Update the Created By (AuthorID) Field of a SharePoint Online List Item with Power Automate

[FraserM]

Disclaimer: There are a few steps required to get this done, but the reward at the end is worth the effort.

Get Created By field GUID

To update the Created By column, we need to first find it’s Field GUID.  Because the Created By column is set to read only, we will query our list for all fields but filter them to only show ones set ReadOnlyField = true

1. Create a new Send HTTP Request to SharePoint action.  Fill in, adjust according to your tenant / match the rest.
   
   URI: _api/web/lists/getbytitle('Your%20List%20Name')/fields?$filter=ReadOnlyField eq true
   
   
2. Run your flow and open the run history, we want to get at the Outputs from the action we created in step 1.
   
   Copy the body content and paste it into a text editor of your choice.
   
   
3. Search for Created By in your text editor, and just a few lines up from where it appears is your Created By Field GUID.  Note this because we are going to need it later.
   
   You can remove the Send HTTP Request action we created in step 1 – no longer required.
   
   

Get UserID Number to write to Created By column

Created By is a person column that has an associated AuthorId field.  The AuthorId field contains a numeric value (ie: 11) which is used to populate the Created By person data.  Our end goal (soon)-- to simply update this field to the numeric value of the user we want listed in the Created By column.

First we need to get our replacement numeric value from somewhere. In the following example I look up a sharepoint users numeric value, simply by supplying their email address (in the example this was dynamic content supplied by a person column in my list called 'EmployeeName')

1. Create a new Send HTTP Request to SharePoint action.  Fill in, adjust according to your tenant / match the rest.  Let’s get some user data we can pull details from.
   
   Uri: _api/web/siteusers/getByEmail('[USER@EMAIL.ADDRESS]')
   Plug in any dynamic content that will provide you with an email address
   
2. Now that we have this collection of user data, instead of messing around with formulas to isolate the Users ID #, it’s JSON… let’s parse it.  Create a new Parse JSON action and plug in Body from the dynamic content provided by the Send HTTP Request of the step above.
   
   This guide is long enough, if you don’t know how to use a Parse JSON action / generate from sample – it’s super easy to find a how-to on the net.  Go check that out and come back.  Forgive me.
   
   The Parse JSON action will now create a schwack of dynamic content that can be selectable in future actions.  One dynamic content entry called 'Id', is the numeric value associated to the email address we provided above and exactly what we are going to plug into the AuthorId field!  But, first we must...
   
   

Unlock the Created By column

Now that we have taken care of all the prerequisites, let’s get on with unlocking the column for manual updating.  The column is locked by SharePoint automatically after a record gets updated - if you don't unlock it before attempting to update it's contents, the column doesn't get changed.

Create a new Send HTTP Request to SharePoint action.  Fill in, adjust according to your tenant/list/Created By fields GUID, match the rest.

Uri: _api/web/lists/getbytitle('Your%20List%20Name')/fields(guid'Your-GUID-goes-here-yasss')
Body: { '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Field' }, 'ReadOnlyField': false }

Update the Created By field

Now that the Created By column is unlocked, we can update its fields.

Create a new Send HTTP Request to SharePoint action.  Fill in, adjust accordingly to your tenant/list, match the rest.

Uri: _api/web/lists/getbytitle('Your%20List%20Name')/items('[ID]')
The ID you should be able to plug in from dynamic content from other actions (ie: Get Items, When a New Item is Created, etc)

Body: { '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Data.Your_x0020_List_x0020_NameListItem' }, 'AuthorId': [Id] }
For the [Id] shown, we plug in some dynamic content from our Parse JSON Action.  Note: !pay attention here to cAse.  Use the dynamic content Id (uppercase i lowercase d) -- and not id (all lowercase) when you choose.

Re-lock the Created By column

Now we can set the Created By column back to read-only.

Create a new Send HTTP Request to SharePoint action.  Fill in, adjust according to your tenant/list/Created By fields GUID, match the rest.

Uri: _api/web/lists/getbytitle('Your%20List%20Name')/fields(guid'Your-GUID-goes-here-yasss')
Body: { '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Field' }, 'ReadOnlyField': true }

I spent the better part of a day sifting through bits and pieces from various forums -- most of them producing more questions than solutions.  Hopefully, you find this helpful (and save yourself some time).

-F

[AlekPavlov]

@FraserM Big Thank you for writing this step-by-step guide. It works brilliant!

[Gman8321]

Nice tutorial.

