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Help Activating multiple flows in a SharePoint list at different stages

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Posted on by jpdorrian

Afternoon

I'm having some difficulties setting up multiple flows on a single SharePoint list. Each flow is triggered at certain completion points (yes no) which are actioned by different people.

The flow basically sends an email to a user to complete thier section of the form and include a link to the form in question. All simple stuff...

My problem is since there are 4 stages, person 1 will get at least 4 notifications, person 2 gets at least 3 notifications, 3 gets 2 and so on.

Is there a way to only perform a certain part of the flow once? and once its been done not to repeat?

An way round this could be to break down into 4 seperate lists that feed each other but that would involve a lot of duplication of data as each person needs to see all the information which I'd prefer to aviod if possible.

Hope you can help

John D

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Building flows

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RobElliott 10,325 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @jpdorrian you cannot run only part of a flow, the whole flow will always run. The only way I can see to do this would be with lots of SharePoint update item actions and then lots of condition controls to check if a particular column had a value.
Rob
Los Gallardos

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jpdorrian 15 on at

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Hi Rob

Thats what I've been trying to do, but theres a stumbling block

The flow is activated on creation or change. Each stage has a set of conditions and resulting actions that need to be met to activate that part of the flow.

My issue is once the first part has been activated and the flow is modified part 1 will issue an email and then the flow will check the other conditions to see if any of them have been met if they have then it will trigger that part of the flow.

Each time the list is modified section 1 condition has been met and will trigger the auto response, then the same for section 2, and 3 and eventually 4. but the people in sections 1, 2 and 3 will get multiple triggers of a standard email asking them to log in and do something they have already done.

I'm hoping someone has had a similar issue and has found a workaround, possibly around versioning or a counter or something?

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RobElliott 10,325 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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There's nothing you can do with Flow around versioning. I guess we'd need to see a screenshot of your flow to offer any more detailed help. Any chance of that?
Rob
Los Gallardos

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v-zhos-msft on at

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Hi @jpdorrian ,

Could you please share a screenshot of your flow's configuration?

I suggest you use the parallel branch in you flow for a try.

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _ Zhongys

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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jpdorrian 15 on at

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Hi yes I have used the parrarell branched after condition 2.

I think I have a workaround, which isn't perfect or as seamless as I would like, basically add in some buttons and run indavidual flows once the button is pressed, but it means editing a section via the form and then going to list view and clicking the button, which isn't intuitive and could cause issues.

Condition 1Condition 2Condition 3 with parallel branch to condition 4condition 4

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v-zhos-msft on at

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Hi @jpdorrian ,

Thanks for your feedback.

Did you made a test with your flow?

Can the flow achieve your needs?

If there is anything else we can do for you, please feel free to post in the forum.

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _ Zhongys

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

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jpdorrian 15 on at

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The flow process posted above does work but there will be too many notifications as the flow initiates each time the record is modified, ideally the flow would be seemless and only happen once. I think I need to do a bit more research, and find a way to put a counter in or some way of only allowing each part of the flow to happen once, if that is possible. or look at adding a column and only initiating the flow if the cell changes.

The other possible solution would be to find a way to put a button on the form as well as on the SharePoint list.

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