Unanswered

Copilot Studio + Power Automate Excel upload not working

(1) Share

Report

Posted on by AM-26082029-0

Hi all,
I’m trying to build a bot in Copilot Studio where users upload an Excel file (for example with PartNumber, Quantity, SupplierEmail). Each time it should take the file, read the rows, and later use them in an email body.

What we’ve tried so far:

Built a Power Automate flow with an HTTP trigger → this receives the file input from Copilot.
Save the uploaded file into SharePoint with a timestamped name → so every run creates a fresh copy.
Use Excel Online (List rows in table) → to read data from the Orders table inside the workbook.
Loop through each row with Apply to each → and collect PartNumber, Quantity, and SupplierEmail into an array variable.
Return rowCount + orders from the flow back to Copilot → so the bot can use them.
Added Adaptive Cards in Copilot → to show upload instructions, summary of rows, and a Cancel option.

We also tried:

Using a Question node with “File” input type in Copilot to capture the uploaded Excel file
Passing that file into a Prompt node and binding it as an input.

Nothing has worked so far. Either the file content doesn’t pass correctly, or Copilot only surfaces metadata. There’s no proper “file upload node” beyond the chat paperclip, and the docs don’t clearly explain how files are handled between Copilot and Power Automate.

Has anyone managed to get this working end-to-end?

Categories:

General topics

I have the same question (1)

All responses (2)

Answers (0)

Michael E. Gernaey 53,442 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi @AM-26082029-0

I am not sure why you are having an issue.

Let me ask this. Where does the file come from? Is there a reason the user has to upload it? Not that, that is an issue, what you want to do is easy enough, I just ask as you were using an HTTP request which... to be honest doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

If you are only intending to use Copilot to get the file, and then essentially pass it to PA so you can process it and have it send an email, I would honestly say skip that, create a shared mailbox and email it there and process it, it's cheaper.

But if you want to build an autonomous agent, or a Conversational one that accepts the file and simply passes it to the Flow that is super easy

But I feel like I am missing... what you really want, versus you explaining what doesn't work.

I mean the like sentence you wrote at the top doesn't really explain what you want it to do overall, so its hard to show you how to write an Agent to do it the right way.

So how do you want it? Do you want it all to be inside of the Agent, do you want to pass it to the Flow as a File Record and have the flow process it. Note, the flow itself can either be an agent flow (built in) or a "Agent" flow, where it will call back into a prompt when its done.

But overall.. seems like based on your ask, the Agent is a waste.

1 people found this reply helpful.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
AM-26082029-0 4 on at

Like (0)

Report

hey @Michael E. Gernaey,
thanks for your reply.
Let me explain the use case a bit better.

This is for our procurement team – they need to email around 100 suppliers a day asking for parts. Each email includes the part number, quantity, and supplier email.
For example: “Hi, can we get ABC-123 (50 units) before [date]?”

What I was trying to do is just let them upload an Excel with those details (PartNumber, Quantity, SupplierEmail), extract the rows, and then drop them into an email body to send out through Power Automate. I’ve done similar flows before for sending emails, but this time the tricky part is pulling the data from the uploaded file inside Copilot. Yes I can create a flow for them to input everything step by step but i was trying to take it up another level and just have them upload the excel file directly to chat and my agent does the rest.

Thoughts?

Was this reply helpful? Yes No