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Get Items action on SharePoint list returning inconsistent data

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Posted on by biterbit

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A user has sent me examples of reports, produced by Power Automate, which she says are incorrect. I have checked the flow and after doing my own tests, it seems that the Get Items action which selects the data for the report, is not working correctly.

I have rerun the same flow several times in quick succession and the Get Items action is returning a different number of records and the dataset returned contains duplicate values. For example:

Run time	Records returned	Number of duplicates
12.52	2035	39
14.29	2024	28
14.35	2055	48
15.01	2052	48

I have also noted that records values are missing from each set returned. It seems possible that the duplicate records have replaced the missing ones.

The action is reading a SharePoint table containing about 48,000 records and is using an indexed column to select the records and sort them by this field. The action's Filter Query parameter is:

Session_x0020_time ge '2023-11-01T00:00:00.000Z' and Session_x0020_time le '2023-12-01T00:00:00.000Z'

and the action's Order By value parameter is:

Session_x0020_time

I retested the flow, removing the Order By parameter and the results were now consistent and (as far as I can tell) correct:

Run time	Records returned	Number of duplicates
15.55	2052	0
16.04	2052	0

Is there some sort limit that this query is hitting that is preventing it returning the correct data?

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Using flows

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creativeopinion 10,502 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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@biterbit You'll need to check the following:

Depending on how many items you have in your SP list, you may. need to turn on pagination and set a threshold in the Get Items action

Your filter query is using UTC time. If your Session times are stored in your local time zone, this can be the source of your issue. Consider using a Convert Time Zone action.

For more flow troubleshooting tips—check out this YT Tutorial: 5 Power Automate Troubleshooting FAQs and Helpful Tips for Creating Better Flows

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

Hope this helps!

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biterbit 406 on at

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@creativeopinion Thanks for your response. I already have pagination set on the Get Items action with a threshold of 5000 records. The times are stored as UTC in the SharePoint list and the variability of the results minute-to-minute do not indicate a time zone issue, since the source field is always set to 00 or 30 minutes past an hour.
The consistent results since I removed the Order By parameter would seem to indicate that the problem stems from some SharePoint indexing limitation.

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