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Interacting with Data from Excel without a table

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Posted on by ahall

I have an excel file that is emailed to me that I want to add into a SQL database. My issue is the excel file is not configured with a table. How can I get these rows into a table format using flow?

I see the create table function from excel but that creates and empty table with the column headings I choose. Is it possible to create the table with data?

I can get my whole process to work if I start with a file that has a table in it, but my emailed report is not possible to be created with the table from the source so I have to automate that somehow.

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Building flows

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v-bacao-msft on at

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Hi @ahall ,

If the current configured Excel file does not contain a defined table, the related action cannot be used.

Create table action can only define a table, but it cannot insert data.

In addition, the existing action cannot obtain the data contained in the worksheet, so the data cannot be automatically inserted into the table through Flow.

I am afraid there is currently no way to achieve such a requirements.

If you want similar features to be supported, you could post your idea in the Flow Ideas forum, so it might be considered for future releases.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Ideas/idb-p/FlowIdeas

Best Regards,

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ahall 42 on at

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A solution to this problem is solved here.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Cookbook/Read-tab-delimited-CSV-and-write-records/m-p/246459/highlight/false#M160

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Community Power Pla... on at

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Hey , I don't have access to the link. Can you share the permissions with me?

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GTMSWadmin 41 on at

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Hi @ahall, I am not able to access this link, is there anyway I can access it?
I want to know how to read a csv file and iterate through them in Flow (Power Automate).
Thanks.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Cookbook/Read-tab-delimited-CSV-and-write-records/m-p/246459/highlight/false#M160

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JoeBeckie 20 on at

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What is the solution? I don't have access to that link.

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SomeOfficeGuy 11 on at

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I have the same issue. I need to write a few fields (individual values and arrays) into a worksheet that does not have simple easy tables defined. We really need a PowerAutomate function that does not rely heavily on tables only!

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SomeOfficeGuy 11 on at

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Says I dont have access

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gurujeet 11 on at

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I get the Access denied message also.

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GeoffRen Microsoft Employee on at

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Just for exposure, this is now possible with Office Scripts, specifically Office Scripts with Power Automate. This is the 'Run Script' action on the Excel connector. With Office Scripts you can use the 'Run Script' action to execute javascript against a workbook. With Office Scripts, you can manipulate almost anything in Excel to do anything you want, since it's all just code. Even if you don't have experience coding, Office Scripts can help generate a script by recording your actions via the Action Recorder.

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majorfriend 170 on at

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I thought this could be a solution, but not quite.

Since Power Automate can only run a script in an Excel file, it doesn't help much. Here is the situation:

I get an email with a report as an Excel file, but data is not formatted as a table. I want to run a flow to save the attachment to OneDrive or Sharepoint and then interact with the data. Obviously, I can't since it isn't a table, and since saving the attachment creates a new file that new file will not have any Office Scripts to run.

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