.

[pramod10]

.

[Rhiassuring]

Hi there,

Yes, I think this is possible. Here is what I'd recommend after you have all of your responses in your SharePoint List:

Step 1) Get Items (no filter.)

Step 2)  Initialize variables: 

- strEmails (empty),

- intIndex (value: 0),

- intPeopleCount (value expression: sub(length(outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']),1) ),

- intCompleteGroups (value expression: div(variables('intPeopleCount'),4) )

- intPeopleIndex (value: 0)

Step 3) Do Until: 

- intGroupIndex equals intCompleteGroups

Step 4) Inside the Do Until:

IncrementVariable - increase intGroupIndex by 1

Step 5) Add another Do Until: 

- intPeopleCount equals 4

Step 6) Inside the second Do Until:

IncrementVariable - increase intPeopleCount by 1

Step 7) Append to String Variable: strEmails, use expression:

outputs('Get_items')?['body']?['value'][variables('intPeopleCount')]?['Author']?['Email']

(I'm using the Author field, you can use whatever your people field is.) 
Add a ";" after the expression.

Step 😎 Decrease intPeopleCount by 1.

Step 9) Outside of the second Do Until, create an email. (I'm using a Compose in place of an email so I don't spam myself, since I'm the only person in my tenant haha.) In the "To" field, place the strEmails variable. In the body of your email, where you want to callout that one individual in the group, use another expression: outputs('Get_items')?['body']?['value'][variables('intPeopleCount')]?['Author']?['DisplayName']

Step 10) Set intPeopleIndex back to 0, set strEmails to empty (just put a space in there.) 

💡Intermission 💡

And all that will produce however many groups of complete sets of 4 that there are.

Now, for the remainder....

Step 11) New "Do Until"..

- intPersonCount equals -1

Step 12) Append to string variable. strEmails - same as before, but with a hardcoded 0 this time: outputs('Get_items')?['body']?['value'][0]?['Author']?['Email'] with a semi colon after the expression.

Step 13) Decrement variable - intPeopleCount by 1,

Step 14) Finally, outside of that Do Until, your last email. (Mine is a Compose again instead of an email.)

====

🖥Screenshots 🖥

Overview: 

Group & People Do Untils:

Final Do Until & "Email":

[Rhiassuring]

I also feel like @ScottShearer or @VictorIvanidze or @tom_riha will have a sleeker way to do this .... I couldn't find a "give me the last 4 x in an array" anywhere, so I want to reach out to them....  

I got it to work but you shouldn't have to go through all that work if there is a more efficient way...

[pramod10]

@Rhiassuring  Hey, thank you so much for your solution. However, I would like to point out that some of the steps names you wrote is different from the screenshots you shared. For example, "intIndex", there is no mention of it in the SS. Please let me know which are the correct ones.

Anyways, I followed your steps from the Screenshots, the flow failed in the last step where emails are supposed to be sent to the leftovers of 3 group people. Everything worked fine for the 4 group people but last step gave me an error. I am sharing the ss of the error. 

Please let me know how i should solve this error.

Thank you again for your efforts. I really appreciate them.

[pramod10]

@Rhiassuring  did the flow was working for you till the last steps?

[pramod10]

@Rhiassuring  Can you share the ss of your flows in more detailed way( each step and maybe their expressions)  just to make sure I got everything right?

Thank you again.

[pramod10]

@Rhiassuring HI, so I managed to correct the mistake and flow ran for me successfully. However, the last email group didn't have 3 people group. Just had one person.

Let me explain, what I wanted to achieve. Suppose I have total 13 responses(with their email) in my sharepoint list. Now, according to the current flow, it will send 4 emails in total. The first three emails will have 4 people group but the 4th email will have only one person which I am afraid I dont want. I want my flow to work in a way, like for example right now, there is only one person left so I want the flow to take one person from two 4 people group to make a 3 people group in the end. If there are 2 people left then flow should take one person from one 4 people group to make a 3 people group. If there are 3 people left, then send them emails as it is. So, ultimately, I want to have atleast 3 people group if 4 group people is not possible. 

I hope I made my point clear.

If you know how to achieve this task, please help me.

