Flow for when a SharePoint column is NOT modified

[cbowaterjohnson]

Hi, 

I am newer to power automate and would really appreciate the help. 

I am trying to build a flow that sends an email every 2 days if a specific column in SharePoint is not updated. I am going in circles and getting stuck. 

I know how to check and trigger if the column or file is updated but I need it to send an email if a specific sharepoint column is NOT modified. 

Ideally this would happen every two days until another condition is met. 

Help would be greatly appreciated!

[Rhiassuring]

You will need a daily recurrence.

Unfortunately with your need to modify only when a column is NOT modified - instead of "if this hasn't been modified in 2 days" (much easier) - we will have to look at every file properties every day. 

Are you able to give me an example of the column that you are watching for modification of, so I can give you specific examples?

[cbowaterjohnson]

Thank you for the quick response!

The column that I am checking to see if it was not modified is a multiple text line column. In the screenshot it is the column labeled property comments. 

Please let me know if you need any additional information to help me. 

thanks again!

[Rhiassuring]

Okay, well - there will be two things we can look at.

1) The modified date. We know that if it hasn't been modified in 2 days prior to utcNow(), we need to send an email, regardless of what columns were modified before that.

2) When the modified date is within the last 2 days, but, the Labeled Property Comments remains the same.

Let's start with the easiest. 1) Modified.

Modified le 'addDays(utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd'),-2)'

On that condition, you KNOW that the Comments haven't been updated in 2 days, because it hasn't been modified. So when that comes back with content in it  ( 

length(outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']) not equals 0 ) then you know you can send an email to each of the items in that array.

For 2) ... to get the changes ... we need to query each individual file. At LEAST we now know that we only need to query those items where Modified ge 'addDays(utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd'),-2  (things that HAVE been modified in the last 2 days.) 

So this will be a second "Get Items", but this time, we're filtering like I said above.

Then from that output, we'll cycle through and check if there have been any changes. 

Using the "Get Changes for a File or Item", I'm referencing the "ID" from the "Get Items" output.
Then in the "Since", I'm using this: 

formatDateTime(addDays(utcNow(),-2),'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ')

Now all we have to do, for each, is identify if "Labeled Property Comments" is equal to "true". If yes, then we don't have to email. If "false", then they haven't been updated for longer than 2 days. You could just use a condition for that.

[cbowaterjohnson]

I am having trouble building out what this flow would look like. Are you able to show me what the flow would look like? Where do i put the condition Modified le 'addDays(utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd'),-2)'

Thank you!

[cbowaterjohnson]

I tried to build the flow and got this error 

This is what my flow looked like 

[Rhiassuring]

You need to add the formula as an expression, if you just type it into the box PA doesn't know what to do with it. 

So type this into the box:

Modified le ''

Then click between the 's, and then click the "Expression" tab on the fly out.  Paste addDays(utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd'),-2) into that and then click "OK". You'll notice the formula is now shown in a little purple box. That means it's reading it properly as a formula, instead of a string.

[cbowaterjohnson]

Thank you, that ran the flow but I am coming across a couple of other issues. 

1. this flow below will trigger multiple emails to be sent based off one line SharePoint. I am not sure why it is sending multiple emails

2. I want to add a condition based on a choice column value not being the value of completed. This is not filtering out those items 

.... I really appreciate your help, i am learning so much 

[Rhiassuring]

Are you selecting your "Status Value" from the "Get Items"? If so, that will turn into an Apply to Each, since PA can't tell that there is only one.

Once you enter your Apply to Each, you'll have your Get Changes.. -- after that, maybe add a Get Item (singular), to point at the ID in the current item. Then from THAT action, you will have ONE value that you can point to. Then it won't turn into an Apply to Each.

[cbowaterjohnson]

I am so close! That fixed the issue of it sending multiple emails for one sharepoint item. But now it is not filtering out those who have had the property comments column updated. if the Property Comments column was updated in the last 2 days it is still sending an email. 

Here is my flow 

Thank you so much for all of your help!

[ScottShearer]

@cbowaterjohnson 

I originally proposed another solution but decided that I like the solution proposed by @Rhiassuring more 🙂

[cbowaterjohnson]

I am open to any solution that would work. 

I am so close to making this work. 

Thank you!

[cbowaterjohnson]

Would you know by looking at my flow why the condition of a property comment column not being updated is not working? It is still triggering an email to be sent even if that column was updated within the past 2 days.