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Sorting files into various folders based on an Product Code

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Posted on by Robert_Jeffs

Hi there,

Love Power Automate Desktop and find it super powerful, but have trouble building flows on my own. This time is no exclusion.

I have a number of Products which have 4 (or so) images in a folder.

Each photo is labelled eg>MZWOK_01, MZWOK_02 etc. Example below.

I'm trying to find a way to take the Product Code (MZWOK) and move all the associated MZWOK files to that directory. And doing this in a loop to capture all the products and files. I have a list of the product codes at hand so can reference that if needed, I've also run a macro through excel to create all the folders, i just to move the files into their corresponding folder! below is the beginnings of the flow I started, but got a bit lost...

thanks for your help!

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Instead of read from excel A2, first, “get first free row” on column A, the read A2 to A and %FirstFreeRow - 1%. Also, do this first, and label it %Folders%…as I understand it, this will be a list of your product codes. Each file starts with this product code and each file that starts with this product code needs to move to a folder with the same product code.

Next, define the %FromPath% and %ToPath% using set variable. The %FromPath% is where all the images currently reside. The %ToPath% is where all the product folders reside you want to file to.

Now, we simply loop on the product list to “Move files” that start with each product code to the corresponding folder.

For each %Folder% in %Folders%
If file exists %FromPath%\%Folder%*
Move files %FromPath%\%Folder%* to %ToPath%\%Folder%
End (IF)

End (Loop)

It should loop through each product code and if it finds any files, move them to the new folder. Best of luck!

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Robert_Jeffs 6 on at

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Hi @MichaelAnnis
Thanks very much for your response, appreciate it!

A couple of questions:

1:
I can see two variables that are very similar to each other %Folder% and %Folders% although I can't see where the first one is created?

2:
Are %ToPath% and %NewPath% the same? I can't see where %ToPath% is utilised in the loop.

Thank you again for your help, i really appreciate it!!

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ryule 929 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Could you loop through a list of product codes, and in the loop, have your "Get Files" Action file filter look like this? And use that list to move the files...

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Sorry, yes, %ToPath% and %NewPath% was an error...I changed it later and missed a correction...I will edit the post. %Folders% is made from "Read excel A2 to A and %FirstFreeRow - 1%.

%Folder% is meant to be a single item from the list %Folders%. By default, if you run "For Each" on %Folders%, it will default to %CurrentItem%...my recommendation was to change %CurrentItem% to %Folder%

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Robert_Jeffs 6 on at

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HI @MichaelAnnis

I'm making progress, and i again appreciate your help. I believe I've put together everything per your suggestion, but still am having trouble. I've moved everything to a test area contained in the one spot on in a file structure on my desktop.

I've grabbed a bunch of images and renamed them as per below:
in my xls, i've done the same:

the flow runs, but does nothing, images are still in the Images_All area after running. Below is the flow after having embraced your suggestions to letter (at least i hope to the letter!)

any idea where i might be going wrong? thanks again for your help, i really very much appreciate it.

thanks again

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ryule 929 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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I believe before your "Move file(s)" action, you need a get files action from your FromPath\Folder, and then use that output for the Move Files action

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Pavel_NaNoi 1,074 on at

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wildcards "*" do not work in IF statements, that's why nothing is happening, your IF statement is never gone inside of as its looking literally for "A*" but there is no file labelled "A*" literally. I recommend removing it, should work then.

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Thank you @Pavel_NaNoi, if that is the case, then do as ryule suggests. Get Files from %FromPath%\%Folder%*.

Then, If %Files.Count%>0, Move %Files% to %NewPath%/%Folder%

Note...get files may actually error out on 0 as in "no files found." If that is the case, then I would add a LABEL (SKIPLOOP) just short of End (Loop) and put an OnError surrounding the Get Files action to jump to SKIPLOOP (therefore skipping Move Files) since there are no files with this product code.

Sorry for the confusion, sometimes * works, sometimes it doesn't, and I am not always at my computer to test these.

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Robert_Jeffs 6 on at

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Hi there @MichaelAnnis, @Pavel_NaNoi and @ryule
Once again, I appreciate all your help.

With the exception of the Label (Skiploop), I've added all the actions that were suggested, and I believe in the correct spot, and got the result below:

So the result of this loop moves everything to the ...\Images_Sorted\A folder and then errors out.

Have I put 'Get files in folder' in the correct spot?

Again, I really appreciate your help, I very much appreciate it!

HELP!!

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Did this happen on the first loop or somewhere in the middle of the run?

Can you show us the variable %Files% when it fails?

Thx, Mike

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