Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi,

Method 1: Using File Content (Most Reliable)

Initialize Variables (Top Level)

Initialize variable: PDFFilesArray
├── Name: PDFFilesArray
├── Type: Array
├── Value: []

Main Flow

Get items (SharePoint)
├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
├── Filter Query: ContentType eq 'Document' and substringof('.pdf', Name)

Apply to each
├── Select: outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']
├── Actions:
    ├── Get file content
    │   ├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
    │   ├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
    │   ├── File identifier: items('Apply_to_each')?['ID']
    │
    ├── Append to array variable
    │   ├── Name: PDFFilesArray
    │   ├── Value: body('Get_file_content')

Merge PDFs
├── Files: variables('PDFFilesArray')
├── Merged PDF File Name: "MergedDocument.pdf"

Method 2: Using File Path with Proper Structure

Initialize variable: PDFFilesArray
├── Name: PDFFilesArray
├── Type: Array
├── Value: []

Get items (SharePoint)
├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
├── Filter Query: ContentType eq 'Document' and substringof('.pdf', Name)

Apply to each
├── Select: outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']
├── Actions:
    ├── Compose: Build File Path
    │   ├── Value: @{concat('/sites/[SiteName]/[LibraryName]/', items('Apply_to_each')?['Name'])}
    │
    ├── Get file content using path
    │   ├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
    │   ├── File Path: outputs('Build_File_Path')
    │
    ├── Compose: Prepare File Object
    │   ├── Value: 
    │       {
    │         "Name": "@{items('Apply_to_each')?['Name']}",
    │         "ContentBytes": "@{body('Get_file_content_using_path')}"
    │       }
    │
    ├── Append to array variable
    │   ├── Name: PDFFilesArray
    │   ├── Value: outputs('Prepare_File_Object')

Merge PDFs
├── Files: variables('PDFFilesArray')
├── Merged PDF File Name: "MergedDocument.pdf"

Method 3: With Error Handling

Initialize variable: PDFFilesArray
├── Name: PDFFilesArray
├── Type: Array
├── Value: []

Initialize variable: ErrorLog
├── Name: ErrorLog
├── Type: String
├── Value: ""

Get items (SharePoint)
├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
├── Filter Query: ContentType eq 'Document' and substringof('.pdf', Name)

Apply to each
├── Select: outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']
├── Actions:
    ├── Scope: Try Process File
    │   ├── Get file content
    │   │   ├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
    │   │   ├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
    │   │   ├── File identifier: items('Apply_to_each')?['ID']
    │   │
    │   ├── Condition: Check if content exists
    │   │   ├── Expression: @{not(empty(body('Get_file_content')))}
    │   │   ├── IF YES:
    │   │   │   ├── Append to array variable
    │   │   │   │   ├── Name: PDFFilesArray
    │   │   │   │   ├── Value: body('Get_file_content')
    │   │   ├── IF NO:
    │   │   │   ├── Set variable: ErrorLog
    │   │   │   │   ├── Value: @{concat(variables('ErrorLog'), 'Empty file: ', items('Apply_to_each')?['Name'], '; ')}
    │   │
    │   ├── Scope: Catch File Error
    │   │   ├── Configure run after: is failed
    │   │   ├── Set variable: ErrorLog
    │   │   │   ├── Value: @{concat(variables('ErrorLog'), 'Error processing: ', items('Apply_to_each')?['Name'], '; ')}

Condition: Check if files exist
├── Expression: @{greater(length(variables('PDFFilesArray')), 0)}
├── IF YES:
│   ├── Merge PDFs
│   │   ├── Files: variables('PDFFilesArray')
│   │   ├── Merged PDF File Name: "MergedDocument.pdf"
├── IF NO:
│   ├── Send an email (V2)
│   │   ├── Subject: "PDF Merge Failed - No Valid Files"
│   │   ├── Body: @{variables('ErrorLog')}

Method 4: Advanced with File Validation

Initialize variable: PDFFilesArray
├── Name: PDFFilesArray
├── Type: Array
├── Value: []

Get items (SharePoint)
├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
├── Filter Query: ContentType eq 'Document' and substringof('.pdf', Name) and File_x0020_Size gt 0

Apply to each
├── Select: outputs('Get_items')?['body/value']
├── Actions:
    ├── Condition: Validate PDF file
    │   ├── Expression: @{and(contains(items('Apply_to_each')?['Name'], '.pdf'), greater(items('Apply_to_each')?['File_x0020_Size'], 0))}
    │   ├── IF YES:
    │   │   ├── Get file content
    │   │   │   ├── Site Address: [Your SharePoint Site]
    │   │   │   ├── Library Name: [Your Document Library]
    │   │   │   ├── File identifier: items('Apply_to_each')?['ID']
    │   │   │
    │   │   ├── Condition: Check content validity
    │   │   │   ├── Expression: @{and(not(empty(body('Get_file_content'))), startsWith(base64ToString(body('Get_file_content')), '%PDF'))}
    │   │   │   ├── IF YES:
    │   │   │   │   ├── Append to array variable
    │   │   │   │   │   ├── Name: PDFFilesArray
    │   │   │   │   │   ├── Value: body('Get_file_content')

Merge PDFs
├── Files: variables('PDFFilesArray')
├── Merged PDF File Name: @{concat('MergedPDF_', formatDateTime(utcNow(), 'yyyyMMdd_HHmmss'), '.pdf')}

Troubleshooting Tips

1. Check File Content

Add a Compose action to verify file content:

Compose: Check First File
├── Value: @{first(variables('PDFFilesArray'))}

2. Validate PDF Header

Check if files are valid PDFs:

Condition: Is Valid PDF
├── Expression: @{startsWith(base64ToString(body('Get_file_content')), '%PDF')}

3. Check Array Structure

Ensure your array contains binary content, not objects:

// WRONG: Array of objects
[
  {"Name": "file1.pdf", "Content": "..."},
  {"Name": "file2.pdf", "Content": "..."}
]

// CORRECT: Array of binary content
[
  "JVBERi0xLjQKJc...",  // Base64 PDF content
  "JVBERi0xLjQKJc..."   // Base64 PDF content
]

4. File Size Limits

Ensure files are within limits:

Individual PDF: < 50MB

Total merge size: < 100MB

Maximum files: 20 PDFs

5. Test with Single File

First test merging just one file to isolate the issue:

Initialize variable: TestArray
├── Value: [body('Get_file_content')]

Merge PDFs
├── Files: variables('TestArray')

If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution ✅ . If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up 👍. Regards, Riyaz