Batch Update SharePoint List With External Data 07-11-2022 11:06 AM - last edited 07-11-2022 11:08 AM

[takolota]

SharePoint Batch Update, Create, & Upsert Template

(Also an option for full dataset synchronizations with the "Full Sync" template below) 

Compared to the using the basic Apply to Each, Get items, & Update item approach on large amounts of data, this method requires a small fraction of the API calls towards the daily action limit and drastically reduces flow run-times.

It's currently set to take data from any Excel sheet and update records in SharePoint with corresponding data. It works with any potential Power Automate data-source, including HTTP API GET requests, but Excel provides a simple example.

Part of it works like a Vlookup function where it identifies if a row of updated data in Excel or another datasource matches another SharePoint key column and gets the SharePoint record ID for that match. Then it uses the batch update method to update those SharePoint records and it uses the batch create method to create new items for any records without a match.

David Wyatt's Flow Optimization Post For Loading SharePoint Records: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-5-ways-optimize-your-flows-david-wyatt/?trackingId=X9bMmnTZ2QBuu4...

Microsoft Batch API Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/sp-add-ins/make-batch-requests-with-the-rest-apis

TachyTelic.Net Blog & Videos
SharePoint Batch Create Flow
Blog: https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/power-automate-flow-batch-create-sharepoint-list-items/ 
Video: https://youtu.be/2dV7fI4GUYU

SharePoint Batch Delete Flow
Blog: https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/power-automate-delete-sharepoint-items/ 
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ImkuGpEeoo

Version 2.7 - Upsert

-Includes a batch create segment to create an upsert capability. If anyone wants to only update records, then they can remove the Batch Create section. If anyone wants to only create records, then they can go to the GenerateSPData action, remove the expression for the ID field and insert the null value expression.

-Further simplifies the set-up, removing the need to add any additional SharePoint Get items actions & removing the need for parallel branches.
-Can now work on lists with a few million items without adding more actions or branches. It also implements a faster load method using the SharePoint HTTP action as described in point 5 of this article.
-The batch loops have been changed from Do until loops to chunking into Apply to each loops so the batch actions can now run concurrently for additional speed. If you have many batches of data you want to process faster, you can try increasing the concurrency settings on the Apply to each loops containing the SendBatch actions.
-The "setting" inputs action was moved to the top of the flow to help accommodate the new streamlined set-up.

-A SP HTTP call now automatically fixes some issues with referencing the correct list name.

-Faster list load time.

-If you need to batch create &/or update hyperlink columns, check this post

-Adds another HTTP call to get the site users into an object indexed/reference-able by email addresses & gives an example of how to use that to batch update a person column. Anytime the updated source dataset has a blank or an email value not found in the top 5000 site users, it will replace any person in that item with a null value.

Updated set-up screenshots & instructions in this post: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Cookbook/Batch-Update-SharePoint-List/m-p/2225500... 

Full Sync V1.1 (Combined Upsert & Batch Deletion Sync)

The SharePoint Batch Full Sync template pulls in all the SP List & Source data to perform a batch upsert. But then it also adds on a Batch Deletion Sync to find & delete all the records in the SP List that are not in the Source dataset.

Now, this is initially set up to pull in all the datasource records for all batch actions in the same Do until Get source data loop. And that piece will be limited by the 100MB maximum message / variable size limits for Power Automate, so this Full Sync version will initially only work with datasources with a 100MB or less total size. But this is really only because I'm trying to keep the flow simpler for the majority of users who likely will not have datasources of many 100s of thousands of records.
If you want to further push out against this 100MB limitation, then you will need to separate out the source get data for the batch upsert section from another source get data for the batch deletion sync section. So for the batch upsert section you can use a set-up like in the main batch upsert template where it loads records with all columns 100,000 at a time (or 100 or 5000 or whatever your source dataset per load limitations are) and runs the batch upsert on each source load before running the Do until loop again to get the next source load (which avoids holding anywhere near 100MB in memory at once because it is performing things one load at a time). Then the batch deletion sync section can use a different source get data set-up similar to the "Do until Get destination list IDs + keys" section of the templates where each loop can pull a load from the source dataset & then use a Select action to select only a few of the columns to pass on to the variable holding everything in memory. Since deletions only require the primary key values, you can set the Select to only get the primary key column from each source data load & pass that onto the "Source data outputs" / variable. A full listing of all the primary key values in your source dataset will be much smaller than all columns for the entire table, so that 100MB limit should then hold a few million records worth of the required primary key data to run the batch deletion sync process.

Self Update (See the 1st comment below the main post for the zip download)

The SharePoint Self Batch Update assumes you just want to perform simple updates using only the existing data in the list and removes all the actions related to comparing two datasets to find updates. This may be much easier to use if you just want to quickly do something simple like get all the items created in the past month and mark them all with a Complete status.
But you will be limited to using just the data already in the list and any values you can manually input into the flow.

