Template for converting large CSV files to JSON, then sending the data to a table or list.
This get data for CSV works even if there are commas in the CSV data. The only requirement is the the CSV file must follow the standard of placing double quotes “ , “ around any item eith in-data commas.
Set Up
Go to the bottom of this post & download the CSVToJSON_1_0_0_xx.zip file. Go to the Power Apps home page (https://make.powerapps.com/). Select Solutions on the left-side menu, select Import solution, Browse your files & select the CSVToJSON_1_0_0_xx.zip file you just downloaded. Then select Next & follow the menu prompts to apply or create the required connections for the solution flows.
Find the CSV To JSON solution in the list of solutions. Select it. Then find the CSV To JSON flow inside the solution package.
Once in the flow, go to the Get file content action & select the CSV you want to work with. Alternatively you could use a different action to get the CSV content as text.
After selecting your CSV, go to the Compose CSV data + Set-up action. If you used a different action to get the CSV file content as text, then you will need to input the output of that action in the CSV_Data parameter value (The get file content action you use may return the CSV file as base64, in which case you must use a base64tostring( ) expression on it in the input.
Adjust the rest of the parameters for your file. For example if your CSV has extra lines at the header or footer of the sheet/file, then account for those in the HeaderRowsToSkip & FooterRowsToSkip.
After that, move down to the Select CSV to JSON action. Input the header column names on the left side of the mapping & use the expressions outputs('Compose_CSV_data_+_Set-up')['NewDelimiter'])?[INSERT COLUMN NUMBER HERE STARTING FROM 0] on the right side of the mapping to match up their values. For example in the preceding volunteer contacts CSV example, First Name was the 0 index column so its value expression is outputs('Compose_CSV_data_+_Set-up')['NewDelimiter'])?[0] and Email is the 3rd index column so its value expression outputs('Compose_CSV_data_+_Set-up')['NewDelimiter'])?[3]
After that, we need to get the JSON schema for the Parse JSON action. So go & run the flow once. Then in the flow run, go to the outputs of the Select CSV to JSON action & copy the JSON output there.
Go back to the flow editor, go to the Parse JSON action, select Use sample payload to generate schema, & paste the JSON output to the sample payload menu. Select Done.
Now your CSV columns should be available as dynamic content from the Parse JSON action & you can insert them wherever you need in the rest of your flow.
(If you can export as a semicolon, tab, or other delimited file, then you can probably just use a simpler method like Paul’s here: https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/02/power-automate-parse-csv/?amp)
For more information on the delimiter change piece, visit this previous post:
To make a flow to send any CSV data to a new Excel table with given CSV header names without any column mappings, check this template:
https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Cookbook/CSV-To-New-Excel-Table/m-p/1826096#M964
*Copying the template into an existing flow may create issues with expressions. You may need to copy the rest of your existing flow into the CSV template flow, then move the template scope where you need it.
CSV To JSON Version 3
(More minor fixes & additions.
I adjusted several expressions so it can now handle a few more scenarios with arrays in the CSV data. It should handle any array that doesn't include double quotes and any array that is all strings with double quotes, so ["String1", "String2", "String3"], but it will have issues if it is a mixed array with some double-quoted strings and some other values, for example ["String", 4, 03/05/2022, "String2"] won't work.
I also adjusted how the LineBreak setting is set-up so it now uses the /r/n for the LineBreak. I also provided this link in the flow so anyone can look up the right string for the decodeUriComponent expression(s) if they happen to have different LineBreak characters. This change also made it possible to differentiate between in-data line-breaks and CSV row line-breaks on the files I tested, so it should now replace the in-data line-breaks, like the multiple-choice fields some sites use, with semi-colons. That should make those records much easier to deal with & parse in later actions.
I also looked over a problem with in-data trailing commas. I added a line in the settings where anyone can toggle whether they want it to adjust for trailing OR leading commas in the data, it just can't handle both in one dataset. So if one column in one row has ",String1 String2" and another column in another row has "String 3 String4," then it will have errors.)
CSV To JSON Auto Columns Version 1
An additional flow version that automatically does the JSON key-value matching. Useful if you may have use-cases with dynamic CSV files that may change each time the flow is run.
If you have any trouble with the standard legacy flow import method, you can also try an alternate Power Apps Solution import method here: Re: CSV to Dataset - Page 8 - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)
Thanks for any feedback,
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@DukoDragon
Yes, if the cell is null or empty, then there will not be anything there in the CSV. It will just have a delimiter, followed by another delimiter. In this case comma comma ( ,, ).
Are you saying this is causing other issues?
I did a test run with a comma-containing field, followed by a date field, followed by another comma containing field to replicate a piece of your data, but I didn't see any issues yet.
But judging from the expression you shared, it looks like that is one of the older versions of the flow. I don't recall anything that would cause what you may be describing in earlier versions, but you can try downloading Version 3 from the comment above or from the main post & try copying your flow into that new V3 template.
Unfortunately Power Automate does have a bug copying more complex expressions in actions through the clipboard, so I can't just give you individual actions to replace in your current flow. You actually have to copy everything else in your flow over to the new template.
Or maybe you just want your end result to show a null instead of blanks?
In that case you would need to use if( ) and empty( ) and null expressions to insert null if the field is empty & insert the value of it is not.
Hi @takolota
I am testing out the flow with a dataset that onlt hast the headers + 1line, but it has 34 columns.
The issue I'm having is that for some reason, most of the time it is duplicating the delimiter:
Now, if it was doing this consistantly I can just adjust and skip every other field, however the order changes using the same layout but with different data entered into the fields.
In one data set I get the "Tercera" result in one field, and in the other it moves down one:
Any ideas?
@Reinand
I tried recreating the data from the picture exactly and these were my results...
Other than the special Spanish characters, I'm not getting any errors. And I'm not getting any double delimiters. Could you share a screenshot of the Get file content or Set-up section so I can make sure there isn't anything weird happening with your CSV file or file type. Like is there already a second delimiter for each column in the data passed to the flow?
Because none of the column headers I saw even have commas in them, so most of the expression logic in the flow isn't even used or applied.
And it shouldn't matter for the error described, but are you working with the latest version 3 of the template?
Thanks,
Great, I'm glad we were able to identify the issue!
But it does seem like all of the links still download the previous version with the different expression in the "Select Reformat file data, replace in-data commas" starting from the 31st column.
Edit:
The issue on my end was that the ',' symbol to seperate 2 columns was duplicating to the end of one field and the beginning of the next (starting fro the second field).
I managed to fix this by simply adding a condition that if a field starts with a ',' to remove it, since it already shows up at the end of the previous field.
