Trying to use Office Scripts and Flow to copy from one workbook to another

[victor_lion]

I'm using Office Scripts and it's been going well, until now that I have to copy some information from one workbook, to another workbook... I can copy from one to another normally, but can't record with office scripts, looked around for some codes that does something similar, but had no luck, maybe you can help me with some ideas.

[Anonymous]

Hi @victor_lion could you please provide a picture of your flow in edit mode?

Maybe it is due to some sort of limitation, have you checked this documentation?

Thank you.

[v-alzhan-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @victor_lion ,

Sorry for I'm afraid that the scripts is not supported in Microsoft flow currently.

Best Regards,

Alice

Community Support Team _ Alice Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[victor_lion]

I'm using only a execute script, with manual start... This first script does just some edditing on text, puts filters, creates sheets and things like that.

Now I'm at a point where I have two excel archives, one that have several formulas, and the other with the data. 

[Yutao]

Hi @victor_lion ,

Unfortunately at this moment, Office Scripts doesn't support cross workbook operations yet. Please share your feedback on the following channels to make sure your voice heard. Thanks!

• https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Ideas/idb-p/MPAIdeas/label-name/excel
• https://officespdev.uservoice.com/

As a workaround, you can probably write two scripts to achieve similar goal:

• The first script reads data from the first workbook and pass to the next Run script action containing the second script;
• The second script accepts data from the first script and inserts the data into the second workbook.

Hope this helps!

Yutao

[victor_lion]

Hi @Yutao ! 

I think this might work, but I how can I send data between the workbooks?

[Yutao]

Here is one possible approach -

Firstly we'll need two scripts:

Script: "Export range"

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook, sheetName: string, rangeAddress: string): string {
  let sheet = workbook.getWorksheet(sheetName);
  let range = sheet.getRange(rangeAddress);
  return JSON.stringify(range.getValues());
}

Script: "Import range:

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook, sheetName: string, rangeAddress: string, values: string) {
    let sheet = workbook.getWorksheet(sheetName);
    let range = sheet.getRange(rangeAddress);
    range.setValues(JSON.parse(values));
}

Please note right now there is an issue with directly returning "string[ ][ ]" (return type of "range.getValues( )") from an Office Scripts function, so here I have to work around it by converting to string with JSON.stringify in the exporter and convert it back to "string[ ][ ]" with JSON.parse in the importer.

Here is the fictional flow that will copy data from A1:C4 on Sheet 1 of the first workbook  to A1:C4 on Sheet1 of the second workbook.

One limitation though, "range.getValues( )" only takes the content of string/number/boolean so all the formatting and formula will be lost. If you want to retrieve more stuff like formatting, formulas, etc., you'll probably need to write some more complex code with things like "range.getFormat", "range.getFormula", "range.setFormula", etc.

Yutao

[victor_lion]

Thanks for the help @Yutao , I'm new to javascript, so I'm feeling kinda lost... 

I want to perform search in the script, and then select all the rows on the sheet, starting from the cell I've searched for.

// Find first 3.1.1 on Sheet1
  selectedSheet.getRange("B1048576")
    .find("3.1.1", {
      completeMatch: false,
      matchCase: false,
      searchDirection: ExcelScript.SearchDirection.forward
    });

Using this code, but then I don't know how to proceed... 

[Yutao]

@victor_lion ,

Let's say your worksheet contains data in range A1:M100. And cell A10 contains "3.1.1". So you only want to grab the data in range A10:M100, right?

If this is the case, wondering if you could try something like this:

function main(workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook): string {
    let sheet = workbook.getWorksheet("Sheet2");
    let usedRange = sheet.getUsedRange();
    let found = usedRange.find("3.1.1", {
        completeMatch: false,
        matchCase: false,
        searchDirection: ExcelScript.SearchDirection.forward
    });
    let selected = sheet.getRangeByIndexes(
        found.getRowIndex(),
        found.getColumnIndex(),
        usedRange.getLastRow().getRowIndex() - found.getRowIndex() + 1,
        usedRange.getLastColumn().getColumnIndex() - found.getColumnIndex() + 1);
    return JSON.stringify(selected.getValues());
}

This script will copy the text value from the rows starting from the row containing "3.1.1" till the last row that contains data on the sheet.

Hope this helps!

Yutao

[georgechitechi]

Thanks @Yutao .

I wanted to know if instead of hardcoding range in the second script, how can I implement getSurroundingRegion() or any other method to dynamically determine table size being passed from first script.

[Yutao]

Hi @georgechitechi -

Wondering if the below solution would work for your case.

The exporter script, which will return the values (a two-dimensional string array) of the range surrounding a starting cell:

function main(Workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook, sheetName: string, address: string) {
  let range = Workbook.getWorksheet(sheetName).getRange(address);
  let surroundingRegion = range.getSurroundingRegion();
  let values = surroundingRegion.getValues();
  return values;
}

The importer script, which will first calculate the size of the target range based on the input two-dimensional string array and set the values for the target range:

function main(Workbook: ExcelScript.Workbook, sheetName: string, address: string, values: string[][]) {
  let range = Workbook.getWorksheet(sheetName).getRange(address);
  if (values.length === 0) {
    return;
  }

  let resizedRange = range.getAbsoluteResizedRange(values.length, values[0].length);
  resizedRange.setValues(values);
}

The exporter action and the importer action:

Please note in order for the Import action to take the entire array from the Export action's output as the input, you'll need to switch the Import action's input to use the entire array - click on the highlighted button in the picture:

Hope this helps!

[georgechitechi]

Thanks @Yutao 

It worked perfectly

[lucas_rodrigues]

Hi @Yutao 

How can i use range.getFormat together with the range.getValues() in the Script: "Export range" ?

Because during the process, some cells with numbers were convert from "23795871000004600003381260064996204000006754" to "2,37958710000046E+43"

Can u help me?

[Yutao]

@lucas_rodrigues -

I'm not sure if there is an easy way to include both the range data values and number formats in a single API call.

I guess one workaround is to probably call range.getValues() and range.getNumberFormats() to export an array for data and another array for number formats from the exporter; then let the importer script accept that two arrays and apply both of them to the target range through range.setValues() and range.setNumberFormats().

[Anonymous]

Hi @Yutao this script looks like what I need to copy data from worksheet to another workbook. 
I have set up the flow, and your 'exporter' script runs for me without errors, and I can see the data from the sheet in the run history. 

But when I run 'importer' script I get an error on the output related to line 2 'get range'. Could you tell me what I need to look for to correct this error. What exactly should go in address parameter field of import script...my understanding was your script is creating this dynamically or maybe I have misunderstood? I have tried different values eg J10 like in your example 

[Anonymous]

I realized my mistake, I needed to first create the sheet name in destination workbook. Thank you for script, very useful!

[Andrew_]

Hi Yutao,

It seems it doesn't show 'result' dynamic content for me, what could be the issue? 

Thanks!

[Yutao]

@Andrew_ - can you share a screenshot of your flows and maybe your script as well?

[Anonymous]

Hi, when use your code with more than 1000 rows, it send me "Range setValues: Timeout". How can I solve this? Thanks!

[Yutao]

@Anonymous - there are indeed some perf consequences when working with large datasets. Is it possible to split the imported ranges into smaller chunks, e.g., 250 rows each and make four separate Range.setValues calls?