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PedroSalmeron
Regular Visitor

Comparing dates from excel online business with Today

Hi everyone, 

 

I have been trying to create a flow that allows me to send automatic emails according to a certain date. The idea is to automatically trigger an email to the customer warning their license will expire. I originally tried creating the flow with the expiration date but without success, so I tried to "simplify" by creating the 'Send Reminder' column with the idea of using a condition to compare to today's date. However, that failed too.

PedroSalmeron_0-1666374473755.png

The idea is to use an if condition to read the 'Send Reminder' table daily and if the dates match, an email will be sent to the respective customer.

 

I am aware of the data format from excel being an integer and converting the date is key for this flow. Could someone help me with this flow?

 

Thank you in advance,

Pedro

 

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Below is how I would likely create the flow. I'll go into detail on all the actions.

grantjenkins_0-1666403635406.png

 

For this example, I'm using the following Excel file that has just Customer and Expiration Date.

grantjenkins_8-1666405054890.png

 

Reoccurrence would just be set to 1 day.

grantjenkins_1-1666403692522.png

 

I would then use Get future time to get the date one month from today.

grantjenkins_2-1666403752311.png

 

Next, I'd use Convert time zone to ensure it's comparing the date to my actual time zone with the format yyyy-MM-dd (to compare against the Excel dates). In this example I've set it to Brisbane.

grantjenkins_4-1666403849193.png

 

In the List rows present in a table there are two parts to look at.

  1. Go into the advanced settings and set DateTime Format to ISO 8601 to get a proper date returned and not just the number representation.
  2. If your Excel column for Expiration Date didn't have spaces (Expiration_Date for example) then you could setup a Filter Query to only retrieve the records that are equal to the Converted time zone date, but it doesn't handle column names with spaces (your column does). So, in your case, I'd just return everything then use a Filter array to filter out to only the ones you want (see next action).

grantjenkins_5-1666404119069.png

 

Filter array takes in the records returned from List rows present in a table and checks to see if each date is equal to the date from Converted time zone. We need to format the Excel date using the following expression so it's also in the format yyyy-MM-dd.

formatDateTime(item()?['Expiration Date'], 'yyyy-MM-dd')

grantjenkins_6-1666404358984.png

 

Finally, you can loop over each of the items from your Filter array and send an email. The input for the Apply to each is using the Body of the Filter array. And each of your properties would be in the format:

items('Apply_to_each')?['Excel Column Name']

For example:

items('Apply_to_each')?['Customer']
items('Apply_to_each')?['Expiration Date']

grantjenkins_7-1666404983478.png


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View solution in original post

6 REPLIES 6

Below is how I would likely create the flow. I'll go into detail on all the actions.

grantjenkins_0-1666403635406.png

 

For this example, I'm using the following Excel file that has just Customer and Expiration Date.

grantjenkins_8-1666405054890.png

 

Reoccurrence would just be set to 1 day.

grantjenkins_1-1666403692522.png

 

I would then use Get future time to get the date one month from today.

grantjenkins_2-1666403752311.png

 

Next, I'd use Convert time zone to ensure it's comparing the date to my actual time zone with the format yyyy-MM-dd (to compare against the Excel dates). In this example I've set it to Brisbane.

grantjenkins_4-1666403849193.png

 

In the List rows present in a table there are two parts to look at.

  1. Go into the advanced settings and set DateTime Format to ISO 8601 to get a proper date returned and not just the number representation.
  2. If your Excel column for Expiration Date didn't have spaces (Expiration_Date for example) then you could setup a Filter Query to only retrieve the records that are equal to the Converted time zone date, but it doesn't handle column names with spaces (your column does). So, in your case, I'd just return everything then use a Filter array to filter out to only the ones you want (see next action).

grantjenkins_5-1666404119069.png

 

Filter array takes in the records returned from List rows present in a table and checks to see if each date is equal to the date from Converted time zone. We need to format the Excel date using the following expression so it's also in the format yyyy-MM-dd.

formatDateTime(item()?['Expiration Date'], 'yyyy-MM-dd')

grantjenkins_6-1666404358984.png

 

Finally, you can loop over each of the items from your Filter array and send an email. The input for the Apply to each is using the Body of the Filter array. And each of your properties would be in the format:

items('Apply_to_each')?['Excel Column Name']

For example:

items('Apply_to_each')?['Customer']
items('Apply_to_each')?['Expiration Date']

grantjenkins_7-1666404983478.png


----------------------------------------------------------------------
If I've answered your question, please mark the post as Solved.
If you like my response, please consider giving it a Thumbs Up.

Hi Grant,

 

Thanks for your answer.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn´t get to work the way I wanted. I believe the dates are now sorted in the correct format but the final part with the ´Parse JSON´ I don't get it. Could you please clarify this part please?

 

Besides, I ran some tests which returned all the Customers in the list. I added the following condition but no return even though the test runs successfully.

PedroSalmeron_0-1666617196210.png

 

 

I don't have Parse JSON in my example.

 

Also, you shouldn't end up with nested loops. I've just got the single loop that goes through each of the items from the Filter Array to send out the emails.


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If I've answered your question, please mark the post as Solved.
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PedroSalmeron
Regular Visitor

I got confused with this:

PedroSalmeron_0-1666619477061.png

How exactly did you do the loop? And is it necessary to add the condition to check the dates?

Sorry for the confusion. I originally had the Parse JSON step in there which is why it's part of the overall flow screenshot but removed it when I actually finalised the flow which is why it's not one of the individual steps that I listed. So just forget the Parse JSON action.

 

So, the Apply to each will take in the Output from the Filter array which will only contain the records that require an email to be sent out.

 

The full flow is:

grantjenkins_0-1666782638073.png

 


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If I've answered your question, please mark the post as Solved.
If you like my response, please consider giving it a Thumbs Up.

That makes more sense.

 

I ended up using your flow as an example, thanks. However, after some research, I decided to use the Sharepoint List as a data source since apparently works better with Power Automate.

 

Now the flow I wanted to have is working and I don't have to rely on excel.

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