Create Unique Planner Tasks from Outlook Emails

[nmegan]

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can help me.  I have created a flow to create a planner task whenever I receive an email with a specific subject line. However, I only want the task to created ONCE.  What happens currently is, the original task gets created but then an employee who will follow up with me at a later point with the same subject creates additional tasks.  Is there something I can do to only create a unique tasks?  Attached is my current flow.  I'm new to power automate so appreciate any guidance. 

[edgonzales]

@nmegan 

Hi there.  So an easy fix might be to switch your trigger to focus on a folder other than your inbox, then create a rule in Outlook that looks for the same subject but then excludes any emails that have "RE:" or "FW:" at the start of the subject, and the action for that Outlook rule would be to move the message from the inbox to the folder that your flow is watching.

You could also do a condition in Power Automate to check the subject, but the above method will save you runs as it will only trigger on qualified messages.

Keep us posted.

-Ed

If you liked this reply, please give it a thumbs up! If this reply has answered your question or resolved your challenge, please consider marking it as a Solution. This helps other users find it more easily via search.

[nmegan]

Hi @edgonzales 

Thanks for your quick response.  I would prefer to set a a condition in Power Automate to check the subject only because I am afraid the field team will forward me the paperwork from the customer so I am nervous to exclude RE: and FWD in the subject.  Do you have any pointers on how to set the condition?  Would I insert an action before the create planner task action?

[nmegan · Accepted solution]

I found the solution in another thread... for anyone else who comes across this post read this thread: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Check-if-a-Planner-Task-exists/td-p/180342

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @nmegan ,

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the solution.

Best Regards,