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Triggering a flow only when a specific item in SharePoint list is modified

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Posted on by plajevardi

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to trigger an email only when a specific item is modified in a SharePoint list. For example, I have a column titled "DF Essentials Training Date" and I want to trigger an email to be sent once this date is completed (not blank).

I used the SP trigger "When an item is created or modified", but this triggers the email when ANY SP item was modified and it was driving me nuts. I searched a lot of other posts with this same issue. One user recommended using the SP trigger "When an existing item is modified" but I don't seem to have that trigger available. Another user recommended creating another column that contains the original value of the item in addition to having a column for the current value. Therefore, I created a column titled "O-DF Essentials Training Date" to capture the original value. At the end of the flow, I set the original value column (O-DF Essentials Training Date) to be the current value column (DF-Essentials training date), so the flow doesn't trigger again.

Please see the flow below. It seems to work even though I get a warning that the flow could trigger infinite loops. I'd love advice if I'm doing this the right way or there is an easier way to trigger a flow only when a specific item is modified that doesn't require this work around. Also, I'm not a programmer and a beginner with power automate, so I'd appreciate a little more of explanation 🙂 Thanks @abm for recommending I create a new post for this.

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @plajevardi ,

your approach is fine, but it'll trigger the flow for each update. It'll start the flow, check the condition, and most of the time it'll just end.

You can avoid that if you move the condition directly in the trigger: 3 dots on the trigger -> settings -> trigger conditions. If there's a trigger condition the flow will trigger only if the condition is true = less flow runs. The easiest way to build the trigger condition is with one dummy Filter array action. Add the 'Filter array', create the condition, and copy/paste it from there in the trigger, e.g.

And don't worry about the warning for infinite trigger loop, that one will stay there even if you handle it.

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plajevardi 10 on at

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Thank you @tom_riha . Sorry if these are dumb questions, but the first part of my flow is the trigger "Item modified for created" and I enter the trigger condition there right? I tried adding the action of the filter array after (Item created or modified) but I don't know what to put in the "From" field. I haven't previously created any arrays. What do I enter there? I want an email to be sent whenever DFessentials Training date is completed (not blank).

Many thanks!

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @plajevardi ,

you don't enter anything in the From field, you only switch to 'Edit in advanced mode', copy the condition it'll show you as the trigger condition, and then delete the 'Filter array' action.

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plajevardi 10 on at

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Thanks @tom_riha . I was able to copy the trigger condition from the array, which is @not(equals(triggerOutputs()?['body/TrainingDate'], null)). I'm not sure if I set the trigger condition correctly, but I only want it to trigger the first time the DF Essentials Training Date column goes from blank to completed. The trigger condition I used is "DF Essentials Training date is not equal to null". Is there another condition I should use?

Currently it's still triggering when another column in the SP list is modified and the DF Essentails Training date is completed.

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tom_riha 10,185 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hello @plajevardi ,

if it should run only once then you might need another column, e.g. a Yes/No column that you'll use to check if the flow already did run.

Default value: No

At the end of the flow set it to: Yes

Add a trigger condition to check also this column, it must be No for the flow to run, as I wrote about here.

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