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Updating a List via a Form and sending an email notification when item is not found

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Posted on by FD-10071846-0

I am following the steps I found in a support article for a similar use case and although they describe how to successfully update an existing list item via a separate form, using the false modifier to send an email sends 20+ emails due to the condition being nested inside of a "For each" control. It seems that the "Update item" action requires for each, but it also disallows terminate upon success. Article link and excerpt below:

Update existing MS List items using the new MS Lists Forms? - Microsoft Community

In this situation, currently there has no build-in feature to automatically erase the existing items and replace with new ones after an event reset. And it is suggested to use Power Automate to create a flow that updates existing items in your list based on the form submissions. Here’s a general outline of how you can set this up:

Create a Power Automate Flow: Start by creating a new flow in Power Automate. You can set the trigger to be when a new response is submitted in your Microsoft Form.
Get Response Details: Use the "Get response details" action to retrieve the details of the form submission.
Search for Existing Items: Use the "Get items" action to search your Microsoft List for the existing item that matches the clinic information provided in the form submission.
Condition to Check for Existing Item: Add a condition to check if the item exists. If it does, use the "Update item" action to update the existing item with the new information from the form. If it does not exist, you can handle this case as needed (e.g., notify someone or log the issue).
Update the List Item: Use the "Update item" action to update the existing list item with the new data from the form submission.

<updated> please see my reply below for further information.

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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It looks like the core issue might be that your flow doesn't establish a clear 1:1 relationship between the Microsoft Form submission and the corresponding SharePoint list item. Because of that, your "Get items" action is likely retrieving all items from the list, and the "Apply to each" loop is processing every one of them—rather than just the one that matches the form submission.

Even though your current diagram only shows an "Update item" action, you mentioned receiving 20+ e-mails, which suggests there may have been an e-mail step earlier in the flow (or still present but not shown). If that e-mail action is inside the loop, it would explain the multiple notifications.

Here’s how I handle this in a similar scenario:

In my Microsoft Form, I include a field called Request ID, which corresponds to the ID of the SharePoint list item.

I use the prefilled link feature in MS Forms to automatically populate that field with the correct ID when the user opens the form. There is another flow that triggers when the SharePoint item is created, which sends the person the link to complete the MS Form.

Then, in Power Automate, I use the "Get item" action (not "Get items") to retrieve the specific list item using the ID from the form response.

This creates a true 1:1 relationship, eliminates the need for an "Apply to each" loop, and ensures that only the intended item is updated—no duplicates, no extra emails.

This approach keeps the flow clean and efficient. I don't know your specific use case, so you may need to adapt this. But the key is to establish a 1:1 relationship between the form response and the SharePoint item.

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FD-10071846-0 2 on at

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Below is the ideal flow highlighting the condition for extracting the specific item I am trying to isolate dynamically and then update. I agree that get item or extracting the isolated item is probably the solution, but I am unsure how to do so. Any assistance is much appreciated.

Flow diagram v2.png

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