Field change bug

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Posted on by CU16040110-0

I have a SharePoint List "Compliance Policy, Procedure, Job Aid Tracking" with a choice column called "Document Type" with a field name "DocumentType".

For some unknown reason the field name for Document Type changed to "Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ" from "DocumentType". There were no List edits that caused this. It's a schema corruption of some type I guess?

I have a flow running daily and out of the blue it failed today because the Filter Query expression was using field name DocumentType (such was the error).

Bottom line is Power Automate unilaterally changed the field name and broke the flow.

How do you fix this? Is there a way of setting the field name back to DocumentType as a non System Admin in List Settings or how do you avoid this bizarre issue?

Thanks

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Vish WR 1,725 on at

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@CU16040110-0

This isn’t Power Automate changing your field—it’s SharePoint internal column naming.

The column’s internal name (Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ) has always been there, even if the display name is “DocumentType”. Your flow was likely using the display name, and after a refresh Power Automate started enforcing the real internal name, which caused the failure.

You can’t rename internal names in SharePoint. The fix is to update your flow to use the internal name or recreate the column with a clean name if you want it simpler going forward.

Vishnu WR

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CU16040110-0 4 on at

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Hi,

So, my dopey sidekick just revealed the column was originally named something like "Policy, Procedure.." which justifies the "?Field=Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ"
The Get Items Filter Query worked however using DocumentType eq .... instead of Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ eq ...
Claude 4.6 Sonnet reckons the issue was:

What Actually Happened
When you renamed the column through the modern SharePoint UI:

The display name updated to "Document Type"
The InternalName updated to DocumentType — this is what the ?Field= URL in List Settings correctly reflected
The StaticName stayed permanently as Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ — quietly, with no visible indication anywhere in the UI

Why the Flow Worked for X Days
When you built the flow, Power Automate's SharePoint connector cached the schema and temporarily resolved DocumentType (InternalName) back to "Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ" (StaticName) internally.

That bridge held for X days until the connector refreshed its schema cache, after which it passed DocumentType directly to the SharePoint REST OData $filter endpoint with no translation.

Doubtful but may help someone

Thanks

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Kalathiya 1,962 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello @CU16040110-0,

This happens because SharePoint uses an internal column name that’s different from the display name. When the column was first created, it likely included spaces or commas, so SharePoint automatically converted it into an encoded format (which is why it looks like this now).

Once a column is created, its internal name cannot be changed.

Just update your flow and use:

Example:

Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ eq 'YourDynamicValue' //Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ - Replace with your internal column name if it's not correct

If this response resolves your issue, please mark it as the Verified Answer so it can help other community members as well.

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CU16040110-0 4 on at

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Ok thanks. The column display name was always "Document Type" and it generated the field/internal name "DocumentType" originally... and never held another value however. Column was never renamed.

My Get Items Filter Query flow worked daily since inception for 2 weeks with the expression:

`DocumentType eq 'YourDynamicValue'`

and yesterday I had to switch it to:

`Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ eq 'YourDynamicValue'`

...to get it working.

As part of my troubleshoot,I checked the field value setting in the List Settings url for Document Type and it had changed to ....?Field=Policy_x002C_Procedure_x002c_orJ

Thanks for the responses

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