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Delete email attachments from Dataverse (Dynamics 365 Sales/Service)

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Posted on by Marcel Lathouwers

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After scouring the web for a solution to remove email attachments in bulk without affecting the original messages, I finally discovered a way to achieve this with the help of power automate. In this post, I will share my method with you.

The attachment tables in Dataverse (there are more than one) are not easy to delete from. The standard Dataverse connector cannot handle this task.

The overall flow looks like this

The dataverse action is just a little trick to get the URL to the environment where the flow is running. This way the rest of the flow will use dynamic references and no hardcoded URLs

Then I determine a cutoff date. From all emails older than this date the attachment should be removed.

Then two HTTP actions follow. There was a name change recently and currently called 'HTTP with Microsoft Entra ID (preauthorized)'

I like to use this connector for fancy stuf that you can do with the Dataverse webAPI, but not with the dataverse connector.

The first HTTP call gathers the attachment. Of course, you can create your own filters here.

The second HTTP loops through all the found attachments and executes a delete action.

https://@{uriHost( outputs('Get_Dataverse_BaseURL')?['body/@odata.context'] )}/api/data/v9.2/activitymimeattachments(@{items('For_each_attachment')['activitymimeattachmentid']})

Remember to set the concurrency in the Apply To Each settings.

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Microsoft Dataverse with Power Apps

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Ethan_009 4,838 Moderator on at

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Hi @Mglat ,

This looks like a nice approach.

I remember, there are 2 Tables (1 is on the Email Attachments grid which can be added/deleted and 2nd one is internal attachments which still holds the attachments even if its removed from Email grid. Now, these attachments which is internal entity that cannot be modified/deleted and even flow cannot perform the delete operation)

Therefore, I used Action which used to call the Plugins and these were combined with a scheduled Flow or batch processing 100GB+ data.

By using plugin, I was able to delete on attachments within internal entity and it was easier and faster.

Thanks

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wikap.dk 13 on at

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Thanks Mglat!
I managed to replicate the flow (using a "When record is selected" trigger). Hopefully this will free up the file attachment space we use 🙏.

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urfandurrani 5 on at

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Hi,
This looks exactly like what I have been searching for, thanks!
Since Iam new, can you elaborate on the step after the recurrance, for getting the dataverse base url?
Is this a get row by ID action, on a specific table and row
or is there a specific component that I need to use?
Is the URL the environment URL (e.g. http://<environmentname>.crm11.dynamics.com )?

Thanks in advance
Urfan

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wikap.dk 13 on at

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I just initiated an variable where I hard-coded the environment URL (making it flexible in the steps afterwards)

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urfandurrani 5 on at

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Great, was thinking that but the icon in the image above confused me (its a dataverse icon isnt it?)
So the variable value is something like: e.g. http://<environmentname>.crm11.dynamics.com

Urfan

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Acorr 4 on at

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Hello such a useful tool and I have looked for something like this for a very long time.
I need help with the Get Base URL Step. Would you please detail how you created this?

Thank you again

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Marcel Lathouwers 237 on at

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Hi @mcgeeardee
The 'Get Base URL' is a Dataverse List rows action. Just point it to a table that will have records in it, e.g. the accounts table.
Get just 1 record to reduce the data. the output of this step is then used to create the URL path in the expression
uriHost( outputs('Get_Dataverse_BaseURL')?['body/@odata.context'] )

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Acorr 4 on at

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Thank you so much for your help here, its very much appreciated.
Best regards

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carterbarry88 64 on at

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Hi there,

Thought I would add my two cents here. Potentially there has been an improvement in the connector since this was posted, but I was able to delete a record from the "Activity Mime Attachment" table using the Dataverse Connector.

It is possible to select the "Attachments" entity in the drop down list. Note there are 2 entities named "Attachments". In my environment, it was the first one. To make sure of your selection, "peek code" and ensure that the action is pointed at the "activitymimeattachments" entity. I was able to point the following Dataverse actions against the table:
- Get row
- Delete row
- List rows

After running the action, the attachment was removed from the email record
Hope this helps someone

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Piny21 2 on at

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Hi @carterbarry88 ,

Can you please explain in the details? or some more pic pls?

I would like to delete the attachment , the problem is i'm getting error while "Delete the record or update the record".

I got the rows,

After the execution ,

I really appreciate if you can help.

Thank you!

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