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Initialize variable action missing expression editor in Microsoft Teams client on macOS (updated)

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Posted on by lzandman

Note: see my updated findings below...

I want to initialize a variable with the current day number. So I added an "Initialize variable" action to my Flow, filled in the Name and the Type fields (type is String). However, I cannot get the Value field to accept expressions. The expression I think I need is:

formatdatetime(utcnow(), 'dd')

But when I enter that, the value will be the literal text "formatdatetime(utcnow(), 'dd')". I searched on the internet and found examples of flows that display a separate expression editor. But that isn't displaying for me. Does anybody know how to use expressions in the "Initialize variable" action?

Screen Shot 2021-03-27 at 22.32.35.png

Update: I noticed the expression editor popup does display when editing Flows in a web browser. However, when I'm editing from within my Microsoft Teams client (macOS) it doesn't. After some more testing it appears the expression editor popup only display when the Teams client window is large enough. When the Teams client is displayed full screen on a default Macbook 13 inch. display, the expression editor doesn't appear. The responsive design of the Flow editor clearly fails.

Now, in addition to getting this responsive issue fixed, I think using a separate popup for the expression editor is bad UX. If a field supports expressions, the field itself should offer a way to trigger the expression editor. This could be as simple as adding a link just below the field that opens the expression editor.

Categories:

Building flows

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lzandman 28 on at

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Is there an official issue tracker where I can report such bugs?

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alrezac on at

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Hi,

I can pass this along to be taken a look at but unfortunately at this time we do not have any public facing tracking of bugs. If you find a bug we usually suggest to report it in the following forums: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/I-Found-A-Bug/bd-p/BugFound

Regards,

Alex

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Community Support Team _ Alex Rezac
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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lzandman 28 on at

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Thanks. I hadn't yet seen the "I found a bug" topic. Will post there.

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Community Power Pla... on at

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I have this same problem. I'm reading lots of articles on the Internet about how to set a variable to a formatted datetime in Power Automate, but in my case it just sets the variable to the literal string "formatDateTime(utcNow(),"MM/DD/YYYY")".

Just like the original poster here, I don't have an "Initialize Variable" action, and my "Set Variable" action only includes variable name and value, it doesn't have the function editor that I see on screenshots online.

I don't think this is a bug, and therefore the advice to report it as a bug shouldn't be the accepted answer here. Can someone either advise how to turn on this functionality in the desktop version of Power Automate, or confirm that this functionality is missing and that we have to use the browser client?

Thanks.

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