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SiobhanS
New Member

Send email 30 days before date. Can't get examples to work.

Hi, I realise this topic has been posted a lot about before, but I have been through all the relevant examples I can find and I can't get anything to work. I'm new to flows so can't workout whether the problem is my library setup or that I'm doing things wrong, but help would be very much appreciated (before I go crazy!)

 

I have a library of instruments in need of calibration. One of the columns is ‘Next calibration due’ and is calculated using ‘Date of last calibration’ and ‘Calibration interval’. I would like an email to be sent to me when ‘Next calibration due’ is 30 days from today.

library.png

I've put in an item which I should get an email about when this flow runs correctly.

 

It seems a common way to do this is to get files (properties only) and add a filter query equalling the column value to the date desired. When I do that I'm told I cant use this column for this as it's a calculated column.

 

Filter problem (2).png

 

I've tried to filter the array, but I either get an email sent to me for every item in the library (incorrect), or it runs successfully but I get no emails, also incorrect. I can see that the variable is being calculated correctly so the error must be somewhere in the comparison. I've tried 'equals/contains/starts with' my variable to widen the net, but no difference. 

Array Filter (2).png

 

I made a separate column with the reminder date so I could just compare that to today's date but it made no difference, and using the condition function on the properties makes no difference either. 

condition.png

I have also played with the 'yyyy-MM-dd' or 'dd/MM/yyyy'  format of the variable, but to no avail. 

When I receive the emails the information for 'Next calibration due' is in the format: 2021-05-21T23:00:00

I don't know if having the time in there is messing things up, but the settings on the column is 'date only', so I'm not sure how to get rid of the time if it is. 

 

Thanks, any help would be very much appreciated

 

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Accepted Solutions
SiobhanS
New Member

Dont know why microsoft accepted that as a solution. It didn't work, i just gave up for now because I suspect the issue is deeper rooted in how my library is set up

View solution in original post

7 REPLIES 7
tom_riha
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hello @SiobhanS ,

you can use the 'formatDateTime()' expression also on the 'Reminder date' to format it in the same way as the variable. Also, I'd use 'is equal to' operator instead of contains, but both should be fine I suppose.

And one more improvement: you can move the filter directly into the 'Get files' action, there's a field 'Filter Query' where you can define a filter to return only files where the 'Reminder date' is equal to 'Today' in the format below:

[Reminder date] eq '[Today]'

Notes:
[Reminder date] is the internal name of the column with reminder date
[Today] is your variable with today's date

And if you're not sure what format to use in the conditions, try to store the 'Reminder date' into a 'Compose' action anywhere in the flow, then you'll see in the flow run history what format the date has.

 



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Thanks for your response. 

Where do I put in the format date time? My column name is not available as dynamic content, so it is just recognised as 'not a string', with the following error: 

"Unable to process template language expressions for action 'Apply_to_each 2' at line '1' and column '14843': 'In function 'formatDateTime', the value provided for date time string 'Nex_x0020_Calibration_x0020_Due' was not valid. The datetime string must match ISO 8601 format.'."

 

Sadly I also can't move the filter directly into the get files action as it's a calculated field, it gives me this error: Filter problem (2).png

 

tom_riha
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hello @SiobhanS ,

you can use the new 'ReminderDate' column in the filter. 

Or if you want to go through the formatDateTime() way it should be used in the condition on the 'SendReminder' dynamic content. You might need to add 'Compose' action before the condition, store the 'SendReminder' dynamic content into the 'Compose' action, and then use the formatDateTime(...) on the output from the 'Compose' action. Sometimes the dynamic content is not available directly when building a condition. It should look similar to the example below where I'm comparing 'Created' date with today's date.

image.png



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SiobhanS
New Member

Dont know why microsoft accepted that as a solution. It didn't work, i just gave up for now because I suspect the issue is deeper rooted in how my library is set up

wagnerneto
Regular Visitor

I've similar issue!

Sparty
Frequent Visitor

Ηello! Did you manage to sort it out? I have the same issue and i am going nuts tbh. Thanks!

tom_riha
Most Valuable Professional
Most Valuable Professional

Hello,

if the date is in calculated column then you should replicate the whole calculation in the 'Get items' action and ignore the calculated column in the flow. I wrote a blog post on this some time ago that explains the approach: https://tomriha.com/power-automate-reminder-using-date-in-sharepoint-calculated-column/



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