Skip to main content

Notifications

Announcements

Welcome to the Power Platform Communities
Check out the New Agent Creator Community
News and Announcements icon
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate - Building Flows / Identify unique ids in...
Power Automate - Building Flows
Answered

Identify unique ids in Excel table

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by angelrodriguez 52

I created a Flow that lists tasks in Planner and grabs tasks from a bucket by its ID from a filter array step. If the length of the array is greater than zero, I run an apply to each task step in that bucket to get the task and its details.

 

From there, I'll run an Excel step that add a row into an Excel table, recording the task ID and its bucket ID. The next step converts the task ID to an array. I then get the row of task IDs on the Excel form. Nothing's really happening here aside from recording the task IDs from the Excel form. 

pic1.JPGpic2.JPGpic3.JPGpic4.JPGpic5.JPG

 

Here's a before pic that lists the tasks in Planner before something is added and the Excel form recording the existing task IDs in the bucket. 

Flowrunbefore.JPGplannerbefore.JPG

 

I then add a new task in Planner, run the Flow and the list of IDs in Excel is updated recording the new ID and the previous IDs again repeat. 

Flowrunafter.JPGplannerafter_LI.jpg

 

How do I grab the task ID that is unique in the Excel form? I have been told to use Union to filter the unique ID, but it only gives me back the same array of values I started with. Is there another step I can add to this Flow to grab the new (unique) ID from the Excel list (9XlGeLN-7UqDSiwuF_qR1mQAPoPN)?

  • Verified answer
    rimatos Profile Picture
    rimatos on at
    Re: Identify unique ids in Excel table

    Hi @angelrodriguez ,

     

    As you mentioned, looking at the array tasks to check for the Task Id sounds like the right path to start Troubleshooting.

     

    If you require some assistance in this you could always raise a Support Request with Microsoft Support through https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/support , so we could troubleshoot this in more depth.

     

     

    Hope this helped!

     

    Regards,

    Ricardo

  • angelrodriguez Profile Picture
    angelrodriguez 52 on at
    Re: Identify unique ids in Excel table

    Hi rimatos,

     

    I have tested it in real-time and there never seems to be a delay on my end. I think because it's running in an Apply to each loop, the single Planner task ID is being compared to the individual Task ID in Get a row in Excel. It will always be true in this case. I'm trying to look at the entire array tasks and identify if that task ID only comes up one time. Each time a task is created in Planner and the Flow runs, the Excel form will show IDs that already exist in Planner, then the new ID will show as well. The existing IDs should display twice and the new ID will display only once. I'm trying to figure out a way to tell Flow, if the ID only shows one time, pull if from the array, but it seems this is not possibly inside the Apply to each loop. I'm forced to run an Apply to each as well if I want to filter tasks in a given bucket.

     

    Thanks for your response. I'm not sure that there is a way to do this in Power Automate at the moment. 

  • rimatos Profile Picture
    rimatos on at
    Re: Identify unique ids in Excel table

    Hi @angelrodriguez ,

     

    the excel connector that you are using to get the rows might not be getting the most recent data, as it is know that this connector can have some delays, as seen in the connector documentation.

     

    My suggestion here would be to insert a delay after updating the excel file in order to make sure that you are getting the data that is most up to date.

     

    I would also recommend to check which Task Id you are using to retrieve the rows from the excel File. You can see its content by inserting it into a Compose action

     

    image.png

     

     

    Additionally, I see in your flow that you are converting the Task ID object into an array but you are not using it. Is this intended?

     

    If after this you still find you are having issues with this I would recommend you opening a ticket to Microsoft support through https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/support so this can be troubleshooted in more depth.

     

     

    Let me know if this post helped you in any way!

     

    Regards,

    Ricardo

     

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

News and Announcements

Welcome to the Power Platform Communities
Check out the New Agent Creator Community

Quick Links

Michael Gernaey – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Michael Gernaey as our June 2025 Community…

Congratulations to the May Top 10 Community Leaders!

These are the community rock stars!

Announcing the Engage with the Community forum!

This forum is your space to connect, share, and grow!

Leaderboard > Power Automate

#1
Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture

Michael E. Gernaey 566 Super User 2025 Season 1

#2
David_MA Profile Picture

David_MA 516 Super User 2025 Season 1

#3
stampcoin Profile Picture

stampcoin 492

Last month Overall leaderboard

Featured topics

Start and wait for an approval action

Product updates

Microsoft Power Platform Community release plans