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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Copy File from Sharepo...
Power Automate
Answered

Copy File from Sharepoint to Desktop Folder - no Gateway

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Posted on by 10

I'm trying to create a flow that will automatically print a newly submitted Microsoft Form.

I have the cloud flow set up and working - it parses data from a form, populates a word document template, saves it, then converts it to a PDF file and saves it in a specific Sharepoint site/folder with a unique filename.

 

I have a basic Desktop flow created that sets a default printer and can print a word document. I think I generally understand how I can pass a variable between cloud flow and desktop flow that could contain the filename, file ID, etc.

 

Where I'm getting lost is how to connect the two for printing of the document which I believe requires copying the sharepoint file to a local folder on desktop - then have the desktop flow print the document. Most of the information I'm finding references the use of File System - Copy File and gateways, but I understand that gateways are getting deprecated and we need to move to direct machine connections.  I do have a machine connection setup. I can't find and/or don't understand the mechanism to copy the file from Sharepoint to a local folder on a connected machine running PAD without the use of gateways.

Any help would be much appreciated.

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  • Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture
    53,970 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

    Hi @HVAdmin 

     

    If you are able to pass the parameters to the Desktop flow, you should just be able to access the SharePoint location directly from your Desktop. Or is this a case of your desktop doesnt have access to the SharePoint?

     

    And honestly I use this instead of the cloud flows to interact with my files if I needed to

     

    While the actions are in Preview on the Desktop, personally thats what I would do and skip copying it with the Cloud version since you know you are doing something on the Desktop with it anyway

    SharePoint - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn


    If I have helped you, I would really appreciate if you please Mark my answer as Resolved/Answered, and give it a thumbs up, so it can help others

    Cheers

    Thank You
    Michael Gernaey MCT | MCSE | MCP | Self-Contractor| Ex-Microsoft
    https://gernaeysoftware.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgernaey

     

  • Verified answer
    HVAdmin Profile Picture
    10 on at

    I had looked at the Sharepoint actions-  specifically Copy File - but that only allows copying to a different location in Sharepoint.

    After reading your suggestion, I had a look at those actions again and realized that I could pass the filename as an input variable to the Desktop Flow, and then use Sharepoint action - Get File Content Using Path combined with Sharepoint action - Convert Binary Data to File to copy the file to a local folder then print.

    Thanks for the assistance!

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