Attempting to update sharepoint list based on email response to automated email sent out.

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

Apologies for the wordy title. 

I have an approval process set up on power automate linking a MS form and a sharepoint list. 

Currently a form submission triggers the flow which then sets off a two-stage approval process. 

I would like on the second stage to be able to set up a process whereby the approver can ask for more detail and defer the decision. When this extra detail comes in (by email in response to an automated email the flow sends out with the approvers comments) i would like the sharepoint list to update with this extra detail. 

Is this something that would be possible? Happy to provide more clarity to anyone who thinks they might be able to help! 

Thanks.

[rzaneti]

Hi @Anonymous ,

I can imagine a solution for your second stage, by creating a second flow with a trigger "When an email is received". I'm assuming here that these email will be a template applicable to all cases, so we can use some text expressions to isolate the relevant information and update it in the correct record from your SharePoint List.

Another option that keeps everything in a single flow: at my organization, we have a similar process where there is a MS Form with a checkbox to the responder specify if this is a new submission or an update for an old one. Inside the flow, a Condition will provide two different paths according to the answer to this checkbox.

Does any of these approaches make sense for you? If yes, please share a sample of your email template (with dummy data) and we can build it together. 

[Anonymous]

The first option sounds more likely. However I believe that is a premium feature no?

Example email;

"

Hello,

Your proposal for: EXAMPLECUSTOMER
has passed review and will proceed to the next stage for discussion.

Comments:

[dynamic content comments]

Thanks

"

The person who submitted the original form would get the above type email (from an action in my flow) when the decision has been made to defer. Ideally then they would reply to that email, I would then want the information  they responded with to be added to a separate column on sharepoint list if possible. 

I was wondering if it would be possible to take the conversation id from the original outbound email so that PA can identify the returned emails?

[rzaneti]

Hi @Anonymous ,

The Outlook connector is a "Standard" one, so you do not need a premium license.

About your idea in capture the "conversation id" when sending the email, I checked in some flows and this property is not captured in the "Send email" action. If you have freedom to make some changes on the email that is sent to the user, you can add a unique identifier to in (maybe in the subject) to match with the SP List when you receive an answer. 

About the email template, it is still not clear about how the users will be answering the extra detail to be updated in your SP List. For example, do they provide you this extra detail in a simple email without any predetermined layout, or do they have to follow any convention for that? I'm asking because we will need to capture some keywords in the email, so a template is a good strategy to make this process easier. This is an example of template for your case:

"

Good morning,

Extra details:

[details entered by the user....]

###

"

With this template, we could easily isolate and extract the red text from the email, assuming that it will be always after the substring "Extra details:" and always before the substring "###".

If you have a template for these users answers, please share a sample (removing any sensitive data). If you cannot implement a template email for this task, we may need to think in an alternative approach.