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sharonsumner

Power Automate & To-Do - The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

A little while ago I wrote an article about Micriosoft To-Do, it’s had a massive response so I thought I'd follow up and delve a little deeper into the current Power Automate (formerly Flow) relationship that is there today and where I see this going.

So, as a connector Microsoft To-Do only has actions, no triggers yet. The Actions available are;

  • Add a To-Do - literally adds a single task
  • Get a To-Do - fetches a task by ID
  • List All To-Dos - grabs all lists you are a part of

There are a few templates, but most have very low engagement numbers;

 

image-2

 

Also a few templates such as creating a To-Do item for a flagged email are already replaced by the native features set now released in the newer outlook integration features.

So, what useful things can we use Flow Automate for that we face in everyday life with Power Automate assistance. Well the first maybe 10 solutions I designed on paper relied on the connectivity to the "Today" list, however this is not addressable, it is not returned in the list of lists from the "list all To-Dos" action and there is, as yet, no API to pull or push that data. It features on the To-Do UserVoice to get this functionality in place; a useful explanation of the intent of the My Day though shows why it is not yet available and you could consider that if it were does To-Do become too much like Outlook Tasks and actually loose its identity.

 

image-3

So, thinking then about how To-Do has become a focused middle ground between Email, Planner and a paper based scribbled focus of what you are going to get through today then where can this tool blossom with a better Power Automate partnership?

Well. I think we can already leverage other triggers and connectors to build out some powerful scenarios; my favourite is the email trigger to create a to-do to respond - the reason being its a clear indication that email has become noise - for me I get hundreds of emails a day and I know I've seen some Microsoft Project teams with thousands of emails per day. So if you can define what an "important" email is and add that to a list on To-Do to handle it then we can use the really nice To-Do interface to see the email without having to go digging through outlook (where let’s face it the search is not the fastest).

 

So, this pattern is also one of the most popular templates and looks like this;

 

image-4

 

Now, to use this flow (I can still call it that, I checked...little f) you would need a flow for each definition of important, well that just needs another step the huh 😉

 

So, to make this more useful lets add in a couple of steps and make sure that our VIP To-Do email response list can be useful for multiple types of VIPS - for mine I'm going to create a list of "important people" who qualify for getting their email into an Action now Sharon, this one matters, To-Do list.

 

To do that we are just going to add in a simple VIP SharePoint list -

 

image-5

 

In here I have a name, a couple of potential email address matches and a subject that matter to me - this means I can add logic for any combination of;

  • Name of person mentioned in Body - regardless of sender, not just gossip but maybe an out of office etc.
  • Email address match for either work or personal if everything they say is vital to me
  • Subject or Body text and work email match together - so maybe its not vital that I respond today unless they are talking about a timely event like a conference, cancelling an appointment I'm driving to etc.
  • Just the text - match any of my trigger words are you are a VIP

For simplicity then let’s just show pulling the data from my VIP list only when the first email addresses column matches - via a query in this example - but please build your own list and logic to suit your needs;

 

image-7

 

Over on my To-Do we see my new email has been converted and appears in the list for me, I also get a handy link to outlook to the exact email message

 

image-8

 

This is a pretty powerful way of being able to use Power Automate to make sure your extreme volume of emails doesn’t get in the way of what you really need to get done.

 

So, bear in mind that we currently only have 3 actions and no triggers - this has to be a relationship that will grow and grow and I'm looking forward to working with it as the new features come to both To Do and Power Automate.

 

For more about my view of the world thought a Power Platform lens visit my blog - http://power-full.blog

and #LetsGetCoffee soon @sharonsumner 

 

Comments

Hi, 

this is great! Having a simple action to list all the tasks in a list, getting the names and ids would allowo us easily to manage TO-DO from Flow. One could list the lists, then list the tasks in a list, then get task details. Would love to play around with that, but the Get All To-Dos From List is a must!

 

thanks

 

🎈🎈🎈Excellent, Thank you for great products, Power Automate, Microsoft To-Do apps, and all.

I hope more videos for everyone, no-developers, 

Anonymous

Hello,

Is there a way to configure a Power Automate flow to grab my To Do Priorities list and send it to MS Teams chat at a certain time of day? 

Thank you.

@Anonymous 

 

Use a scheduled flow then use the List to-do's by folder (V2) action to get your list. Then initialize a string variable followed by an Append to string variable action. In that action you put the stuff you want on a single line and hit enter twice (Teams does this so you can have the lines show up as different lines in the message). The append to string variable will have been put into an Apply to each automatically.

The final step would just be to use a Post  message in a chat or channel action and put the String variable in the body of the message. Hope this helps.

 

asd2525_0-1677259051288.png

 

Anonymous

THANK YOU SO MUCH! 💙💚💛

 

I have the flow configured to send once a day when I start work but do you know, by chance, how to not have it post on weekends and holidays?

 

Thanks again!

Anonymous

ssprague_0-1677281777251.png

I changed my interval from 1x/Day to 1x/Week and was presented with a day picker so now I'm good. 

THANKS AGAIN!

Edit: I didn't finish my response before you responded again and can't delete this comment. Glad you figured it out though!

 

@Anonymous 

 

In the recurrence trigger if you go to advanced options and have the interval be 1 week then there will be an option to select which days you want it to run.

asd2525_1-1677282178317.png

 

Anonymous

Hello,

Is there a way to obtain the Top 3 priorities (in order)? Right now it's picking 3 but not the top 3 priorities as listed on my Priorities list. 

Thank you!

@Anonymous 

 

How do you identify the order of the priorities in To-Do?

Anonymous

The order as displayed in the Priorities list (so I move my topmost priority to the top; second-most to second line, etc.).

Thank you.

@Anonymous 

 

I do not know of a way to do that from what I can find. The only thing I can think of would be to make a category and then a condition that will sort out all the tasks without it. That would require having to add and remove categories from tasks a fair amount though which seems less productive. 

About the Author
  • Experienced Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Office 365, Azure, SharePoint Online, PowerShell, Nintex, K2, SharePoint Designer workflow automation, PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, PowerShell, Active Directory, Operating Systems, Networking, and JavaScript. Strong consulting professional with a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) focused in Information Technology from Mumbai University.
  • I am a Microsoft Business Applications MVP and a Senior Manager at EY. I am a technology enthusiast and problem solver. I work/speak/blog/Vlog on Microsoft technology, including Office 365, Power Apps, Power Automate, SharePoint, and Teams Etc. I am helping global clients on Power Platform adoption and empowering them with Power Platform possibilities, capabilities, and easiness. I am a leader of the Houston Power Platform User Group and Power Automate community superuser. I love traveling , exploring new places, and meeting people from different cultures.
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  • I am the Owner/Principal Architect at Don't Pa..Panic Consulting. I've been working in the information technology industry for over 30 years, and have played key roles in several enterprise SharePoint architectural design review, Intranet deployment, application development, and migration projects. I've been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) 15 consecutive years and am also a Microsoft Certified SharePoint Masters (MCSM) since 2013.
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