Hello, I am having trouble with a flow that is creating duplicate excel table rows from a single SharePoint list input.
I have created a flow that should create a new excel table row any time a new item is added to a SP list, or modify a cell on an existing excel table row anytime the respective SP list item is modified.
The issue I am having is that when an item is added to my SP list, many duplicate rows are created for that item on the excel table. I have tried this a few times, and seen anywhere from 4-10,000 duplicate rows created. I am guessing that I have incorrectly a trigger that continually loops after a row is created, but I am not sure how to fix this.
I have looked for similar threads on here and found some, but none with solutions that work for my flow.
I have included screenshots of my flow, excel table, and SP list below. Any help would be appreciated!!!
I don't know why you have the Apply to Each in the flow. Seems like the trigger would be 1 item and therefore it will be the only thing either being added to an excel table or updating an excel table.
I made a test example and created an item and also modified an item and it worked for both.
I have an EmployeeID column that is in the excel table and another employee id EMPLID column that is in SharePoint. I use the filter array to search for the EmployeeID in the excel table to see if it matched my sharepoint item EMPLID.
The condition checks if the filter array is empty. If the filter array is empty, then a new row needs to be added. If the filter array has something (EmployeeID matched EMPLID) then that means the row needs to be modified.
Put the Key Column and Key Value in the "Update a row" step and it should update the row that matches the EMPLID.
Let me know if this worked for you
Thanks for your response! I tried this solution but it still seems to be duplicating rows like crazy, I am not sure what I am doing wrong.
I also noticed that with this flow, when I modify a SP list item (added "er" and "High" to a couple of Fund Portfolio Names), rather than modifying an existing excel row, a new row is being created:
Ok @Mwhitti1 this was driving me crazy because it is so simple. I finally figured it out.
There are two ways to do this. Really only 1 good way to save additional steps, but a second way just to show where our problem was.
Method A (current) - Get List Rows - Filter Array - Must set the number value from SharePoint to String
Method B - Get List Rows and Filter the Odata
Method A is what we have been using. Whenever you use the filter array step, it is reading the Excel number as a string, so you have to convert the comparable SharePoint number to a string.
Method B - Filter the Odata during the initial Get List Rows step
You can go ahead and filter the Get Rows using the Filter Query option and put the number from SharePoint in the box.
This removes the additional filter query step, and it also prevents the additional data to get all of the rows from excel in the first place.
This should work, let me know if you have any issues.
Thank you so much for the help! So, I tried method A and the duplication issue has been resolved. Any new item added to SP is successfully added to my excel table. However, I notice that if I modify an existing SP line item, it creates a new excel table row, rather than modifying the respective row (based on matching CUSIP). Did you have this problem when testing? Thank you!!
Wow, It still makes duplicates?! I have just tested this every which way I could think, and I couldn't get it to duplicate rows.
So for some reason your SP Item CUSIP value is not matching the value that is in Excel in the filter array. There has to be something going on with the format of the values, or you aren't getting all of the rows in the Get List Rows step.
What is the column type of your SharePoint Cusip?
- Number? Text? Currency? Calculated?
- Does it have additional formatting?
What is the column type of your Excel Cusip? Does it have additional formatting like hidden decimals?
Below I’m Outlining Some Testing Options:
- Try Method B: Filter the Odata during initial Get List Rows Step
- Start Fresh and Retry:
- Add Compose Statements to Review Outputs
Method B: Make the flow with the filter on the Get List Rows step.
This will completely remove the filter array step and maybe show if it is the filter causing the issues. Also you don’t have to change the value to a string in this step and can remove more potential issues. This is probably the quickest test option.
Start Fresh and Retry:
The first thing I think you should do is create a completely blank new excel test book and table, then create a completely new Flow from scratch with the exact same steps (It's only like 5 steps so not that much work, and don't use the copy and paste clipboard.) Then test the new flow. Add brand new items to the SharePoint list to see if they create rows in the new excel table. Then edit those new items. (Don't edit current items, you want to make new items, so it is all brand new stuff going into the new test table.)
See if you still get duplicates.
Having to recreate a flow that is stuck/broken is really common. I've had complex flows that were previously working and after I make an simple edit like switching sources or sharepoint lists, it won't work correctly. It's not that there is an error you made in the flow, it's just something that is stuck that you can't see breaking it. Literally had someone add columns to a list and they wouldn't show in the flow no matter what. They remade the flow and it worked fine.
Extract Values into Compose Statements to Review Outputs:
If you still get duplicates with the new test table and flow. Check to see how the values look in the flow by making compose statements. Put the SP CUSIP into compose statement before it's in the filter array. Then make a separate parallel step after the List rows and put the Excel Cusip into a compose (It will apply to each row) so you can see how that value comes out. (In my testing I even put compose compare statements.)
Hopefully this can show you why values aren’t matching up.
If you do these steps and it is still giving you duplicates, take a screenshot of the outputs of the filter array values and the test compose values and maybe we can spot why it’s not working.
Below I'm showing the new test I made and didn't get duplicates.
This is my beginning excel table. I put additional Cusip format columns so I could see what they look like in the filter array in the flow.
Below is the flow where I added different compose steps that way I could review them in the outputs after the flow runs.
RESULTS:
Below is the result of the edit I made to the 999999999 Cusip row. It didn't duplicate, only edited the changes.
These are the outputs of the flow show the SP Item value in Compose statements. The value comes out of SharePoint as an integer since it is in a number column.
Here is the filter array and you can see how the values look when they come from excel. Even if it is in an excel format type column they all appear as "999999999" strings. The update row works normally as expected.
Here are the results of my parallel compare compose steps. It basically shows the values come from Excel as a string. When comparing the SP CUSIP to an Excel value they never equal if nothing has been changed (bc SP is an integer and Excel is a string).
If the SP CUSIP is changed to a string then it will equal any of the excel formats.
This is really driving my crazy for why your flow is not working. It must be some really small hidden item that we can't see.
I hope you can test some of these options and get it working. This is not a difficult flow whatsoever, so it is really strange that you are getting these outputs. What a mystery, probably something simple I'm not thinking of.
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