Flow that doesn't run often - how to keep alive?

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Posted on by KNP

How do I get around issues like this? The flow runs when new entries are created in a SharePoint list. It isn't used that often but I don't want it to be disabled if not used.

We noticed that your flow has not run at all in the past 90 days. If it does not run it will be turned off in 30 days.

We just wanted to check in and see if you need any help enabling and automating your scenario. Here are some helpful resources that can help you get started:

Flow name: Leave Requests

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @KP-22072113-0,
one way to prevent the flow from being disabled due to inactivity is to keep a lightweight “heartbeat” or secondary flow. For example, you could have a helper flow that periodically creates a dummy record in the list, (delay) waits for ~30 minutes (or whatever time window suits your main flow), and then deletes that same record.

This ensures the flow always has activity, even if there are no real requests, and keeps it from being turned off automatically. It also doesn’t affect real data since the record is created and cleaned up in the same run.

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KNP 45 on at

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Thanks for the reply.

The trouble with that method is, this flow triggers approval requests as soon as the record is created.

I don't want those being sent out to managers.

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @KNP ,
Thanks for pointing that out. As mentioned, one way around the approval trigger is to design the dummy record in such a way that it routes only to you (or another test account) instead of going to the actual managers. That way, the flow still gets executed and stays active, but it doesn’t disturb the main users or generate unnecessary approvals in the live process.

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André Arnaud de Cal... 546 on at

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Hi KNP,

I do agree with Power Apps 1919 about using a dummy periodically. You can put a condition in your flow that will decide to go into the approval route or take an early exit of the flow run. In that case no manager and even not you will receive a notification for approving a dummy item.

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