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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Find & Replace Cells t...
Power Automate
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Find & Replace Cells to check value instead of formula

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Hi - is it possible to find a specific cell(s) based on the value? It only checks the formula, can't find a neat workaround. Thanks!

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  • Nived_Nambiar Profile Picture
    18,129 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi @farb 

     

    Did you tried this action in power automate desktop ?

    Nived_Nambiar_0-1704639295954.png

     

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Nived N 🚀

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  • CU05081807-0 Profile Picture
    on at

    Of course, but it doesn't work. E.G. if you have =SUM function this action will be TRUE if you look for SUM but it won't work if you want to find the return value (number) from the SUM function 😕

  • UshaJyothiKasibhotla Profile Picture
    203 Moderator on at

    Could you please explain your. Scenario bit more and of possible please provide sample input data so that  we can get clarity 

     

  • CU05081807-0 Profile Picture
    on at

    Ok, so here is my test file. What I'm trying to achieve is to get the list of values (Column F) based on the values in (Column K). My goal in using Power Automate Desktop is to look for "TO DO" string in the (Column K). If TRUE then store the value (Column F) from the same row in a list XYZ. I was trying to do that using Data Tables in Power Automate but can't make it work.

     

    I Need the Flow to: Look for "TO DO" in (Column K) either using Data Tables or "Find" Excel Action > if TRUE then add value from (Column F) to a new List called XYZ for example. 

     

    I have the following actions prepared but need to get the list of required values first. 

     

    Thanks!

  • UshaJyothiKasibhotla Profile Picture
    203 Moderator on at

    Hi @farb 

    I have  created a flow with your requirement

    the code is as below please copy and paste the code into the PAD designer

     

    Excel.LaunchExcel.LaunchAndOpenUnderExistingProcess Path: $'''C:\\Users\\cogni\\Downloads\\X_IS_TEST.xlsx''' Visible: True ReadOnly: False Instance=> ExcelInstance
    Excel.ReadFromExcel.ReadAllCells Instance: ExcelInstance ReadAsText: False FirstLineIsHeader: True RangeValue=> ExcelData
    Variables.CreateNewList List=> List
    LOOP FOREACH CurrentItem IN ExcelData
    IF (CurrentItem['SO ship #'] = 'TO DO') = True THEN
    Variables.AddItemToList Item: CurrentItem['SO #'] List: List
    END
    END

     

    UshaJyothi20_0-1704691694309.png

     

    Hope this helps

    Usha

  • Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    What @UshaJyothi20 suggests is that you should read the data into a data table variable using Read from Excel worksheet, which is a good idea. However, building a loop to look for the value is extremely inefficient. Especially if the actual production data you'll work with is large. Once you have read the data, you can use Find or replace in data table to find the matches. Since Read from Excel worksheet will retrieve values and not formulas, you will be able to use Find or replace in data table to actually find the value.

     

    The result will be a data table that contains row and column indexes for the matched cells. These will be 0-based, so you will need to increment them by 1 (or by 2, if you make Read from Excel worksheet store the first row as column headers, and not part of the data itself). And they will for some reason be stored as strings, so you will need to convert them to a number using Convert text to number to use them. But once you've done that, you can process the matches easily.

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  • Nived_Nambiar Profile Picture
    18,129 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi @farb 

     

    In addition to what @Agnius , @UshaJyothi20  explained here, i would recommend to try Linq queries against your dataset using Run .net script action, refer the link for that below

    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-run-net-script-action-empowers-data-table-power-automate-bysani/

    It is quite advanced but would be helpful when dealing with large data 🙂

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Nived N 🚀

    LinkedIn: Nived N's LinkedIn
    YouTube: Nived N's YouTube Channel

    🔍 Found my answer helpful? Please consider marking it as the solution!
    Your appreciation keeps me motivated. Thank you! 🙌

  • CU05081807-0 Profile Picture
    on at

    Noted, thanks!

  • CU05081807-0 Profile Picture
    on at

    Appreciated, thanks.

  • CU05081807-0 Profile Picture
    on at

    Hi Anginus - I've tried the Find or Replace in Data Table action - it returns the data table with indexes of the "TO DO" cells, yes, it works however I'm not sure how to get the data from different columns on the same row - Could you please advise what actions to use?

     

    Example - Source Data Table: 

    farb_0-1704782434439.png

     

    Find or Replace in Data Table - retrieves the following data table - lookup value "TO DO":

    farb_1-1704782552983.png

    Can you please advise what actions/loops to use to return a list with values from Column 1? 

     

    Based on the source data table I'd need to have back a list with the following values:

     

    112403902
    112403903

     

    PS: feel free to use the sample sheet I sent above.

     

    Thanks! 🙂

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