Send a reminder email based on 'Delay Until' calculated date (more than 30 days)

[LGLG]

Hi, 

I have a flow that sends out email reminders two weeks prior to a due date. It goes like this:

Due date indicated in form -> subtract 14 days -> delay until this new date -> send reminder email

When tested, this works! However, I've run into an issue where I get an error/failed flow if the date is 30 days beyond the form submission date (the trigger). From my understanding, this is because a flow can only be active for 30 days or less. 

Do I need to set up a new flow to be able to send these emails? The emails would need to contain information from the form that the user submits.

Is there a way for example to save the calculated dates to a new spreadsheet, along with other information retrieved from the form, and setting up a recurring flow based on that new spreadsheet? How can I set this up?

Thank you!! 

[v-qiaqi-msft]

Hi @LGLG,

I think you don't need to create another flow, you just need a scheduled flow to run daily.

formatDateTime(items('Apply_to_each')?['DueDate'],'yyyy-MM-dd')

addDays(utcNow(),-14,'yyyy-MM-dd')

[LGLG]

Hi @v-qiaqi-msft , thank you so much for your reply!!

Currently, the flow is doing other things as well, like adding tasks to a planner based on the form responses. That's why I didn't want to completely start over. My thought was to supplement it with a new flow to complete the reminder email task.

I do have a question about the 'Get items' action you set up: I notice that you use a list. In that case, is there a way for me to take the form responses from one SharePoint site, and save them as a list in a new SharePoint site? How do I map the responses to the new list?

Your help is much appreciated 🙂

-LG

[v-qiaqi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @LGLG，

Yes, you can.

However, here is something you should know about it:

1). You should transfer all the form data to a SP list including all the same columns with form using a flow. To achieve this, I think you could directly open MS form in Excel and transfer the excel data to SP list.

Here is a video telling you how configure the flow to save all the form response from excel to SP list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvTCu7LjHYA

2). To sync with the form response in the future, you should create another flow to add the new submitted data back to your SP list

3). Then you could use the flow configuration from Get items action

In a word, the key to this issue are data transfer and data synchronization based on form response.

[LGLG · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your assistance!! Here's what I ended up doing:

- I created a sharepoint list in the sharepoint group I wanted, as described in the video you linked (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvTCu7LjHYA)

- I created a new flow to post the items I wanted from the form into the new list

(checks for certain conditions... and if all good:)

- Then, I created another flow to check the list every day:

In the apply to each: 

-Based on certain conditions, I would send an email. 

Once an email (reminder) was sent, I had the flow update one of the columns of the list to go from 'No' (default answer) to 'Yes':

That's an 'Update item' action. 

The flow check for that 'Yes' or 'No' - It won't send another reminder if it's already been sent. 

So in conclusion, the trick was to create two supplemental flows to do what I wanted. The 'delay until' action was never a good idea, given its limitations. The better approach is to transfer your form responses to a Sharepoint list, then check the Sharepoint list in a flow and have follow-up actions happen from that source. 

Anyway, thanks again!!