Version 1.5 - Update

This version makes it easier to handle cases where the list name may have changed since its creation and moves a few of the primary key column matching inputs to the 'settings' compose action so users don't have to look through & edit the more complicated expressions to set up the flow.

The flow can easily expand to any size of SharePoint list by adding more Get items actions and batch update parallel branches. If speed is a concern for anyone, there are ways to make the Get items actions all load in parallel too (up to 50 branches). It's really only limited by how much effort people want to put into their flows & lists.

Google Drive Link to Flow Zip Files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10p7EB730xsEj-azVYuTIuu8dS0w-AflR/view?usp=sharing 

Google Drive Link to Text File to a Scope Action Containing The Flow: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BVGoeM5mykYlMobAyFkhuLRh3r7jMSLz/view?usp=sharing

Version 1 - Update

Version 1 Explanation Video: https://youtu.be/l0NuYtXdcrQ 

Download The Template Batch Update Flow

Google Drive Link to Flow Zip Files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10gFkycdx6zpRfrI-s_jCDwIK6dpyyDqk/view?usp=sharing

Google Drive Link to Text File to a Scope Action Containing The Flow: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e6-INUykIT22ppVh5m4kxz8us_7qXy7q/view?usp=sharing

Formulas For Random Number Columns
SharePoint Rand1To50 Column Calculated Default Value Formula:
=INT(INT(RIGHT(NOW(),2))/2)

Excel Random Column Formula:
=ROUNDDOWN(((Rand()*100)+1)/2, 0)

If you have trouble importing any of the flows using the standard legacy import, you can also try importing a Power Apps Solutions package here: Re: Batch Update, Create, and Upsert SharePoint Li... - Page 25 - Power Platform Community (microsof... 

Thanks for any feedback,

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@tylerkolota?si=uEGKko1U8D29CJ86).

And reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kolota/) if you want to hire me to consult or build more custom Microsoft solutions for you.

watch?v=QCkjQy6sHZg

[takolota]

@BenVdP 

Sorry, more complex expressions in Select statements often get messed up with the copy & paste.

You’ll want to import the flow the normal way. See the start of this video for importing a similar flow:

https://youtu.be/HiEU34Ix5gA

[Yi66]

here, i'm using same template for create instead of update. It went succssfully, but no output record been generate in the list. Here is myflow.

[takolota]

@Yi66 

This update template is not set up well for batch create, I definitely suggest checking @Paulie78’s material at tachy telic for the batch create template:

https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/06/power-automate-flow-batch-create-sharepoint-list-items/?amp

[wskinnermctc]

I looked at your flow, and can't tell what exactly is the issue, but I would check your siteAddress and listName. They are used differently in the batches and in some places the things like underscores _ or spaces ' ' need to be replaced. However, sometimes it depends on if your list name has changed. You can use the updated Batch Update that separates sharepoint list webaddress vs sharepoint list view name. Then change the items where it is used.

For a quick try solution, go to the expression in the GenerateSPData step in the _metadata field.

Original Expression Below:

json(concat('{"type":"SP.Data.', replace(outputs('settings')['listName'], ' ', '_x0020_'), 'ListItem"}'))

 Change the expression to:

json(concat('{"type":"SP.Data.', replace(replace(replace(outputs('settings')['listname'], '_', '_x005f_'), ' ', '_x0020_'), '-', '_x002d_'), 'ListItem"}'))

This should help accommodate the underscores in your sharepoint list name.

In the SendBatch step make sure you select your Site Address: in the dropdown instead of trying to use a custom value reference from the settings. I found that never worked for me.

Hope this helps,

[Yi66]

yes, sorry for confusion. I am download his template and literally just replace my site address and list name

[Yi66]

I tried both, it still not work,  and the whole flow run through so fast in couple secs. it supposed not that fast. Isn't it?

[wskinnermctc]

So @Yi66 it seems there will be more trouble shooting to find your problem. To keep from blowing up the comments on this post for an unrelated issue you should make your own post stating your issue and provide a little explanation and screenshots of the results. Then tag myself we can look at your flow on your own post. 

[takolota]

@wskinnermctc @Yi66 

Thanks for jumping in skinner as I’m only able to intermittently check this while working on other projects.

And good point, @Yi66 should probably start a forum support thread in the Building Flows section.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/bd-p/BuildingFlows

I think we should get a picture of @Yi66’s Send batch or Results action output in a flow run, then work backwards from there.

In a later update, I may need to include the better error handling set-up I use to force the flow to fail when the Send batch action contains failed parts of a call.

[Yi66]

I did just recreate another thread. please chip in there. Thankx

[takolota]

I added the expression I use to check for sendBatch failures & return the results if there is a failure. That should help anyone who wants to implement better error handling for that action.

if(
or(
or(
or(
or(
or(
or(
or(
or(
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '400 Bad Request')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '401 Unauthorized')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '403 Forbidden')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '404 Not Found')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '408 Request Timeout')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '409 Conflict')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '500 Internal Server Error')),
contains(base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']), '502 Bad Gateway')),
base64ToString(body('sendBatch')['$content']),
'')