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only first item in array

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Posted on by nick9one1

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I'm struggling to get only the first item from an array.

in the update item step, When I add fields from list envelopes it automatically creates a loop as 'list envelopes' can contain more than one item.
I only need the first envelope (which is the newest)

the field is

items('For_each')?['status']

I have tried wrapping it in a first() but I must have the syntax wrong as I get an error.

first(items('For_each')?['status'])

Thank you!

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Building flows

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi

Can you try this expression

First('dynamic body content from find envelopes step')?['status']

Example expression :

first(body('List_envelopes'))?['status']

Please give the mentioned solution a try and let me know whether it works for you.
If it solves your issue, feel free to mark this thread as answered.
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Thanks!
- Hemanth Sai

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nick9one1 336 on at

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thank you

I have tried;

first(body('List_envelopes'))?['status']

it saves, but errors on execution;

Unable to process template language expressions in action 'Update_item' inputs at line '0' and column '0': 'The template language function 'first' expects its parameter be an array or a string. The provided value is of type 'Null'. Please see https://aka.ms/logicexpressions#first for usage details.'.

I presume I dont have the correct step name 'List_envelopes' ?

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rzaneti 4,483 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @nick9one1,

Your step name is good: the blanks are replaced by underscores in the expressions.

It looks like "List envelopes" is retrieving an empty array for some of the Apply to each iterations. Is this expected?

If yes, consider to include a Condition after "List envelopes", checking if the expression length(body('List_envelopes')) is grater than zero, and then allocate your Update item inside the True block. This condition will prevent this error and "do nothing" for the cases where the List envelopes retrieve zero values.

Let me know if it works for you or if you need any additional help!

✅ If this solved your issue, please mark it as Accepted Answer.
👍 If it helped, feel free to give it a like!

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nick9one1 336 on at

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Thanks.

The List Envelopes step isn’t blank, as you can see here. I added a Parse JSON action so I could reference the step name Parse_JSON, but it produced the same result.

I’ve managed to find a workaround. The List Envelopes action has a Return Number setting, which I’ve set to 1, so it now only returns the newest envelope for each item. Previously, if there were two envelopes per item, the flow would first update the item with the newest envelope, then the loop would overwrite it with the oldest one, which wasn’t useful.

So I no longer need to use first(), but it would still be interesting to understand why it wasn’t working.

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Power Platform 1919 2,205 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Can you try this

first(body('List_envelopes')?['value'])?['status']

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