Answered

Delete files after 3 days - flow works except gives an error.

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by tobrien1

I wrote a script in Power Automate to automatically delete files after X amount of days that the file was created. It deletes the files, but gives an error:

This is what my flow looks like:

the Expression i'm using is adddays(utcnow(),-3,'yyyy-MM-dd')

Categories:

Building flows

I have the same question (0)

All responses (5)

Answers (1)

tobrien1 10 on at

Like (0)

Report

This is in the gov't cloud if that makes any difference

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

ScottShearer 25,270 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like (0)

Report

Can you post a screen shot of a run with the error that shows where the error happened.

Also, you would be better of using a filter query rather than a condition - then just loop through and delete everything returned.

Filter query would look like this:

Created lt 'addDays(utcNow(), -3,'yyyy-MM-dd')

Finally, you don't need a Flow at all for this - SharePoint will do it for you automatically. First, go to Site collection features and activate Library and Folder Based Retention Feature. Then go to the library settings and click on Information management policy settings. Click on Document and add a retention stage that deletes documents after a specified period of time.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
tobrien1 10 on at

Like (0)

Report

I've tried it that way and again the files delete, but the same error message and failure point:

I did take your advice and turned on Library and Folder based features and set the retention, but i'd still like to know why my flow fails. Thanks for your help.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
ScottShearer 25,270 Most Valuable Professional on at

Like (0)

Report

@tobrien1

Are all the files deleted that match your criteria even though you get the error or is it failing on a single file all the time?

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
tobrien1 10 on at

Like (0)

Report

All of the files that should be deleted are gone, so the flow works it's just the error that is bugging me.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No