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Remove HTML tags from CSV file created using Power Automate

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Hello Everyone,

I am using Get items to retrieve information from a SharePoint list and then using Select statement I am creating the mapping for the necessary columns. In this Select statement there are 15 columns selected and the number of rows created are dynamic based on input parameters.

Output of this select statement is being used to create CSV file, which is send out to user's email ID. The file contains values from different type of SharePoint columns, Text, Numerical, Multi-select, Single select, Plain text, Date field. But the problem is all mapped columns values are getting capture properly except the HTML column created as " Rich text (Bold, italics, text alignment, hyperlinks)" in SharePoint list. This column contains the output as

<div class="ExternalClassB"><a href=file link=c131b&csf=1&web=1&e=EndGIR">Actual Text</a></div>

Can someone help me how I can remove the HTML tags from this file?

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Building flows

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tom_riha 10,187 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @Anonymous ,

Power Automate has an action called 'HTML to Text', but you'd have to process all the rows in a loop to pre-process the texts, so the only solution I can think of is to switch the 'Multiple lines of text' column into 'Plain text'.

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Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee on at

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Hello @tom_riha Thanks for your response. Unfortunately I can't change that column into Plain text as it feeds in HTML data from a PowerApps linked to same SharePoint list. Users feed in embedded hyperlinks, highlight/color specific text, etc.

I however tried to convert the HTML text entries using 'HTML to Text' action, but the loop doesn't work properly when I try to add that entry to Select action inside a 'Apply to each' and later add the values to 'Create CSV' function.

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tom_riha 10,187 Most Valuable Professional on at

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That's the problem, you can't use 'HTML to Text' action together with 'Select'. Instead you'd need an array variable, an 'Apply to each', and inside the loop 'HTML to Text' and 'Append to array variable' the final object. No 'Select' as you can't preprocess any data when using select.

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eliotcole 4,390 Moderator on at

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@Anonymous, I think there's a super simple solution to this, and if you don't own (or have permissions) ask the relevant party.

Use a Helper Column

Add a column to the list that is a multiple lined plain text column.

Add a separate flow which runs on new/modified triggering only if that column has data.

Which updates that column with a plain text version (using @tom_riha's HTML to text) of whatever is in that column.

Then just pull the information from that column instead.

You can ensure that the column doesn't appear on any views or forms easily enough (I'd not drill down into that here, but you can find out how) to ensure folks don't get confused.

The other thing I'd ask is whether it *needs* to be rich text. Most folks should be able to use such fields without it.

Finally, if this flow also triggers on updates to that list ... it's not an insurmountable thing. It just requires a little more work, perhaps a separate plainTextUpdated Time and Date field to qualify when/if things happen.

* btw, it really helps if you include the whole thing in the original question

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Community Power Pla... Microsoft Employee on at

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Basically as PowerApps was my data feeder, I created a Plain text column in my SharePoint list and used PlainText function in PowerApps itself to convert the HTML text and push the data into this new column directly. Then I updated my Select operation in my original flow to pull the data from this Plain text SharePoint column. Creating a flow for any new/change was going crazy, as the flow was basically running all the time.

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