Using flow to stop emails being sent out after/before work

[AB21]

Hi, 

Is it possible to create a flow so it sets a condition/trigger to not have any emails delivered outside of set hours 8.00 – 17.00 Mon – Friday to then deliver the emails that were sent outside this time, the next day (for selected users). 

Help!

[manuelstgomes]

Hey @AB21 

That's a fantastic idea, but I'm afraid Power Automation can't help you with this. Flow triggers related to emails are only related when an email arrives not when it's sent. 

You can, however, configure outlook to do this using a rule. I did a quick google search and found this article:

https://appuals.com/delay-schedule-sending-email-messages-outlook/

Maybe it can help you. I'll try it myself and follow your strategy.

Please let me know if it works for you and, if not, let's work together to figure this out :).

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

Hi!

Thank you for this! But on the link you said is only for the local desktop app, most staff here use outlook online? I personally have looked around and cant find a solution so if you could help that would be great! 

[manuelstgomes]

Hey @AB21 

Outlook online also provides the possibility of rules, but I don't use it, so I can't offer much useful feedback. However, I found this article that explains the rules:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Inbox-rules-in-Outlook-Web-App-EDEA3D17-00C9-434B-B9B7-26EE...

There's a workaround using Flow, but it's quite hacky. You can use Power Automation for it, but you need to share it between the people that are using the online app. The idea is to have a Scheduled Power Automation that checks the incoming mail and does one of 2 things:

1. If it's outside working hours, move the email to a folder.
2. If it's inside working hours doesn't do anything

Then you can have a Power Automation at the beginning of the day that moves all emails back to the inbox as they were "delivered" at that time.

As I said, it's quite hacky, but at least you have two potential solutions to the issue.

Please let me know if any of these would help you. Otherwise, we need to get creative to solve this :).

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

So how would I share it between the people that are using the online app wouldn't it just one flow? And How would the flow look as Im still a novice at this! Sorry for the inconvenience!

[manuelstgomes]

Hey @AB21 

No worries at all. We're all novices at one point or another :). I'm here to help..

Yes, only one Power Automation would do the trick. Then each person would enable the connection for their own account.

Here's a potential Power Automation:

Here's the formula to get only the time:

formatDateTime(triggerBody()?['DateTimeReceived'],'HH')

To share the Power Automation you can use the "Send a copy" so that they need to configure the connection from their side and the Power Automation act on their own email account.

Makes sense?

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

Thank you! That does make sense! I will give this ago! and let you know if it works. You have been a great help! 

[AB21]

What about the power automation for the delivery of emails back to the inbox at the beginning of the day? How do I go about doing that one? Would that be a different flow?

Thanks

[manuelstgomes]

Hi @AB21 

Yes create a different Power Automation to do that.

Here's how you can do it.

Makes sense?

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

Thank you, do I also need to send a copy to all that I want this flow to work for?

[manuelstgomes]

HI @AB21 

Yeah share it with everyone or send a copy to each person. Up to you.

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

How do I specify that it delivers the next day at 8am? Again I'm sorry for all the questions!

[AB21]

This is the error I'm getting on the first flow too. Any Ideas?

[manuelstgomes]

Hi @AB21 

The error is that it's trying to validate a string against an int. You need to add a simple formula to solve this to the condition. Just use the "expression" tab and use the int() to cast the string to an int value.

int(<insert here the text field>)

Can you please let me know if this works for you?

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

So I've added  int(10) in the greater then section (to test right now) is that what you meant? This doesn't work though. Same error? I reckon I'm defiantly doing something wrong! 

[AB21]

Still cant seem to get this to work!

[manuelstgomes]

HI @AB21 

On the right side you can put the numbers that you need. On the left side you can use the formula above. Can you show a print of the formula in one of those fields and the print of the error so that I can help you further.

I'm sure we're almost there, it's just a question of minor adjustments.

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

So That is the error im getting, you then told me to enter this: 

int(<insert here the text field>)

But I'm unsure where and what text field to add. 

[manuelstgomes]

Hi @AB21 

Try the following in the right side elements in the comparison:

int(formatDateTime(triggerBody()?['DateTimeReceived'],'HH'))

Power Automation is complaining that is comparing a string and an int. The formatDateTime returns a string that's why we need to convert to an int first.

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Cheers
Manuel

[AB21]

Thanks for this, flow didn't fail but the action didn't work which was to send the email to the archive folder? I changed the greater than to 10 and less than 8 because Im testing now so was hoping it went to archive.