Trying to filter specific filetype email attachments to go to specific folders inside a sharepoint

[Boinz861]

Hi All,

Been wracking my brain for the last 4 days trying to get this thing working. Essentially I have an existing flow that:

Takes email attachments >> Sets a variable for file name >> sets a variable for timestamp >> then creates a new file based on outputs inside a sharepoint with a "timestamp" - Filename . "Extension".

However the problem i'm running into is emails with pdf's and png's are added to that folder, when I only want pdf's to go to that sharepoint folder

I was trying to take advantage of the variable i made to see if it would properly filter only pdf files but it always add png files as well to that folder.

I've tried switch, conditionals, attachment content type, attachment name, ends with .pdf, ends with pdf

even tried an equals contains(pdf) inside the switch parameters. Nothing I do singles out the specific file type to go to a certain sharepoint folder, it just grabs all the attachments in the email and throws them all with a timestamp in one folder.

[ekarim2020]

Hi @Boinz861 ,

Please take a look at this short tutorial:

How to Save PDF Email Attachments to a SharePoint Document Library Using Power Automate

Ellis
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[Boinz861]

The issue is that only saves ALL attachments into a single folder, I'm trying to get specific file types into one folder and another set of file types into another folder.

Even when I try to set a condition for AttachmentName ends with PDF, and have 2 different conditions, if the email contains any other file ADDITIONAL to pdf's it will default to a no condition and move all files from the email into my "non pdf folder" for example.

[ekarim2020]

Hi @Boinz861 ,

You can use a Switch action to take a different action based on the file extension.

For example:

 

The flow would resemble the following. A compose action is used to store the file extension, which is extracted from the filename: 

 

The expression to get the file extension is:

last(split(items('Apply_to_each')?['name'],'.'))

Hope this helps.

 
Ellis
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[Boinz861]

Getting the following error:

Flow save failed with code 'InvalidTemplate' and message 'The template validation failed: 'The inputs of template action 'Compose_GetExt' at line '1 and column '2453' is invalid. Action 'Apply_to_each' must be a parent 'foreach' scope of action 'Compose_GetExt' to be referenced by 'repeatItems' or 'items' functions.'.'

[ekarim2020]

Hi @Boinz861 

The Apply to Each loop in your flow is named "Apply to each 2"

So the expression to get the file extension needs to be modified to reflect the name of the loop:

last(split(items('Apply_to_each_2')?['name'],'.'))

For more info about this, please see: 📝Short Notes: Illustrating the Item() and Items(‘Apply_to_each’) function in Power Automate

Ellis
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[ekarim2020]

Please also expand on what is happening in the actions of these loops (please show the actions and expressions used). We don't want to use Apply to Each loops here, and this can be avoided using some expressions.

Ellis

[Boinz861]

Sorry I renamed the expression with the Apply to each_2, and it ran but still both attachments (pdf and png) appeared in the folder instead of getting separated:

Rather than expand everything, I'm using the exact same steps outlined here in this thread to add a timestamp and filename to the created file, only difference is I have the timestamps before the filename:

Solved: Manipulate filename from email attachment - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

[ekarim2020]

Hi @Boinz861 ,

Here's a tip to help debug the current flow.  Create a simple test flow.

But turn off the current flow first or both the current and test flow will run at the same time.

Then create a new flow for testing purposes, where the Apply to each loop contains a simple file create actions, for example:

 

Here is my test flow running with pdf and xlsx file attachments:

 

 

Once you get the simpler flow working, you can then add the other flow actions.

Hope this helps.

Ellis

[VictorIvanidze]

Please show output of Compose_GetExt

[Boinz861]

for the Compose_GetExt

last(split(items('Apply_to_each_2')?['name'],'.'))

[Boinz861]

Wait, can you show me what Create PDF File Action and Create XLSX File Action have as their input?

[ekarim2020]

Please ignore the Create PDF File Action and Create XLSX File Action.

They aren't used in the flow. I used them as place holder heading text to describe the actions in that section.

Ellis

[VictorIvanidze]

Hi @Boinz861,

no I mean real (run-time)  output of Compose_GetExt you can get  looking thro History.

[Boinz861 · Accepted solution]

Ok, Update.

It would appear I went about this the wrong way by following that guide Solved: Date and time stamp for renaming an attachment and... - Power Platform Community (microsoft....

All I really needed was to keep it simple like Ekarim mentioned.

So instead of getting fancy with a bunch of useless variables to grab the extension and filename and what not, using an expression to just put in the timestamp (of PST timezone) into the name via concat was good enough:

concat(formatDateTime(convertFromUtc(utcNow(), 'Pacific Standard Time' ),'yyyy-MM-dd (HH:mm:ss)'),'-',item()?['Name'])

and now this cursed flow finally works, I just tested a fully loaded email with pdfs, XLS, docs, jpg, png, etc

and it actually filtered into the proper separate folders. Only the pdfs went to one folder and every other file type was moved to the desired folder. Not sure why my original flow wouldn't work but whatever, I'm happy.

Consider this solved.