Flow to create PDF link in list not working correctly

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Posted on by Elevis

Hi,

I have a flow that generates a PDF from list items, then another one that moves the PDFs from OneDrive for Business to SharePoint. This works correctly.

I created a third flow to produce a link to the PDF and place it in a column within the list. That way, users can simply click on the link to view the PDF. The flow runs when a file is created or modified in the SharePoint folder (the second flow mentioned above). It says it runs successfully but the link doesn't appear. What am I doing wrong? Here's what I have. I think I'm doing something wrong in the third step Create Item. The two highlighted columns are types text and hyperlink and are part of the create item step. But I can't get the link to appear in either. Thanks.

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Building flows

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Hi @Elevis

It sounds like the list item already exists, because you said the 3rd one is to insert the link into the list.

You cannot use Create Item, you need to use Create Item and you need to know exactly which item to update. Meaning you would have to know the Row ID or some other matchable data point so that you can use Get Items or Get Item, then use Update Item to insert the link.

If this answers your question, please Mark as Answers and maybe a Like :-)

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w.p 8,345 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Why don't you set the permission at the doc lib level so you don't need to create a sharing link every time a document is created/modified.

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Elevis 25 on at

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Hi, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. When the PDF document is added to the folder, the third flow is supposed to generate a link to the PDF and then insert the link into the list column. So, yes, the list item already exists. I just want to add the link to the one column.

Are these the steps you're suggesting? When I did this, a link was added to the text column (yellow) but not to the hyperlink column (red). I copied the link to confirm it works. Oddly, it created a link to the very first item in the SharePoint folder and not to the intended item. Do I have the steps right? And why is it not creating the link in the hyperlink column?

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Elevis 25 on at

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Hi @w.p - I don't follow what you're suggesting. Can you give me more details? The docs we're working with are summaries that can change frequently. So the idea of the hyperlink is that it updates every time a document is changed so the user is always looking at the most updated version.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Hi @Elevis

You are super super close

As mentioned in my previous message, you must have a way to Map back to the original Row.

What I mean is, how does Flow 3 know what Row to update?

When you did Get Items it just grabbed them and then you used the first one (unintentionally) and it updated.

So you are close

But what data is in Flow 3, that would make it have knowledge of for instance the Row Id of the original Created item?

Think of it like this

Flow 3 needs

Pick from the List, where (some column = some value) so that it points to the original Row in the List so you can update that Row specifically. Otherwise you cannot update it correctly(ever)

So for instance, you would need to Store the File Name in the List, so that in your Get Items, you could filter on the Filter name, which the Trigger in Flow 3 would have

FileNameColumn = 'IncomingDynamicPropertyNameForFileForTriggerGoesHere'

You would put something like that in your filter for the Get Items so it grabs the correct one, but it would only work if you are even storing the file name when you created the row in the List.

Make sense?

If this solves your problem please mark as such and maybe a like :-)

Cheers!

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w.p 8,345 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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From what I understand reading your response, you're using the sharing link action to get a link to the document.
If so, you don't need the action, because the trigger action already provides direct link to the document via Link to item.

The next question is, can everyone in your org access the document library where the file is stored, and do you know how to grant everyone read-only access to the library in SharePoint?

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Elevis 25 on at

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@w.p - Yes, that's what I'm trying to do. Are you saying that I can delete the Create sharing link step and still make it work? Is Link to Item a step? I thought about having users go right to the library, but I'm trying to eliminate steps and want them to be able to access the PDF from the list and not have to go to the library and find the specific file. I appreciate everyone's help as I'm learning how to make these processes work better.

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Elevis 25 on at

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@Michael E. Gernaey I appreciate the help but still can't get there. I put a query in Get items to point to the column to update and that seemed to work. But then the error came in the last step when it said item can't be found. I feel like I'm doing something wrong where you enter ID and Title in the last step.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,969 Moderator on at

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Hi @Elevis

So close this should fix you up :-) and appreciate you working through it. I am more looking to help you learn than just explain every step but you are doing fantastic.

Please do this

Do your Get Items

Then put in an Apply to each in the From put the body/value Dynamic Property from Get Items

you should only get 1 anyway but this will help you

Then inside the Apply to each put your update Item

grab the ID from the Get Items Dynamic Properties (cant miss it see my pictures)

Like this and go below this picture for the next step but make sure you pick value as i have at the top of my Get items

I added Value

Now I added update item and now I select ID for my did

Now you have the correct Id

let me know if you have any other questions

or please Mark as answered and maybe a like :-)

Thanks!!

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w.p 8,345 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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