Deleted SharePoint List Column still exists in Update Item on multiple Flows

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Posted on by grantjenkins

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I have created multiple Flows that contain the Action: SharePoint > Update Item.

I later deleted a column in the List that was used with the Update Item. Now all my Flows fail because they are still referencing the deleted column.

How can I refresh so that the column doesn't get referenced within my Flows?

Only option I've found when searching for a solution on the web is to recreate the entire action, which is absolutely not a solution (completely not acceptable if this is the only option that Flow provides). I have 8 Flows that have the issue, and have other Flows that reference another List that I wish to modify columns for too - but haven't made the changes on that one yet, for obvious reasons.

I can't believe that Flow is that flakey that it doesn't just allow you to refresh the connection to the List in Flow and it removes the column that was deleted in SharePoint.

Any help would be MUCH appreciated 🙂

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Pstork1 69,541 Most Valuable Professional on at

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As far as I know refreshing Connection Schema is available in PowerApps, but not in Flow at this point. The only way I've gotten it to work is to delete and re-add the connection. If that doesn't work you may have to delete and re-add the actual update action.

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grantjenkins 11,063 Moderator on at

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Hi @Pstork1

If I delete my SharePoint connection then re-create it, won't I have to redo all my Flows that current use it? If that's the case then it's a no-go, as I have approx. 50 flows that use that SharePoint connection and are currently running in production 😞

I went into an individual Flow and Edited the connections (using SharePoint and Office 365) and removed the SharePoint connection, but the actions that are in the Flow still seem to be using it. And now when I go to view the connections within that Flow, it only shows the Office 365 connection (and I have no way to get the SharePoint connection back - only option is to create a completely new one, which I don't want to do).

Hopefully I'm just not understanding your solution - confused.

Cheers,

Grant.

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efialttes 14,756 on at

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@grantjenkins

I had the same issue some months ago, so I understand how you feel right now. I mean, I could not find no other workaround than rebuilding the action flow by flow 😞

Let's hope @Pstork1 or somebody else can point us to a more efficient solution!

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Pstork1 69,541 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Unfortunately, you are understanding my solution. If you change the schema for a SharePoint connection in a Flow the only way to get it to update at this point is to remove it and replace it with a new connection. Frequently you will also have to remove and replace any actions that refer to it also. I understand that's a lot of work in your situation, but its the only way at this point in Flow.

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v-bacao-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @grantjenkins ,

Thank you for your feedback! Unfortunately, the current workaround to this problem is to reconfigure a similar action. I tried using Send a copy or Save as to create a copy to eliminate the column that has been deleted, but they all failed.

If you want MS Flow to improve this feature, please consider voting for similar suggestions below:

Update-Sharepoint-List-fields-when-connection-is-changed-to-a/idi-p/254742

Allow-for-the-Deletion-of-SharePoint-Columns

Best Regards,

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bschoeni 10 on at

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I had similar issues when working with SharePoint Views to limit columns. I had users remove columns from view and when I needed to update action it failed as “ABCColumn” no longer in Schéma. Wish there were a “refresh button” or included when checking flow.

I ended up exporting the Flow and drill down in the zip file (without extracting) to the very last JSON file. Opened it in Notepad, searched for columns I wanted to get ridd off, removed the Field section (attention some field types are tricky to catch full syntax).
Then I saved the JSON on Desktop, drag and drop the file it back into the zip file and reimport the flow with Update option.

Make sure to save a copy of your flow first or have the original export zip file.

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Marianr99 15 on at

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Awesome! You should be rewarded for this solution! Good job! 😀

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