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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Automate an email when...
Power Automate
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Automate an email when a row is modified on an excel file which is part of a MS forms spreadsheet

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Hello, we are using Microsoft Forms to capture some information. What we would like to do is have an automatic flow so that when we enter 'Yes' into a column on the spreadsheet it sends an email. 
 
The excel sheet we are using is where responses to a Microsoft Form are being dropped (Columns A-I) so sits on our sharepoint (I think - i'm not an expert at this!)
 
We have added column J into the excel sheet. So when a response to the form is submitted we jump into the excel, we complete a task in another application, then add 'Yes' to column J. This is when we want the email to send, so the flow should watch for a row in column J to turn to Yes, then send email to the details in that row. The email action i am fine with, but cant find the right trigger to automate this. 
 
 
My searching has let me to some 'When a file is modified (properties only)' triggers, but I cannot access the excel file location from these triggers. I can access the file from some excel triggers as below, but not sure i can use these to automate the process, only to manually run each time. 
 
 
Any assistance on this really apprecaited.
 
Thank you
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  • Suggested answer
    Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture
    53,978 Moderator on at
     
    The Excel file itself will not automate automatically, now adays you have to physically open it first before it refreshes.
     
    If you want this functionality, you will need to create a flow that responds to when a form is submitted and then do whatever you want to do, including saving the data somewhere else, like sharepoint, if you are not going to re-act to it immediately.
     
    The Excel file for Forms is not intended to work as a "data capture and react in Flows". :-( sorry
     

    If these suggestions help resolve your issue, Please consider Marking the answer as such and also maybe a like.

    Thank you!
    Sincerely, Michael Gernaey
  • RD-01101340-0 Profile Picture
    25 on at
    Hey Hi,
    Trust you are using the Microsoft Online Form to collect the response. If yes, try this: 
    Proposed solution to ensure that when a Microsoft Forms response is submitted, an approval is triggered, and—upon approval, the recipient receives a confirmation email that the job is done.

    Flow: Forms → Approval → Condition → Email
    1. Trigger – New form submission
      • Action: When a new response is submitted (Microsoft Forms)
      • Action: Get response details to retrieve all submitted fields (including the recipient’s email)
     
    1. Approval – First to respond
      • Action: Start and wait for an approval
      • Type: Approve/Reject – First to respond
      • Assigned to: Approver(s) you specify
      • Details shown to approver: Key answers from the form for context
     
    1. Condition – Approval outcome
      • If Outcome = Approve → proceed to confirmation email
      • If Outcome = Reject → optionally send a notification to the requestor or log for tracking
     
    1. Email – Confirmation to recipient
      • Action: Send an email (V2)
      • To: The email captured from the form response (e.g., RecipientEmail field)
      • Subject: Your request has been approved
      • Body: A short confirmation (e.g., “Your job is done”) with any relevant job details

    Assumptions / Inputs Needed
    • Form name or link
    • Field name that stores the recipient’s email address
    • Approver(s) (names/emails) and any CC or DL to copy on the confirmation
     
    • Optional: Standard wording for the approval request and confirmation email body
    Acceptance Criteria
    • On every new submission, an approval request is sent to the designated approver(s).
    • When approved, the recipient listed in the form receives a confirmation email.
    • All runs are visible in Power Automate run history for audit and troubleshooting.

    If this approach meets your needs, Let me know if this helps!

    Regards,
    Robinson Dass


     

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