Update excel cell using ItemInternalId as key column

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Posted on by cvig

Hi,

I have a simple flow that uses Excel.

As you can see in the picture, disregarding the "list rows present in a table" part, it loops through the rows and I'd like it to update a specific cell, namely the first empty cell of the first column (it's inside the "empty(...)" condition), via Update a row, based on "ItemInternalId", since there's no other "key column" in the table. Does anybody have an idea if it is possible?

Behind this, there's an excel file that is a register where, on a single row, there are some manual/text cells and some formula cells: that's why I'm avoiding the "Add a row" action (which, I presume, would not add the formulas I need in the excel...).

Thanks and best regards.

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Building flows

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cvig 36 on at

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Well, frankly speaking I was curious to see if "add a row" would reproduce the same behaviour of extending a table manually in Excel (which automatically creates formulas), and it does, except for one thing: it does not extend formulas in grouped cells!
So I may use the "add a row" function, perhaps...

Nonetheless, I'd still like to have any idea for the former question. In fact, I also have grouped columns (with formulas), and unfortunately adding a new row with power automate does not extend the formulas in the grouped cells of the new line... so I'd still like to update with Power Automate a specific cell of an already pre-defined/pre-built table.

Many thanks.

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v-litu-msft on at

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Hi @cvig,

ItemInternalId couldn't be a key column as the Excel table, it's recommended you create another column to map the Excel table, you could use the guid() function to generate a unique id for each item. Then update items according to them.

Here is a post could help you:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14990236/how-to-create-a-guid-in-excel

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Lin Tu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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cvig 36 on at

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Thanks @v-litu-msft ,
Practically speaking, unfortunately I don't know how to implement your suggestion. Should I use the "select" data operation? Selecting only the column where there is the (single) cell I want to update? And then how can I update the cell?
I could not find anything useful in internet, looking for "power automate excel select update table map".

I apologize for my many questions.

Thanks

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cvig 36 on at

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Hi @v-litu-msft ,
I haven't got the possibility to add a new (key) column to the table itself. How could I attain the wanted update of one cell of the excel table? I'm able to map the column (with "select" action), also adding a guid column, but it's not clear to me if it is useful to update that column.

Could you please elaborate a bit more your recommendation? I don't understand if what I'd like to do (update of a i-th cell of a column) is possible, if the table has no key (but I'm able to cycle through the columns with an "Apply to Each" and recognize the item I want to update).

Thanks, to everyone would like to answer.

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