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Create a sub-folder in document library if folder does not exist

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Posted on by syed_sme

Hi all,

I have a flow that saves email attachments to a specific document library folder. The folder structure is contained in the email body and 90% of the time it is the same folder but there are occasions when the sub-folder does not exist. I'd like to know if it is possible, using power automate to check if the folder exists and create one if it does not.

Is this something i should be able to achieve with Power Automate? If anyone has done this already, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks advance,

Syed

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Building flows

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Expiscornovus 33,189 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @syed_sme,

Yes, that would be possible by using an Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action and using the Folders method with a filter. If the outputs of that action is empty it is safe to assume the folder doesn't exist and you can create it.

Below is an example of that approach.

1. Use an Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action. Use the following URI.

_api/web/GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl('/sites/@{variables('SiteName')}/Lists/@{variables('ListName')}')/Folders?$filter=Name eq '@{variables('FolderName')}'

I used a couple of variables, you can either replace those by your values or also recreate them in your flow setup.

2. Add a Condition action. Check the length of the outputs. If that is equal to zero it means that no folder with that name is found.

length(outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint')?['body']['value'])

3. In the If Yes section add a Create new folder action.

Hopefully this helps to get you started with your setup.

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syed_sme 76 on at

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Hi @Expiscornovus , thanks for your suggestion. I followed your instructions and have configured my flow but how do I parse the folder name from the email body, to create the folder if it does not exist?

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Expiscornovus 33,189 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @syed_sme ,

Can you share an example email body?

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syed_sme 76 on at

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Hi @Expiscornovus , please see below.....

Documents/Month End/Cadency/Automatic Reports

This is all that is in the email body. Additional/new folders would be created in the Automatic Reports folder.

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Expiscornovus 33,189 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @syed_sme,

Thanks for the example body.

Below is an example setup. In this example I am using a html to text action to convert the body property to text. The initialize variable action is using an indexof and some split functions to find the new folder name and store it in that variable.

In this example I assuming the body of the e-mail will contain something like this:

Documents/Month End/Cadency/Automatic Reports/NewFolderName

if(equals(indexOf(outputs('Html_to_text')?['body'], 'Automatic Reports/'), -1), 'No New Folder', split(split(outputs('Html_to_text')?['body'], 'Automatic Reports/')[1], decodeUriComponent('%0A'))[0])

Btw, in case of that there isn't a new folder I am setting the value to No New Folder. You might want to use another condition to exclude these instances from the create new folder actions.

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syed_sme 76 on at

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Thanks @Expiscornovus !

Making some good progress here.

Had to make a change to the condition......
empty(outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint')?['body/d/results'])
which seems to work but this is now creating folder called "No New Folder" rather than picking up the folder name.....

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Expiscornovus 33,189 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @syed_sme,

Great to hear that you made good progress.

The folder name variable will sometimes have a value. The expression will give it the 'No New Folder' value when there is no sub folder.

So, you can use the FolderName variable in a condition to check it's value (that it is not empty and doesn't have the 'No new folder' value)

Below is an example of that approach.

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syed_sme 76 on at

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Thanks @Expiscornovus ,

I finally managed to get this working following the approach you suggested. It took a while to get the conditions exactly as i wanted but it now works.

Here is the working logic.....

Thank you so much for your help and guidance with this. Very much appreciated. I've learned some new things to carry forward.

Regards,
Syed

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