Copy unique items between two SharePoint lists via Flow

[AgnieszkaPoland]

Hi Everyone,

(I will try to post my problem once again as seems that my last post was marked as spam 🤔 )

I’m working on a flow that should help me to:

1. automatically copy chosen data from Source List to Copy List
2. automatically update the chosen data in Copy List in case of any changes in Source List.

I already studied thousands of articles, YouTube videos and even post in this community but still cannot move out from the 1st point.

(Btw, I also followed this post but cannot deal with it: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Copy-and-Update-data-between-two-sharepoint-lists... ) 

The structure of both Lists looks like that:

 Source List (around 30 columns & 1000 lines) – example of some columns / lines:

PDT	Business Process (Title)	Feature	Session	Session Code	Business Process Link	Business Process Status	Target Date
PLN	PLN_BP1	ABC	S1	1	PLN_BP1_Link	Completed	dd-mm-yyyy
PLN	PLN_BP1	DEF	S2	2	PLN_BP1_Link	Completed	dd-mm-yyyy
PLN	PLN_BP2	GHI	S2	2	PLN_BP2_Link	Not Started	dd-mm-yyyy
OMS	OMS_BP1	JKL	S3	3	OMS_BP1_Link	Under Review	dd-mm-yyyy
OMS	OMS_BP1	MNO	S3	3	OMS_BP1_Link	Under Review	dd-mm-yyyy
OMS	OMS_BP1	PRS	S4	4	OMS_BP1_Link	Under Review	dd-mm-yyyy

Copy List (around 10 columns, only unique ‘Business Process’ values):

PDT	Business Process (Title)	Business Process Link	Business Process Status
PLN	PLN_BP1	PLN_BP1_Link	Completed
PLN	PLN_BP2	PLN_BP2_Link	Not Started
OMS	OMS_BP1	OMS_BP1_Link	Under Review

So I started to build automatic flow - focusing at first only on coping chosen data (later I will think how to add an action to update the line in case of any changes in Source List):

I added Get Items action and choose the fields that I would like to move from Source List to my Copy List (for test purpose, I choose only one field as once I choose more fields, I'm getting different errors).

All columns in both lists have the same headers. 

As I’m only interested in unique Business Process, I put a below Condition

Nevertheless, in this condition:

Yes: Business process doesn’t exist in my Copy List, Create item

No: Business process already exists in my Copy List, no action required

In the end, flow ran successfully but data is not copied.

Do you have any idea what I’m doing wrong?

Will be grateful for your support 🙂 

[creativeopinion]

@AgnieszkaPoland It seems like your Business Process field is a single line text field (can you confirm this) If the data isn't being copied, it could mean there isn't any data there. Can you share a screenshot of your flow run?

I would recommend that you insert a Compose action above your Create item in Copy list action to troubleshoot your issue. You can use this Compose action to store the Current Item being looped through. I cover that and a few other troubleshooting techniques in this YT Tutorial: 5 Power Automate Troubleshooting FAQs and Helpful Tips for Creating Better Flows

In this tutorial I cover:

✅ How to troubleshoot a false Condition action result

✅ How to get dynamic content when it isn’t selectable from the list of dynamic content

✅ How to troubleshoot an Apply to Each action that isn’t looping through

✅ How to troubleshoot a skipped Apply to Each action

✅ How to troubleshoot a Filter Query

✅ How to use a SharePoint yes/no column in a Filter Query

✅ How to use Compose actions to troubleshoot a Power Automate flow

✅ How to troubleshoot multiple emails being sent

✅ How to troubleshoot multiple Teams messages being sent

Hope this helps!

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[AgnieszkaPoland]

Hello @creativeopinion ,

Thank you very much for quick reply. 🙂

Yes, Business Process field is a single line text field (as I read that this is the best option). Is it wrong?

Thank you also for the link to YT tutorial - to be honest, I spent hours on youtube but didin't find your channel before. I will explore it 🙂

For now, I'm afraid that I'm not good enough to understand this compose action - really don't know how to use it. Need to spend more time on it. 

If it comes to the flow - this is what you would need?

Source List isn't empty - there are several test lines. 

Copy List is empty - as I want to make sure that once new Business Process appears in my Source List, new item will be also created in the Copy List (however, I want to keep only unique values).

[creativeopinion · Accepted solution]

@AgnieszkaPoland The screenshot you shared shows that the your Create Item action didn't run. This is because in the YES branch of your flow, you don't need an Apply to Each action. Your condition argument is if there aren't any items returned from the Get Items action—to create an item. 

By placing your Create Item action inside an Apply to Each action—the action will never run (there will never be any items to loop through).

I would assume the reason you have an Apply to each action is that you are pulling content from the Get Items action—this will not work. As mentioned earlier... the flow will run actions in your YES branch of your condition if no items are found. Trying to use dynamic content from the Get Items action isn't logical. 

The Create Item action needs to be outside of an Apply to Each loop. You will need to use the dynamic content from the flow trigger—not the Get Items action. 

Hope this helps.

[AgnieszkaPoland]

Thank you @creativeopinion !

1) I have a refference to 'When an item is created or moditied' - ok.

2) I have remove Apply to each - it works! 🎉

(funny thing is that I was not able to do it for the first time - I had to try 3 times but finally did it !) 

Thank you once again, I'm keep on working on the next steps 👩‍🔬