power Automate and I am looking for recommendations about the best solution. I am a skilled workflow developer and am an expert in Nintex and SharePoint Developer. I have a need to address, but I keep hitting a roadblock about how to develop a workflow to solve the problem. I have a hunch that I am looking at my problem with too narrow a focus and am hoping the community can help me see the problem in a broader way. (Sidebar: any recommendations on where to take really great PowerApps and Power Automate training are also greatly appreciated.)

The Situation: I have a document in SharePoint Site A, Library 1. Library 1 has its own folder structure. I need to copy that document to SharePoint Site B, Library 2, which has a completely different folder structure. The team does not want to make updates in 2 places. I need to automate the process of copying the document from Site A Library 1 to Site B Library 2.

The Given Circumstances: Library 2 is mapped to a tool called Showpad, which uses the folder structure of the library as tags to display the content in the correct folders. The content needs to go into this library at least for now. We had a very short timeline to launch Showpad, so now we need to go with what we have. We are not averse to rethinking the folder structure of Library 1, but that isn't going to happen right now. We only moved relevant and updated content to Library 2. The team cleaned house and we are starting fresh.

The Problem: The document needs to go to a specific folder within Library 2 that is not necessarily the same as the folder structure in Library 1. The document could be a new document that doesn't exist in Library 2 or it could overwrite an existing file in Library 2.

I'm looking at this through the lens of a workflow developer and what would I need to input to map it to the right place. The users on SharePoint Site A wouldn't necessarily know where it should go in Library 2, they would need to navigate to the site and copy the URL, but then they are still functioning in 2 places. I want my team to be able to add a new document to Library 1 and have it automagically appear in the right place in Library 2. What is the best solution for this? Can I add a browse field to a form and have the flow launch from that?

Note: If using the OOTB Copy function within the SharePoint library is really the best way, then that is what we will do.

[a-ovbord · Accepted solution]

Hi @ACPBSCi,

Regarding learning sources for Power Apps and Power Automate, you can use the public docs learning paths.

Power Apps: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/get-started-with-powerapps/

Power Automate: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/get-started-flows/

For what you're trying to accomplish you could consider using a Flow, for example please take a look at this template and see if it's a good start for you: https://preview.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/galleries/public/templates/c246fffdb0aa4578b8838f96950944f6...

Hope this helps.

Thank you,

Ovidiu

[ACPBSCi]

@a-ovbord thank you. I will check out those resources.

Is it possible within Flow to search a library or list by document name? For example, if I have "Document 1" in Site B Library 2, can I have a flow search Site A List 3 for the same document name?

My thinking is that if I can have the folder path in the destination library be somewhere that won't be overwritten, then the flow from the source library can reference the path, follow it, and add the document to the destination library as either a new document or a replacement document. If the document in the destination library ever moves, a different flow can write back to Site A List 3 with a new folder path.

So I'm thinking this:

• Document in Source Library gets added or updated
• Push button to start flow for that item
• Input required: is this a new or existing document
• If New, user browses to correct folder in Destination Library
  • Flow copies document to Destination Library
  • Flow updates folder path for document in Destination Library (I have a flow that is already doing this)
  • Flow searches Reference List by document name, then writes folder path back to list with document name and folder path in Destination Library
• If Existing, flow copies document to Destination Library and overwrites it
  • Flow updates folder path for document in Destination Library (properties disappear when a doc is overwritten)
  • Flow searches Reference List by document name, then writes folder path back to list with document name and folder path in Destination Library

This way the user only has to push a button and answer a question or at most, browse to the location. The flow will update the Reference List, which the team can use to help them track resources in the Destination Library.

What are your thoughts on this solution?