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Session Id : MQ3gIXl2Q2bKXbrpF3OW9j
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate - General Discussion / Delay Action in PowerA...
Power Automate - General Discussion
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Delay Action in PowerAutomate- Best Practice?

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Posted on 16 Mar 2025 15:26:01 by JL-21120807-0 16
Hello
 
I seek your expert advice, with thanks.
 
I have a flow which automatically creates a task using Power Automate. It sends a mail to the client advising him his request has well been received. So far, all is fine.
 
I need now to send a mail to the client after a delay of 6 to 10 days advising him that the task is in progress.
 
What is the best practice to achieve same? Do I insert a delay action of 6 days in the main flow? Will that not keep the flow running for 6 delays? 
 
Please advise me how you would have sorted this request. Any other actions than Delay?
Many thanks.
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  • JL-21120807-0 Profile Picture
    JL-21120807-0 16 on 16 Mar 2025 at 19:37:54
    Delay Action in PowerAutomate- Best Practice?
    Thank you,Tom.  Actually for the 3rd flow, I am using the trigger in Planner " When a task is completed"
    Will implement on SP for the 2nd flow. Thank you once more,
  • Verified answer
    trice602 Profile Picture
    trice602 13,736 Super User 2025 Season 1 on 16 Mar 2025 at 15:42:37
    Delay Action in PowerAutomate- Best Practice?

    Hi,

    One of the best ways to do this is at the bottom of your current flow is write the email address and the time (6-10 days) to a SharePoint list with the status.  So your list will have at least 3 columms:  email, status, sendemaildate.

     

    You can calculate the sendemaildate (6 to 10 days) by using the addDays() expression to get your desired future date.

     

    In a separate flow, you have a scheduled flow the runs every morning at 5 AM.  It simply checks if the item sendemaildate is equal to today's date, if true, send 'in progress email'.

     

    This is one easy-to-implement approach.  So I like to break up the flows into specific actions, your first flow creates the task and sends the acknowledgement.  The 2nd flow sends the follow-up email on a daily schedule.

     

    You could even implement a 3rd flow for the completion email, when the status is changed to completed, it sends your completed task email.  This flow could run using the trigger when an item is changed (with a trigger that only fires when the status is 'completed').

     

    I hope that helps you keep going!

     

     

     

    ------------------------------------------------

     

     

    ⭐ If this was helpful, please like and check the box below "Does this answer your question" to help others find this too!

     

     

    Always glad to help! 💯💯💯💯💯

     

    Tom

     

    Follow me on LinkedIn - Thomas Rice, PMP | LinkedIn

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