Send email with or without MS Forms attachments

[Little-Italian1]

@Pstork1 

I have a flow that exactly mimics your blog post on sending emails with attachments from MS Forms.

This works as expected and documented.

I want to take this a step further by programming the same flow to send an email with the same content in the event that attachments are not included in a MS Forms submission.

This is required because I have a MS Form with the file upload question listed as optional, which is acceptable for its purpose, and the content within the Form still needs to be distributed by email even if an attachment is not present.

How can this be accomplished?

Attached is how I am currently attempting to create this; however, I do not know what to enter for the second condition value.

Your advice and expertise here will be greatly appreciated.

[Pstork1]

Check to see if the question for uploading attachments is Null.  If it is then there are no attachments.  But you need to do that before the apply to each loop to process the attachments and add them to the variable array.

[Little-Italian1]

@Pstork1 

Thank you for the insights.

Please see below for test results.

Dynamic content is correct in both slots.

Expression is derived simply by entering null in the expression tab and selecting null from the suggested options.

Above configuration (WITH attachments in submission): worked as expected (sent correct email w/ attachments)

Above configuration (NO attachments in submission): flow failed. ERROR - ACTION ‘PARSE_JSON’ FAILED. ERROR DETAILS: UNABLE TO PROCESS TEMPLATE LANGUAGE EXPRESSIONS IN ACTION ‘PARSE_JSON INPUTS AT LINE ‘0’ AND COLUMN ‘0’. REQUIRED PROPERTY ‘CONTENT’ EXPECTS A VALUE BUT GOT NULL. PATH “.’.

With same condition BEFORE apply to each loop (WITH attachments in submission): sent correct email text, but DID NOT include attachments

With same condition BEFORE apply to each loop (NO attachments in submission): flow failed. Same error message as above.

What do you suggest from here?

[Pstork1]

I'm assuming the loop is used to add the individual attachments to the array.  If that's true then the loop needs to be in the Yes side of the condition, not after the condition.

[Little-Italian1]

@Pstork1 

Positioned the apply to each loop as mentioned.

Flow succeeded when attachments were included in the submission.

Flow failed when attachments were not included in the submission, same error message as above.

[Pstork1]

Where in your flow are you doing the Parse JSON?  You may need to move that inside the Yes/no sections of the flow and use different schemas for when there is an attachment and when there isn't.

[Little-Italian1]

Step 1 (trigger) - when a new response is submitted (MS Forms)

Step 2 (action) - get response details (MS Forms)

Step 3 (action) - initialize variable (Variable)

Step 4 (action) - parse json (Data Operations)

When adding parse json step to yes section of apply to each loop, error message appears saying “This action cannot be dragged into for each as an action outside for each depends on it.”

When adding initialize variable to yes section of apply to each loop, error message appears saying “An initialize variable action can only be at top level.”

[Pstork1]

You need to drag the Parse JSON inside the Yes side, but outside the loop.  The loop depends on the values provided by the parse JSON.  You may just have to create a new Parse JSON inside the loop, change the actions to point to it and then remove the old one.  But it needs to be inside the condition because the schema will be different if there are or aren't attachments.

[Little-Italian1]

Flow now looks like this:

Parse JSON in if yes section holds the same schema as the prior one.

The flow worked with attachments and did not without attachments.

What else should be done?

If a parse json schema needs to be added to the if no section of the condition, how would I gather that?

[Pstork1]

What is the error you get without attachments?  Are you using any of the things from the Parse JSON in the non attachments email?

[Little-Italian1]

The error message is the same as mentioned previously (unable to process template language etc.)

I have dynamic content in the body of the non attachment email.

Looking further at the error, the condition did not use the if no path; instead it used the if yes path, thus causing the error.

Expression result reads true under condition, but it should have been false and used the if no path which would send an email without attachments.

Is there something within the condition box that needs changing? (Using the checkboxes, etc.)

[Pstork1]

Just to verify.  The value you are checking against the null is the question for uploading files right?

[Little-Italian1]

Yes, confirmed.

[Pstork1]

Then check a previous run where there where no attachments and look to see if the attachments question is null or just empty.

[Little-Italian1 · Accepted solution]

Below is the solution that worked.

According to this article, leaving the value box on the right empty will have Power Automate check if a value is present (in my case, within the entered dynamic content).

This solution is specific to MS Forms (not sure if it works with other applications, but it worked here).

I tested with 2 MS Forms submissions (one with attachments, one without) and the flow worked as desired for each test.