.csv file upload workaround for forms to approvals

[jmillar99]

I have a flow to collect form submissions and start approval.  The form will not allow .CSV file uploads, so I tried putting a form field with link to the file from our shared drive, but the link tries to open in web browser when it hits the approval stage.  I need to find a way around the CSV upload issue or find a way to have the file link address accessible in file browser.  Please help.

[powercorner]

Hello @jmillar99 

could you share your flow? I am not sure what you are trying to do? 

Do you have a MS Forms form or what kind of form do you use? Where do you want to upload the csv?

With regards
Kevin

[jmillar99]

Summary of what I want to accomplish:

I have a teams form that collects requests that may or may not have attachments.  We need to be able to submit .CSV files (among others) for the approver to upload in another system and notify us when complete.  There is an uploads fields, as well as fields on the form for the team to paste links to the documents stored on our shared network.  I need to approver to be able to get access to these files whether they are uploaded attachments or links to documents on the shared drive (not cloud-based).   Thank you very much for any guidance you can suggest.

Teams form:

[jmillar99]

Thank you @powercorner 

I should have been a little more clear.  I want the approver to be able to access the files or links from the approval email and teams approval.

[powercorner]

hey @jmillar99 ,

now its definately more clear for me. Its pretty bad that csv files are not supported. But do these files need to be csv? 

One workaround would be to Use Excel files. In case you could translate these excel files (tables) into a csv format and then save it to the SharePoint somewhere?

Otherwise If you really need to upload csv Files you could do some ugly workarounds where you post a link (to a SP library) inside the MS Forms form, where the user can save the csv into a document library. Then in the flow you could get the file from the SharePoint because you could reference the user who filled out the form. 

So you could use the "Get file" action and filter on created eq 'usermailinform'.

This is an workaround. Its ugly and your users need to understand that they need to click the link and upload. But then you could upload whatever.

With regards (likes welcome 🙂
Kevin 

[jmillar99]

What a fiasco just because CSV is not supported.  I really appreciate the time you took to help me come to a conclusion. Searching endlessly was not getting me anywhere. 

One more question.  If the submitter has more than one request with a file how would "get file" know which one to grab?

[powercorner · Accepted solution]

Hello again @jmillar99 ,

well you could use the created (time) in the SharePoint library and the time when the form was submitted.
Eg.

User1 Uploads (.csv) - 12:23:30
User1 submits form - 12:26:56  -> Flow triggers

User1 Uploads (.csv) - 14:30:23

User1 submits another form - 14:35:21 -> Flow triggers

In the "get file" action you could do the condition created by eq 'user1' and a sorting by created (time). and set the top setting to 1. So you would get the last uploaded file for the user1

I would be happy if you kudoe/like my posts 🙂 or even set it as solution. 🙂 Then my time is well invested 😛

With regards

Kevin

[jmillar99]

Ended up skipping all that form nonsense and just had the team add it to a sharepoint list and ran the flow from there. Thanks again.