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Power Automate - Building Flows
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Conditional Increment Numbering

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Posted on by 12

WIth the help of Flow/PowerAutomate: How to auto increment the data... - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com) I successfully created an auto increment column for all new requests. Now I am having an issue with amendments creating a new number when entered. How to I prevent this from happening? I only want the auto increment if its a new request and not a request to change a previous request. 

The next 3 screenshots are the full flow. The 4th is the error I get. Maybe there is a better way to do this? I am still new to this. Thanks in advance for any help.

I tried to add a greater than Null conditionI tried to add a greater than Null conditionNewFLow2.PNGNewFlow3.PNGThis last oneHere is the error message I get.Here is the error message I get.

  • nassetc Profile Picture
    12 on at
    Re: Conditional Increment Numbering

    I was unable to use the not equal to. It kept erroring out. But I switched to Trigger Conditions and its working. Thanks. 

  • Verified answer
    creativeopinion Profile Picture
    10,439 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    Re: Conditional Increment Numbering

    @nassetc The error you are getting is cause the values used in your condition don't match. 'Null' as you've entered is a string. However, if you want to check whether your Contract# column is not empty you should use the is not equal to operator and leave the second value field empty. I've linked a tutorial below for more troubleshooting tips.

     

    Also, since you are using an automated trigger, I would recommend utilizing Trigger Conditions in your flow. This way your flow will only trigger when you want it to. In your case if the Contract # isn't empty. To learn more about Trigger Conditions, refer to the other tutorial I've linked below.

     

    5 Power Automate Troubleshooting FAQs and Helpful Tips for Creating Better Flows

     

    In this Power Automate tutorial, I explore 5 frequently asked questions that pop up when troubleshooting a flow. If you’d like to to level up your Power Automate flow skills and learn how to troubleshoot your Power Automate flow—this tutorial is for you!

     

    IN THIS VIDEO:

     How to troubleshoot a false Condition action result

     How to get dynamic content when it isn’t selectable from the list of dynamic content

     How to troubleshoot an Apply to Each action that isn’t looping through

     How to troubleshoot a skipped Apply to Each action

     How to troubleshoot a Filter Query

     How to use a SharePoint yes/no column in a Filter Query

     How to use Compose actions to troubleshoot a Power Automate flow

     How to troubleshoot multiple emails being sent

     How to troubleshoot multiple Teams messages being sent

     

    ---

     

    4 Ways You Can Use Trigger Conditions in Your Microsoft Power Automate Flow

     

    If you are using an Automated Cloud flow trigger in your flow—you need to consider adding trigger conditions.

     

    Do YOU 🫵 know what a trigger condition is? Trigger conditions can be set in most flow triggers. These conditions you set must be true for the trigger to fire. In this Power Automate tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use trigger conditions in your flows to control when your Power Automate flows trigger.

     

    If your plan has flow run limits—you can avoid triggering your flows unnecessarily by using trigger conditions.

     

    I’ll cover four different flow examples that would benefit from trigger conditions:

    ️ Triggering a flow when a column is changed to a specific value

    ️ Triggering a Flow When an Event Updated or Deleted

    ️ Triggering a Flow When a New Folder is Created

    ️ Triggering a Flow When a Specific Email is Received I’ll also show you a trick on how to easily create the expressions needed and give you a few tips on how to troubleshoot your flow.

     

    IN THIS VIDEO:

     Four different flows that would benefit from trigger conditions

     What is a trigger condition?

     How to add a trigger condition to your flow

     How to trigger a flow when a column is changed to a specific value

     How to trigger a flow when an event is updated or Deleted

     How to trigger a flow when a new folder is created

     How to trigger a flow when a specific email is received

     How to troubleshoot a trigger condition

     How to prevent case sensitivity issues with a trigger condition

     How to use the filter array action to easily compose an expression that can be used in a trigger condition

     

    Hope this helps!

    If I helped you solve your problem—please mark my post as a solution .
    Consider giving me a 👍 if you liked my response!

    👉 Level up your Power Automate skills by checking out my tutorials on YouTube
    👉 Tips and Tricks on TikTok and Instagram

     

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