Need to use values from a SharePoint document library columns to set variables to use later in a Flow

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I have a simple document library on a SharePoint on-line Office 365 site.  It only containes 4 PDF files and will most likely never have more than 4.  I have added 2 additional columns to the library to identify the YEAR (4 digit string value) and the QUARTER (2 digit string value) for each PDF.

I have a working Flow that will copy those 4 PDF files to an ARCHIVE document library folder but it is hard coded with the YEAR and QUARTER value(s).

What I want to be able to do is use the values from the source document library columns (YEAR and QUARTER) as part of the path for the ARCHIVE library.  Such as .../Archives/2019/Q1/PDF filename. The Year is self evident and the Quarter will be Q1 through Q4 for each of those years.  These PDF files are updated quarterly but we want to archive the past versions.

I have not been able to expose the added columns in FLOW so that I could assign their values to variables I could use later to specify the year and quarter for the path.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Ed

[ScottShearer]

@Anonymous :

Can you provide sm more detail about the columns that you added to the library that you cannot access.  What types of columns are they (a screen shot of the column definitions would be helpful)?  What are the data types of your variables?

Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi,

The 2 columns are very simple text fields.  YEAR is 4 characters such as "2019" and QUARTER is 2 characters such as "Q1".  

All I really want to do is be able to read those fields and use them to populate a path that will be used to copy files from a Source document library to this new document library such as ".../ARCHIVES/YEAR/QUARTER/files"

Using the variables I would be able to use a single complete FLOW to handle any new YEAR or QUARTER as they com.  Those fields will be updated as the years and quarters come about.  Otherwise I would have to edit the FLOW each quarter to make the changes to point to the appropriate library in the Archives.

Thanks.

Ed

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi Everyone,

I have actually solved this issue in a slightly different way.

Instead of adding metadata columns to the document libraries, I created an imbedded PowerApp that passes information to a Flow that does the archiving.

To simplify the app and Flow, I pre-created the archive folder structure on my PC and dragged it over to the Archive SharePoint Document Library.  This structure covers a 10 year period so it should be good to go for our needs.

Attached are the codes I used in the PowerApp and photos of the Flow for general use.  This approach is pretty fast and just works perfectly for our needs.  I hope someone else in the community will find this useful.  Enjoy!

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

Ed

Title: BCP Archive all Files per Quarter

Version: 2.0

Date: 02/21/2019

==============PowerApp PullDown codes===================

Year PullDown: Items =
["2018","2019","2020","2021","2022","2023","2024","2025","2026","2027","2028","2029"]

Quarter PullDown: Items =
["Q1","Q2","Q3","Q4"]

==============PowerApp Button codes===================

AP Button: OnSelect =
Set(MyRegion,"AP");
Set(MyDoc,"/PDF Masters/AP.pdf");
Set(SLib,"AP Source");
Archive_All.Run(MyRegion,MyDoc,MyYear.Selected.Value,MyQuarter.Selected.Value,SLib)

EU Button: OnSelect =
Set(MyRegion,"EU");
Set(MyDoc,"/PDF Masters/EU.pdf");
Set(SLib,"EU Source");
Archive_All.Run(MyRegion,MyDoc,MyYear.Selected.Value,MyQuarter.Selected.Value,SLib)

NA Button: OnSelect =
Set(MyRegion,"NA");
Set(MyDoc,"/PDF Masters/NA.pdf");
Set(SLib,"NA Source");
Archive_All.Run(MyRegion,MyDoc,MyYear.Selected.Value,MyQuarter.Selected.Value,SLib)

PS Button: OnSelect =
Set(MyRegion,"PS");
Set(MyDoc,"/PDF Masters/PS.pdf");
Set(SLib,"PS Source");
Archive_All.Run(MyRegion,MyDoc,MyYear.Selected.Value,MyQuarter.Selected.Value,SLib)

FLOW photos

PowerAppFlow - Screen 1Flow - Screen 2Flow - Screen 3Flow - Screen 4