Office 365 Outlook Sent Emails Trigger

(2) Share

Report

Posted on by udinesh5

Hello Community,

Customer's workflow requirements are to perform certain steps when an email is sent. So we chose the Sent Items as the folder for the connector.

The Power Automate trigger happens on only certain emails and not on all emails.

The official documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/office365/ has the below as a known issue.

If there are many emails sent at the same time, some emails could be missed by the trigger due to underlying system limitations. This issue occurs rarely and is related to the mail triggers.

I need guidance on how to meet this requirement?

One obvious workaround is adding a bcc to each sent email and trigger on the bcced mailbox. This approach introduces redundancy and duplication of emails and increase storage space.

Also, the customer pefers sending emails from Outlook rather than D365 or PowerApps.
Are there any workarounds, tips and tricks?

Thanks

Dinesh

Categories:

Using connectors

Using flows

I have the same question (0)

All responses (4)

Answers (0)

Sort by

Power Platform 1919 2,254 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

Like
a
(3)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
Hi @udinesh5,
If real‑time processing is not a strict requirement, one effective approach is to use a recurrence (scheduled) flow instead of relying solely on the When an email is sent trigger.
Suggested approach

Configure a recurring flow to run every 10 or 30 minutes.

Within the flow, use Get emails (V3) from the Sent Items folder or graph api call to fetch emails within specified folder.

This approach is near real-time, not instant, but is generally more reliable for high-volume scenarios.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Haque 3,653 on at

Like
a
(2)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
Hi @udinesh5,

As you already saw the limitations, there is no direct workaround to fully eliminate missed triggers in this scenario using the standard connector. For critical scenarios, we can consider alternative approaches such as:

Using a scheduled flow that periodically queries the "Sent Items" folder via Microsoft Graph API or SharePoint actions to query the Sent Items folder for any emails not yet processed by the trigger,to catch any missed emails.

Implementing a hybrid approach combining the trigger with periodic polling to ensure no emails are missed.

I am sure some clues I tried to give. If these clues help to resolve the issue brought you by here, please don't forget to check the box Does this answer your question? At the same time, I am pretty sure you have liked the response!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

11manish 3,333 on at

Like
a
(1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
For a customer who:

Prefers sending emails directly from Outlook.

Requires reliable processing of every sent email.

Wants to avoid manual BCC actions.

I would recommend:

Preferred

Scheduled polling of Sent Items using Microsoft Graph or Outlook APIs with Message-ID tracking.

Enterprise-grade

Microsoft Graph Change Notifications + Azure Function/Logic App.

Both approaches provide significantly higher reliability than the Outlook Sent Items trigger and avoid relying on user actions such as adding BCC recipients.

If the customer is already using the Microsoft Power Platform and Azure services, a combination of Microsoft Graph + Power Automate scheduled flow is often

the simplest balance between reliability, cost, and maintainability.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Valantis 6,735 on at

Like
a
(2)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @udinesh5,

The others are correct on the approach. One practical detail to add for the scheduled polling pattern that will save you time building it:
When querying Sent Items via Get emails (V3), use the Filter query to only pull emails since the last run:
ReceivedDateTime ge '@{addMinutes(utcNow(), -31)}'

Combine this with a processed tracking column or a separate SharePoint list to log the Internet Message ID of each processed email. On each run, filter out any emails whose Message ID already exists in your tracking list. This prevents double-processing when emails overlap between polling windows.

For the Graph Change Notifications approach 11manish mentioned: this is the most reliable option for true real-time processing with zero missed emails. It requires an Azure subscription for the webhook endpoint (Azure Function or Logic App) but eliminates the polling delay entirely. Worth considering if the customer's workflow is time-sensitive.

For Outlook users specifically: since the customer prefers sending from Outlook, the polling approach is the most transparent to end users. No BCC needed, no Outlook add-in, no behavior change required on their side.

Best regards,

Valantis

✅ If this helped solve your issue, please Accept as Solution so others can find it quickly.

❤️ If it didn’t fully solve it but was still useful, please click “Yes” on “Was this reply helpful?” or leave a Like :).

🏷️ For follow-ups @Valantis.

📝 https://valantisond365.com/

💼 LinkedIn

▶️ YouTube

Was this reply helpful? Yes No