Sharepoint list auto export to excel

[Anonymous]

Would anyone have a flow suggestion that will, in Powerapps, when a button is pressed, that the data from my SharePoint list could be exported to an excel workbook and then send the excel file as an attachment in Outlook? 

[v-bacao-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I have made a test on my side and the flow works well. Please take a try with the following workaround:

1. Use Get items to get all the items, then configure the insert row, and insert the contents of the corresponding field of the list item into the corresponding Excel table.
2. Configure Get file metadata/Get file content to get the file name and file content respectively.
3. Configure the content obtained above in Attchments.

Image reference:

Please take a try.

Best Regards,

Barry

[Anonymous]

@v-bacao-msft Thank you for the tips! Do I need to have an excel workbook already created? 

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

Yes, you need an Excel file that has already been created, which needs to contain an Excel table.

Best Regards,

Barry

[v-bacao-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

Have you tried the workaround I provided? I want to know if this will help you.

Or you need further assistance, please feel free let me know.

Best Regards,

Barry

[dkent]

I was attempting your solution but for some reason I do not have an action to insert row. I only have the following excel actions,

DO I have the wrong license?

DWTK

[Anonymous]

@dkent look for Excel Online (Business) - Add a row into a table

[santee]

I'm stuck on this part (see image):

I chose OneDrive Business for Location (I assumed it wanted a local location to store the excel!?)

I chose One Drive as Document Library (same logic as above)

Now comes the tricky part .. at File ... I assumed I would choose the (already created excel file, on my onedrive) excel file that will be used to deposit the list's items (but no... i have to choose some nonsense "files" that appear there)

For Table whatever i chose i got an error.

How do i go about just : get the items of the list and dump them into an Excel file stored locally!?

[Anonymous]

@santee I suppose the file you want to write to already has a table in it. But of course you first need to find it
Do you have multiple libraries in your OneDrive (like me, I just made a test, as I normally use SharePoint)?

If you try each of them, you may find what you're looking for.
Another explanation is that you have too many files in the root directory of your OneDrive. 

I had this issue in a flow of mine (it still worked, but when wanted to change the file, I couldn't find it in that browse list). It seems there is a limitation of how many files it can retrieve. It turned out that there were more than 256 files in my folder. After deleting enough of them, I could find the file again. So I suggest you cleanup your OneDrive root folder by deleting files or moving them into a folder. Please let me know if this did the trick.

[santee]

You are correct. I had 2 'OneDrive' choices (i assumed it's just a mistake). Choosing the second one, did the trick.

I did create an Excel file, I did create a table (keeping default naming Table1). I even put my headers inside the table.

Next issue ... the flow doesn't pull all data and for some columns instead of values (text, numbers, etc) .. i get some stuff with {} and @

[santee]

How to fix this? I get these instead of the actual value ... it happens for more columns

{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedReference","Id":8,"Value":" Healthcare"}

[raeya]

Hi santee, 

You will need to use the column value in the dynamic content, let's say your column is called Weather, you need to select the dynamic content Weather value rather than Weather. 

[santee]

How do I do that?

[raeya]

Like this:

[Anonymous]

@santee in the 'add a row into a table' step, when you insert dynamic content, if your 'Weather' column is a choice field, then you will see 3 items in the dynamic content: Weather, Weather ID and Weather Value. Use the Weather Value.

[santee]

Sorry for being thick... where do i put the select? (between get items and add a row...or?)

I see what you mean by value, I chose it and it fixes all (but one) columns that were giving me {}. I did not use the sort part yet, it seems to work with the above flow + dynamic values for columns giving me the {}

My 2nd issue is for that 1 column: When i go to choose the dynamic Value for that column ... my flow ...changes (by itslef), from the picture above to the picture below 

Any ideas here?

We are getting close to have this fixed completely. Thank you

[Anonymous]

@santee you don't necessarily need a Select action, I think @raeya just used it as an example how to select the 'Value' item in dynamic content.
The flow wraps items into an Apply to Each loop when the input is more than one item (e.g. an array or a list).

What column type is it that gives you this issue? A multi-selection choice field perhaps?

If yes, it will write one row into the table for each of the selected entries in that multi choice field.

[santee]

Yes it is a multiple-selection choice fields (email, name, some other stuff for different persons). 

If i select just the name of the item, I get: [{"@odata.type":"#Microsoft.Azure.Connectors.SharePoint.SPListExpandedUser","Claims":"i:0#.f|membership|gexxxx@mycompany.com","DisplayName":"Person name","Email":"person_mail@mycompany.com","Picture":"https://mycompany.sharepoint.com/sites/sa/Resources/_layouts/15/UserPhoto.aspx?Size=L&AccountName=na...","Department":"XXXX Governance","JobTitle":"Doingsomething, XXX Governance"}].

So I'd say it's a list.

If i select DisplayName (because this is what i'm interested in)  it changes the flow (and I am not sure if this is ok)

Any other solution?

[Anonymous]

@santee if this is all you get, there was only one person selected in the list. Since it's an array (with one element), PowerApps prepares for more than one to come and wraps them into a for each loop. You can avoid this by wrapping the array (the outputs from the previous step) into a first() function as the input for 'Add a row  into a table'. Now it won't add another fore each, but will write just one row, for the first person of the (multiple) selection.
To collect the additional names, you could use a string variable and within a for each loop append the names to that variable.

[santee]

Is it possible to show me how that flow might look like. I got the first() part, just not sure how the syntax or location would look like.

Another issue: Do you happen to know how i could make the flow convert this: 2020-12-09T16:14:23Z  into this: 2020-12-09 16:14:23.000