Get up, get going! A scheduled Flow for those anchored to a computer all day

[Anonymous]

To set up this scheduled Flow activity 'minder up, we will need to determine the schedule of when we want the Flow to run. As this Flows' intent is to remind me to do things while I'm working, it makes sense for me to set the schedule to run Monday through Friday during regular business hours. 

We also need to determine the action to take once this scheduled Flow is triggered.  I leave email closed on purpose for most of the day, so email notifications aren't sufficient for me. A simple notification on my mobile device will suffice for me for this Flow app. 

I'm going to trial this for three weeks to see if it helps me get out of my chair more often during the week, in hopes of not interrupting my productivity and preventing aches, pains and all that goes with managing chronic pain. 

Log into Flow.microsoft.com

Create a new Flow from Blank.

 

Click Search connectors and type Recurrence.

Select the Recurrence Trigger to add Recurrence.

The Interval and the Frequency determine the schedule for this Flow to run over a period of three weeks. That should give me sufficent time to adjust my habits.

Set the Interval to 3 and then set the Frequency to Week from the Frequency drop-down.

 NOTE: Frequency options are Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, and Second. There's an option to Enter custom value but have yet to get this to work. 

Click the Show advanced options link at the bottom of the Recurrence dialog.  

NOTE:The options that appear in the Advanced options will depend on which Frequency you selected. 

Set the appropriate Time zone for your zone.

Click the On these days drop-down and select Monday through Friday. 

Click the On these hours drop-down and select 8 through 16. 

NOTE: Times are displayed in military time format so 8-16 hundred hours represents 8-4pm.

NOTE: I didn't include 5pm as I'll be walking out of work (hopefully) and don't need this last reminder of the day. I also skipped the 12th hour as I hope to be out and about for lunch.

In the At these minutes field, enter 0,30 without spaces.

Click +New Step under the Recurrence task, and select Add an Action. 

Type or locate Notifications in the Choose an action dialog box.

Select Notifications - Send me a mobile notification from the Actions list.  

In the Text field of the Notification, enter Stand up for 8 min.

At this point, we could name the Flow, Save it and call it a day however according to CNN, adding in 2 minutes of movement is just as important, but remember, this is a guideline so you can play with the times as desired. I noted I cannot add a second Recurrence inside of this Flow, but I can add a Scheduled delay of 8 minutes so that I a) know when the 8 minutes stand up and work round is done and b) trigger the Move for 2 notification/action.

Click +New Step under the Notification task, and select Add an Action. 

Type or locate Delay in the Choose an action dialog box.

Select Schedule - Delay from the Actions list.  

In the Delay action dialog, set the Count to 8 and set the Unit to Minute (default). 

NOTE: This will cause an 8 minute delay in the execution of this Flow

Click +New Step under the Recurrence task, and select Add an Action. 

Type or locate Notifications in the Choose an action dialog box

Select Notifications - Send me a mobile notification from the Actions list.  

In the Text field of the Notification, enter Walk for 2 minutes.

Provide a name for the Flow in the Flow name field located at the top of the Flow page (I called mine Go!) and click the Done link.

Resolve any errors if you get any and await your reminders which should appear at the top of the hour, followed up 8 minutes later with a reminder to Walk for 2 minutes as scheduled Mon-Fri. Now, do yourself a solid and place a description on the Flow as follows:I've been using since 9am this morning and by noon, I'm already anticipating my next reminder but it's noon so I should go hunt some lunch. In the words of Todd Rundgren, "I can do this all day!"

Here's a snap of my phone with the notifications showing: 

Cheers to your heath and Happy Flow'ing!

Jennifer