I was able to work through some errors. But now I notice that even though my flow is working, it is not accepting the change. So I ran a flow to make the created by field not read only, went into SharePoint to update, but receive a message to fix some problems. SharePoint is not accepting the changes to the Created By or Modified By columns through Power Automate. I have a Power Automate flow to get the ReadOnlyField set to false, the Created By and Modified By fields show up in the results. In PowerShell the same fields show as ReadOnlyField set to true. So Power Automate identifies the fields as ReadOnlyField set to false, when in fact the fields are ReadOnlyField set to true.  

[AlekPavlov]

@Gman8321 Is your flow finished successfully? If yes, than than the Created By should be updated. If no, than there is an error in your flow. At my side I was having issue with Parse JSON but after it was fixed all works fine.

[Gman8321]

The flow completes successfully.  The flow action reads the property ReadOnlyField as false, and the action to update the value works. But the value isn't updated.  

As I had mentioned, I created a flow to return all columns that have ReadOnlyField set to false. That flow returns the CreatedBy column.  When I get the CreatedBy column properties using PowerShell, ReadOnlyField is set to true. So the flow action is not correctly reading the field property. 

[kmsdove]

Great tips for using send http request for other scenarios then just getting or posting some data.  I did struggle a bit at first because I wasn't using patch in the method.  I did skip parsing the JSON.  A one line body command can be used to grab the id in a compose.  Either works though.  Very helpful solution!

[Anonymous]

Can you please help me, the flow says it ran successfully, but the author doesn't change.

UnlockCreatedBy, UpdateCreatedBy and Lock CreatedBy all have te same status code = "204"

I think this might be the problem. Can somebody help me?

[Atty]

Thank you! This sorted me out perfectly.

[kmsdove]

Were you able to resolve your issue?

[SenoirB]

Thank you so much! This allowed me to move Completed items to a folder with a flow and reassign the original Created By person to it! 

[lubriz93]

I am trying to follow this and i am having trouble with the dynamic content for step two with email. I have a email column I want to use but there is only dynamic content from the trigger showing. and none from the sharepoint. It is not pulling in the Sharepoint fields. I am using a manual trigger as I only need to run this once to update the items that were added already by someone else. I need to update them to match the email in my requestor field

[kmsdove]

Are you manually running this workflow and using a get items to retrieve SharePoint data?  

[lubriz93]

I have a manual trigger and then a get item. But as you can see I am not doing something right 

[kmsdove]

Yes you wouldn't be able to see the information with a variable input from a manual trigger.  You need the id in the get items ID field.  Is Latitude a variable from the manual trigger?

[lubriz93]

I used two inputs now. I think I have it I used email and number for the ID and then ID fromt the trigger for the Id in the Get field. I am not sure if this will work 

[lubriz93]

What does the Trigger look like for this FLow. I am trying to update the created by field with the input from my "Requestor Email" column so that it updates to show the email instead of my name. I already have items in my list and need to update them all to show the correct created by which is the person who actually submitted the item "Requestor Email" 

[Power2Power]

Were you able to resolve this? 

A 'PrimitiveValue' node with non-null value was found when trying to read the value of a navigation property; however, a 'StartArray' node, a 'StartObject' node, or a 'PrimitiveValue' node with null value was expected.

I  am still getting this issue and cannot resolve it. 

@FraserM mentioned that he is using JSON but implied that there's a way using variables that he wanted to avoid. I tried using variables but I am not sure about removing the JSON code in the send HTTP actions, as I received error messages about that after placing the variables. 

Any thoughts/solutions would be appreciated!

[Richiewill83]

Thanks a lot for this guide and it’s looking like exactly what I can do

with. 

However, I am not getting any dynamic contact coming back when grabbing user data? Like the post, I have a column in my list which has the email addresses I wish to

search for. 

many ideas what I may be missing? 

[Richiewill83]

Did you manage to sort this problem? 

I am having same issue 

[Power2Power]

Hello @rl17 , not sure if this is helpful given the its been two years since you had this issue.

The problem is in this expression: Body: { '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Data.Your_x0020_List_x0020_NameListItem' }, 'AuthorId': [Id] } ... see Id is in brackets "[]" which are now used to create a multiple of something, so all you need to do is remove the bracket if you're passing a single item.

Hope this helps!

[d11scott]

Thank you for your work on this! After a lot of testing, I was able to get this to work using your flow examples as the starting point. This saved me from a big headache!