Hi all. I'm fairly new to Automate, and I'm not sure if this is possible.
We have a custom staff list that uses the 'Person or Group' column type and other custom meta data columns that helps in grouping/filtering down the list as per need. Currently, our admin group maintains a separate outlook group email/distribution list of this same data, and in exact custom groups as I have designed in the SP staff list. Lots of redundant work. The idea is to discontinue the Outlook mailing distribution lists and fully rely on the maintained SharePoint custom staff list for distribution lists outside of outlook.
Basically, the problem is this: If you filter the custom SP staff list down to a particular grouping of choice, can you trigger an email that goes out to filtered group (or even unfiltered group), as if it were functioning like a distribution list (but email action occurs as a flow from SP)?
Or do I have to extract/parse out the email from the 'Person or Group' column and subdivide/parse those emails into certain meta data groupings from the SharePoint list? Essentially, I'm looking to see if you can trigger an email based on a filtered/no filtered grouping of the custom SP staff list. L
Below is just a quick snippet from my list and it shows some variation of custom meta data columns. That is: 'Person or Group' column, Unit Source, Position, Location.
If a user filters by (for example) a single Unit Source, can they then send an email to just that Unit Source grouping of people? Same goes for Position. If a position is filtered, can an email go out to just those individuals? Location is another one. Can I filter by a specific location and send and email to that grouping of people in the SP list? Is it a button in SharePoint? Is it impossible to do?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Thanks for getting back and also for the extra info regarding filtering. I would appreciate an example and I will try to briefly expand.
As mentioned above, our team would like to reduce (the many) individual staff distribution list for all Unit and Position types. They would like to more effectively utilize the current custom staff SharePoint list that already includes this information (in separate custom meta columns). And, based on their filter grouping choice (be that Unit, or a Position type, or both), send an email to that filtered list. (seems like magic to me at this point)
Example: From the SharePoint list filter pane, if a user selects RPU = Regional Program Unit, and Program Supervisor, our SharePoint list return 19 entries. From the newly filtered list, can a automated trigger/button be set so that our group could then send out and email to the filtered down group? I assume this means pointing at the 'Person or Group' for the email details attached to it. However, I'm lost in regards to the logic required to understand and pull the correct / unique filtering choices from the list and some how tie that to emailing the properly filtered selections.
Scott,...I appreciate any extra help to get me going.
If your goal is to filter a SharePoint list based on column values/metadata then the answer is yes. You would use a filter query with a SharePoint Get Items action. You would then loop through the results. You could send a single email to all recipients or individual emails.
Here is a link to what you need to know about filter queries.
If you need an example, let me know what type of columns (option, lookup, etc.) you will be filtering on and I will provide an example.
Michael E. Gernaey
497
Super User 2025 Season 2
David_MA
436
Super User 2025 Season 2
Riyaz_riz11
244
Super User 2025 Season 2