Thank you again.

[pramod10]

sorry for bothering you again, however, the flow worked when I put only my email in the whole list. But i ran flow with different emails and this time the flow ran but the first four people got the same emails and rest of them didnt get any emails. so it repeated the first iteration and didnt move to the next one. 

[Rhiassuring]

Here are detailed screenshots of each step (and you're right, I changed the name of intIndex to intGroupIndex and forgot to update.)

 

===

Yes, my flow worked all the way through when I tested it. The error you've run into is in the last item - note that it is a hardcoded 0, not a variable in the last item. (Per the details of Step 12.) 

Question: How many people were in your list when you ran it? If you had 9 people in your list, then as of right now, 1 person would get an email on their own because you have 2 groups of 4, and 1 leftover.

I've run mine with 21 people, I have 5 groups of 4, and 1 person leftover (so one email.)

I'm reducing my list to 19 to see what I get...

So with 19 people, I get 4 groups of 4 people, and 1 group of 3 people.

Are you hoping that it will just stop if there isn't another full group of 4?

[pramod10]

So, my expectation is if there are only 9 responses recorded in the list then, as per the flow we make two 4 people group but one is left. I dont want anyone to be left alone in the group. I need atleast 3 people group. As in this case, we have 9 responses , so the flow should check it will impossible to make a 4 people group without leaving the last one. so the flow should make group of 3 people now because we have only 9 responses however if we have 13 responses, then the flow can make one 4 people group, three 3 people group. And if we have 2 people left in the group then the flow should take one person of any 4 people group and make a last 3 people group. If I am making these groups for the sole purpose of having meetings and with one person in the group, the term meeting is useless, it doesnt make sense. I hope you get my point and if you know how to deal with this scenario, please let me know. Thank you.

[Rhiassuring]

I do get the point, thank you for your explanation. 

In that case, all you need do is the following: 

Before you move into the final Do Until, identify the amount of leftover people. Add a condition that says if intPeopleCount is equal to 2 (the values start at 0 so 2 really means 3 people) then you want to do the final Do Until & Email - if it isn't then, you want to email yourself or someone else. 

So it is just a condition, with your Do Until on the "Yes" side, and your "not enough people" actions on the "No" side.

[pramod10]

Sorry I dont quite get the idea. I apologize but I am really new to PowerAutomate. Could you please show me how it is done? thank you and my sincere apologies for all the trouble.

[pramod10]

@Rhiassuring I copied the entire tiles and did exactly as you did but there is a problem with the output, the flow only taking the first 4 people and running the iteration for them only, it is sending emails to the whole list, just the first four, do you know how I can fix that problem?

[Rhiassuring]

It is very difficult to know what the issue is when it is a complicated flow and I don't know what you have input. Are you able to show screenshots of how you have configured it, so I can ensure it matches the above? A single missing character could be the difference. Or placing things into the wrong Do Until. I can confirm from my tests that the following happened: 

- Every group of 4 that was created received an email (to all 4 users in the group, for all 5 groups individually) with one person noted as Lead. (Keep in mind that in my screenshots, I use "Compose" as a fake email since I don't want to spam myself.) 

- The left-over people receive an email with the final person. 

As for the Condition for the "less than 3 people" -- the variable called intPeopleCount counts down until there are 0 people, right? So at the end of all the groups of 4, that number will tell us how many people are remaining. Since arrays start at 0, though, consider it +1. 

So all  you need to do is create a Condition. Is intPeopleCount equal to 2? If it is, use the "Yes" path, and add the final "Do Until". If it is NOT equal to 2, then go down the "No" path. You could send yourself an email, or just end the flow. 

[pramod10]

 Here are the screenshots of my flow, I am also writing the expression value in the box for your reference.

[pramod10]

Here is the ss of my SP list 

[Rhiassuring]

Ah - I forgot we had a sub() on our intPeopleCount, so, the final condition should be equal to 3, instead of 2. My mistake on that one.

"first 4 people and running the iteration for them only, it is sending emails to the whole list, just the first four, do you know how I can fix that problem?"

For only the first 4 people? Can I see your Get Items configuration and an example of your Groups Do Until output?