Create Planner task from .xls

[marco_popolizio]

Hello everybody,

First of all, I'm not really confident with Flow, thus please apologize for any silly question I may make.

I'd need to import details on tasks (including task name, deadline and assigned person) I have in an .xls table into Planner, but I'm not really understanding how to do it. I've tried to look online for a solution, but couldn't find any advise.

Could you please tell me what are the main steps I should follow?

Many thanks,

Marco

[yashag2255]

Hey @marco_popolizio 

You can add an action to List rows present in an excel table and reference the file that has all the details here. Now add an Apply to each control and select Value from the dynamic selector for this. Now you can add a create a task action and provide all the necessary information. 

This will get rows from excel and create planner tasks according to the information provided. 

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[marco_popolizio]

Thanks so much Yashag!
I managed to import everything but the due date, the error I get is this:

{

"error": {

"code": "",

"message": "The request is invalid:\r\nCannot convert the literal '43762' to the expected type 'Edm.DateTimeOffset'.",

"innerError": {

"request-id": "a9c30408-3ab3-487b-bcfb-3532e2bf20f1",

"date": "2019-11-06T13:14:40"

In the .xls, the dates are written as number  (43762 = 24/10/2019) and shown in date format, thus I wonder how it should be written to be accepted on Planner. How can I turn the number into into 'Edm.DateTimeOffset' format?

Many thanks again!

Marco

[yashag2255]

Hey @marco_popolizio 

Yes. This is a known issue with the excel connector. 

2 ways to resolve: 

1. Select the entire column in excel and change the data type to plain text. 

2. Follow some responses here that have shared the expression to convert that number to the date time string. https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Excel-dates-turned-into-integers/td-p/130364

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[marco_popolizio]

Thanks @yashag2255 !

Unfortunately, I can only use Excel Business (I see the other option Excel OneDrive but I cannot make the login).

I'm trying to use the expression I read in the other post ( addDays('1899-12-30',float(items('DeliveryDate')?['Date'])) ) but the error I get is:

The template validation failed: 'The repetition action(s) 'DeliveryDate' referenced by 'inputs' in action 'Create_a_task' are not defined in the template.'.

Can't understand what I'm doing wrong 😞

[yashag2255]

Hey @marco_popolizio 

In the planner action, remove the date attribute now. Only the expression should be there. Can you make this change and see if you continue to face the same issue? 

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[marco_popolizio]

I managed! 🙂

Just another question: is there a way to import tasks Notes/Comments and Labels from .xls? I don't see this field among the "Create a task" fields.

[yashag2255]

Hey @marco_popolizio 

Nope. Currently labels is not supported for tasks. You can create an idea post for that or upvote already existing ones here: 

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Ideas/idb-p/FlowIdeas

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!

[marco_popolizio]

Ciao!
Just a quick question: is it possible to have a task with multiple assignees? How should I separate the e-mail addresses?

[yashag2255]

Hey @marco_popolizio 

You can use a ';' separated string of emails to the assined user ids field and it will detect all the users from there. Are you facing any issues with that? 

Hope this Helps!

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS!