Why can't you use e-mail distribution list in a Power Automate flow?

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Posted on by HenryAtCQC

Can someone explain to me why Power Automate doesn't recognise distribution list?

Is there a specific way to set up a distribution list so that it can be recognised by power automate?

Background

I created a button activated flow within Power BI using the Power Automate visual. When the report was completed, we use a variety of e-mail distribution list grant access to the Power BI report. However, When I tried adding them to the flow under Manage run-only permissions got the message the distribution list is not in your organisation's directory.

So I had to use AD groups instead of e-mail distribution lists but these are not maintained and user get the button message “unsuccessful” because they don’t exist in the AD groups.

Thanks Henry

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Using flows

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Nived_Nambiar 18,136 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @HenryAtCQC

did you just type the distribution email in To field and then try to run the flow> does that worked for you ?

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David_MA 13,927 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Flows can only send e-mails to groups. You will need to create a mail-enabled security group with the members from your distribution list. You can then use the mail-enabled security group in your flow. Based on your background description, I think you can see why the security group is needed since it manages permissions.

Although, even if you were not using the distribution list to share your flow, Power Automate still requires you to use a mail-enabled security group to send e-mails. I think you should be able to add the DL to the security group, but I am not positive as I don't actually handle that part at my company.

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HenryAtCQC 29 on at

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You get a message saying "The DL is not in your organization's directory"

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