Create Outlook Event from List Entry

[cozuna]

Hello,

I'm very new to using Power Automate and Microsoft apps in general, and I'm trying to create a flow that will generate an event based on a list entry via the Create Event (v4) option.

However, I continuously get an error that seems to be related to the way the date/time is formatted. I don't see how to customize that format in Lists, nor have I been able to figure out how to format it properly using an expression in Power Automate. I've attached a couple of screenshots. I appreciate any help in advance, and feel free to let me know if you need more info.

Alternatively, I'm happy to use the Calendar generated view in Lists if I can simply sync that to a real Outlook calendar, but I can't figure that out either. My team will need to see these events in Outlook rather than navigate to the lists directly.

Thanks,

Chris

[v-dezhili-msft]

Hi @cozuna ,

Please try:

formatDateTime(triggerOutputs()?['body/your column name'],'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss')

Best Regards,

Dezhi

[cozuna]

Hi Dezhi,

Thanks so much for your reply. I tried your suggestion and while the expression is now valid for both start and end, everytime I try to trigger it, I get an error regarding null type values being supplied to the flow. I've tried a few alterations to the expression, including altering the original List column type to being text input that is available to format, but they always return the same error. Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

 

[v-dezhili-msft]

Hi @cozuna ,

Could you please put your time field in compose and output it to me?

Or you can use a condition action to determine whether your time field is empty.

Best Regards,

Dezhi

[cozuna]

Hi Dezhi,

Sure. Here is what the expression looks like:

formatDateTime(triggerOutputs()?['body/End'], 'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss')

I also tried your condition suggestion, and the field is empty because the flow worked and triggered my "If No" condition.

Very interested in your feedback but seems like the issue is that for some reason the Start and End time is returning an empty result. These fields do have values in the Sharepoint list that's feeding the whole thing so I'm unsure of what to do next...

I'm wondering if it isn't empty exactly, but if the List for some reason is not sending a string at all and that's why the expression can't format it correctly. I'm wondering if there needs to be some additional step to format the entry as a string first? I tried a couple iterations with "toDateString" but couldn't get that working either.

When you made a sample in Lists, did it work right away grabbing from a date & time column?

-Chris

[v-dezhili-msft]

Hi @cozuna ,

One of your listings has a date column called 'End'? I see that the date column in your initial screenshot is called 'Presentation Start'.
Have you tried referencing your date column from dynamic content in compose when you trigger the flow, does it output the correct date?
We only need to get the date column data of the current item when you modify or create a new item.

Best Regards,

Dezhi

[cozuna]

Hi Dezhi,

You're right that it is a different column name, but that's because I changed it to try and simplify. I just re-did it again using the dynamic content selector and it's the same behavior: Power Automate accepts the expressions but the trigger test returns the same error.

Thanks for your help. I'm going to try starting over from scratch and seeing if that helps as I don't understand why this is not working nor why the date & time functionality does not work more seamlessly as it seems like a pretty common use.

Chris