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Creating a SharePoint Library using an SQL database

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Posted on by JD-26091132-0

So I'm pretty new to using Power apps and I'm wondering is this is possible, we currently have a database (SQL) with stored info where I want to copy to and use within a SharePoint library. Will I have to pull this data as a CSV first or using automate can I skip this step? Im struggling to see the right template within automate or is it best if I just create my own. Any help will be much appreciated.

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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If this is a one-time thing, I would not bother setting up automation to do this; it will take you longer to do than the easy way.

Export the data as you mention to a CSV file, which you should be able to do easily enough from SQL.
If you don't know how, check this out: Export SQL Server Data From Table to CSV File (geeksforgeeks.org)
Open the csv file in Excel and convert the data into a table.
Adjust the column data types and names as needed for how you want them to appear in SharePoint.
Column A in the spreadsheet must be a single line of text field. This is because this column will be used for the Title column in SharePoint.
Click on a cell in the table and go to the Table Design tab.
Under External Table Data choose Export > Export Table to SharePoint list.
Enter the site url and the name you want to give the list, as well as an optional description.
Then just follow the prompts.
Note, I believe the limit for the number of rows you can upload with this method is 5,000.

If you have more than 5,000 rows, you will need to use Power Automate, but that is going to get complicated. Check out this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/-ZaktFuS1KA?si=bgbgAyP-k4R1UNph. It is not exactly what you want, but it will provide guidance.

For your specific use case, I use Layer2 Cloud Connector to do this. You can learn about this tool at Layer2 Cloud Connector ► integrate and sync data (layer2solutions.com).

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JD-26091132-0 4 on at

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Unfortunately, this data won’t be a one-time thing it’s a database I need to keep exporting from as the data is sensitive So I will only extract certain fields and then populate into a data base which won’t have said sensitive data. I’m trying to remove the manual intervention. I also want it to notify us when a new data hits the data base and create a from but that I know I can do.

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lbendlin 8,479 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Is there any chance you can connect to the SQL Server directly ? It's a premium connector so you would need licenses, but it would be so much more efficient.

(Ironically, a SharePoint List is pretty much a SQL Server database table with a web page bolted on)

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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In addition to what I posted last week, I forgot about this newer method to create a list from csv data. Just go to your SharePoint site home page, choose New > List. You will then be presented with these options:

You can start directly from a CSV file and will be prompted to confirm the column types and names.

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