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Connecting Outlook Flagged Emails to Planner Tasks

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Posted on by JimSutt

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I am looking to link flagged emails in Outlook 365 to Planner tasks. The sample Flow "Create planner tasks for flagged emails in Office 365" creates a Planner task from a flagged Outlook email, however upon completing the Planner task, the associated Outlook task remains open. Therefore, I am attempting to extend this flow to capture the Outlook messageId within the Planner task, and then create a second Flow that triggers upon completion of the Planner task, completing the associated Outlook task.

My initial flow:

Can someone help me with the code to extract the string after "OutlookMessageId="so that the second Flow will be able to use it to find the associated Outlook task?

Thanks,

Jim

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Building flows

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JimSutt 203 on at

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Alternatively, if there is a cleaner way to capture the Outlook messageId within the Planner task, I'm very open to suggestions.

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v-litu-msft on at

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Hi @JimSutt,

Your method is brilliant, I have created a similar Flow with your first Flow, and then I create the second Flow to get the OutlookMessageId, you can create second flow following these steps:

split(body('Get_task_details')?['description'],decodeUriComponent('%0A'))[0]

split(outputs('Compose'),'MessageId=')[1]

Run result:

After you get the OutlookMessage ID, you can use it to get the original email.

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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JimSutt 203 on at

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Hi @v-litu-msft ,
Thank you so much for your detailed response and kind words! I don't fully understand your two split() commands, but I attempted to use them as you instructed. I was unable to get the Outlook Task and I tried several things to update both my first Flow and your instructions. In every case, the job still failed.

My first assumption in viewing your split() code: I assume the code will split Planner task Description field using 'MessageId=' as a delimiter. Therefore, in the first flow, I moved the Outlook message Id in the Planner task Description to the end (see screenshot):

Flow2:

and

*Note: I updated your second split() to use 'OutlookMessageId='. If my first assumption is accurate, then this update is not needed but the result would be the same.

Assumption #2: The OutlookMessageId can be used to find the associated Outlook Task created when the Outlook email was flagged prior to triggering Flow1.

When I initiate Flow2, if fails due to a syntax error at Get Task. Either my Assumption #2 is wrong, or Outputs from Compose_2 is not correct.

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v-litu-msft on at

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Hi @JimSutt,

Yes, the 'MessageId=' is a delimiter.

Sorry, I don't know you are using the Outlook task, the task ID is not the message ID, if you input the Message ID to get task, it could not found the task.

I guess you may need this trigger When a task is added:

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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JimSutt 203 on at

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Hi @v-litu-msft ,
I think I am confused as to how Outlook categorizes flagged emails. My desired workflow is as follows:
1. Outlook: Manually flag email for follow-up
2. Flow: Automatically generate a Planner task from the flagged email
3. Planner: Manually update the task when completed
4. Flow: Automatically mark the Outlook flagged email as complete

In Flows "Add an action" dialog under "Office 365 Outlook" I do not see an option to update/mark the email flag as complete. Therefore, I assumed that Outlook created a Outlook Task from the flagged email. I appear to be incorrect. Is there a way to mark the flagged email as complete via Flow?

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JimSutt 203 on at

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Hi @v-litu-msft
I believe I found the Flow action needed: Office 365 Outlook - Flag Email. However, when I attempt to get the Outlook email from the MessageId that I stored in the Planner Task Description, I get a 400 error.

Error details: Bad Request - Error in query syntax.
clientRequestId: 01432ba0-69de-4f94-886f-10bd089dd1ae
serviceRequestId: 3d57f561-4a7a-4050-8b61-fca5de791add

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JimSutt 203 on at

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@v-litu-msft
I've successfully been able to get the flow to work! However, it only works when I embed the email message ID in the first line of the Planner Task Description field. Can you suggest a modification to your logic in Compose_1 that will take all lines of the description field? Per my updates on 10/18 of this thread, I moved the email message ID to the end of the Planner Task Description field to reduce the chance it would be modified by the user.

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JimSutt 203 on at

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Since I'm referencing the Outlook MessageId at the very end of the Planner Task Description field, I combined the two Compose sections into one with the following expression:

split(body('Get_task_details')?['description'],'OutlookMessageId=')[1]
Everything works!
I now have two flows: one to automatically generate Planner tasks from flagged Outlook emails, and one to mark flagged Outlook emails as completed when the linked Planner task is completed.

Thank you @v-litu-msft for all your assistance!

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Gleslie611 2 on at

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Hi there

Sorry, would I be able to get the full flow to capture flagging an email, pushing to planner then on completion of planner task, mark flagged email as complete ??? Many thanks in advance

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JimSutt 203 on at

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Hi @Gleslie611
The following is my complete flow. Note this flow does NOT include attachments from the email. While I haven't implemented it, if you want to include attachments, you will have to integrate the solution from the following URL into this flow

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Community-Blog/Create-Planner-Task-and-Include-Attachments-From-Outlook-Email/ba-p/245121

Flow 1: Create Planner Task from Flagged Email
In the Title field, expression is:
if(empty(triggerOutputs()?['body/Subject']),'Task for flagged email',substring(triggerOutputs()?['body/Subject'],0,min(length(triggerOutputs()?['body/Subject']),255)))

Flow 2: Complete Flagged Email when Planner Task is completed
Expression in the Compose element:
split(body('Get_task_details')?['description'],'OutlookMessageId=')[1]

*Note: In the Condition element, if no, there is no further action.

Hope this helps! It's messy to store the Outlook MessageId in the body of the Planner task, but there's currently no fields to link them.

-Jim

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