When new files created in sub-folders of Folder

[Anonymous]

I have a parent folder 'a'  and I know that this will contain sub-folders with varying names e.g 'b' 'c'. I want to recognise when a file is added to any of these subfolders.

How can I get MSFlow to recognise 'When an item is created in a subfolder of this folder' as I won't know the specific subfolders name from the start of the flow,

I tried using the 'When an item is created in this folder' but it only recognises direct children, and not children of subfolders. It is only a 2 level hierachy, as I'll have parent folder -> child folder -> child document

Thanks!

[v-xida-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Do you want to monitor if a new file is created in sub-folders of a specific folder using Microsoft Flow?

I afraid that there is no way to achieve your needs in Microsoft Flow currently, It is a known issue that file triggers won't fire for files being added inside of nested folders inside the folder you select.

If you would like this feature to be added in Microsoft Flow, please submit an idea to Flow Ideas Forum:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Ideas/idb-p/FlowIdeas

More details about known issues and resolutions in Microsoft Flow, please check the following article:

Known issues and resolutions

Best regards,

Kris

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this is a new feature since this post, but it's still listed as a known limitation and I've gotten it to work using the trigger - "When a file is created (properties only)".  In the Folder field, I select main folder/subfolder.  Then, for any folder I create under subfolder, I can add a file to it and it will trigger the flow.  Then, later in the flow, I use the Get file content action so I can get the attachment itself.

[Anonymous]

This did NOT work for me?! 

[Anonymous]

This is a simple Flow I tested and it triggers to send an email when a file is uploaded to Folder1 or to any of the subfolders under it.  I'm using SharePoint Online.

[Anonymous]

Hi

I think we talking cross purposes here. I thought this was to do with the "File System" flow trigger. 

Here is my flow that is not working on subfolder changes. 

I have since looked into the issue and as v-xida-msft mentioned this is not currently possible. 

[josh2]

has anyone had any luck with this flow with dropbox as the trigger

[Anonymous]

I never got it working i'm afraid.

[rupach]

has anyone had any luck with this flow with sharepoint as the trigger

[Anonymous]

Yes @rupach - see my earlier comment.  I use it with SharePoint Online - When a file is created (properties only).

[rupach]

thank you for your reply. 

could you please help/guide me on my below requirement...

Requirement: 
Share Point has multiple folder structure with nested folder in it and each folder has a group of users and one business owner for the complete folder structure. (Shown in the example below)

I need to implement a flow which triggers an email notification to its corresponding business owners requesting to Approve/Reject when an item/file is created in a folder/sub folder.

Once Approved/Rejected I would need to update the file status on the SharePoint based on the response to the email.
How do i achieve and specify folder specific business owner emails in the flow.

Implemented: 
I have implemented a flow which sends an email when an item/file is created in any of the folder and status is also updated on the SharePoint as per the email response.

Road block: An email is triggered to parent  business owners from the folder structure when there is a file created only in a child  folder where it is supposed to send an email to that particular business owner when/where a file/Item is created.

Ex: My issues in the below scenario
1) The email to business owner A only when the file is created in Folder A and Sub folder B, where as it is supposed to send the email  only to Sub Folder B.

Folder A (Business Owner A)
     File 1
     Sub folder B (Business Owner B)
        Sub folder B File 1
     Sub folder C (Business Owner C)
        Sub folder C File 1

Folder A	Sub Folder A1	Sub Folder A2	Email Trigger
When an new file is added	N	N	Email only to Folder A business Owner
	When an file is created in Sub folder A1	N	Email only to Sub Folder A1 Business Owner

I have tried to achieve this by creating an Custom List on Share point where Custom List has all folders and sub folders with their corresponding business owner email id’s. I had created an file in sub folder A1 and I tried to filter the sub folderA1 from Custom List ,I am not finding any function to retrieve sub folder A1 from folder path and use that as a filter condition to filter custom list. 

Could you please guide me what I am missing and also help me with the solution ?

[Anonymous]

@rupach  Can you use the entire folder path as the key on your Custom list instead of just the subfolder?  For example, your Custom List key field that you would use to retrieve the Business Owner could be Folder A/Sub folder B.

That's the easiest way.  If you need the Custom List key field to be just the subfolder, then you'll need to use some functions in your flow to find the last backslash of the folder path and determine the text from the last backslash to the end.

[rupach]

I tried to use the functions in flows but nothing helped me out. Could you please give me detail explanation of the answer..

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@rupach  Can you use the entire folder path as the key on your Custom list instead of just the subfolder?  For example, your Custom List key field that you would use to retrieve the Business Owner could be Folder A/Sub folder B.

That's the easiest way.  If you need the Custom List key field to be just the subfolder, then you'll need to use some functions in your flow to find the last backslash of the folder path and determine the text from the last backslash to the end.

---

[Anonymous]

Your Custom list should look something like this:

FolderName	Business Owner
Folder A/Sub Folder B	John Doe
Folder A/Sub Folder C	Jane Smith

Then you don't need any function to retrieve the subfolder from the folder path.  The folder path will match the FolderName field in your Custom list.

[rupach]

Thank you this solution help me. Only concern is i have multiple nested folders with in sub folders. In this case length will be high.

[PavelRozenberg]

Thank you!

It did the trick for me 😉

[Christopher555]

Hi

I too want to automate a process of moving CVs (Resumes) from an SFTP to a SharePoint Site document folder.

However Jitterbit, which I am using to move the CVs to SFTP is filing them under sub folders. So subfolder name is the role name and the CV is the applicants name with whatever extension (doc, pdf, etc).

However my Automate will not trigger and of course I do not know the role names therefor the sub folder names before hand.

I am only using MS Automate because my Graph API access has limited abilities/access!

I have a work around, I am going to save the CVs with RoleName_ApplicantName then use a flow to create the file in SharePoint in a folder/ApplicantName format in SharePoint (using the underscore to indicate where it folder splits from file) but my SFTP site is going to get messy with 1000's of orphan CVs!

Thanks in advance for getting this on next development.

Christopher

[cindyc]

Guys,

I was also able to verify that using Sharepoint Trigger "When a file is created (properties only)", will drill down into sub folders and find the newly created file.  I just follow it immediately with a Sharepoint "Get file content" action and it works great. In fact the files that are created are 4 subfolders deep from the root folder, so this is exactly what I needed, thank you!,

CC

[tirandagan]

This is a very much needed feature. Unfortunately your link to the forum does not allow me access - I am a heavy users of Power platform - both for my company (where I am not an Admin) and for a domain I own. Neither accounts allow me to sign in and even view that flowidea page you provided.

[ques0buffet]

if you google 'flow ideas' or 'power automate ideas' it will direct you to the correct page.