web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content

Notifications

Announcements

Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Apps / Bye bye working with ...
Power Apps
Unanswered

Bye bye working with attachment control - No Legacy formula bar in retired features list anymore🤯

(2) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by Microsoft Employee
I needed to use attachment control for file download. Normally, until Monday, I was able to switch the modern formula bar with legacy formula bar and provide Name and Value to the control, after which users were able to download the file. Now, the retired feature is gone 😢. How do I manage the file download - @Microsoft, please think this thru because downloading files is another common action users perform.
 
Anyone has any alternate solution (other than adding button with OnSelect = Launch(with Environment link to the file))? BTW - even this way of downloading file does not work unless the user first simply visits the environment page, where they land on a blank page, and then go back to the app to be able start downloading attachments by a selecting the button. I have not found a straight-forward way to add all the users to the environment without they merely visiting the page. If anyone knows how to do this, I'll greatly appreciate it.
 
Thank you,
Categories:
I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Daniel Bocklandt Profile Picture
    5,099 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Hey, 
     
    I think if I'm not totaly wrong you should be able to use a Power Automate flow to download the file. 
    I think I used a variable to determine if its a Mobile device or a PC. 
    If its a mobile device I send a link from onedrive back to download, otherwise from sharepoint. 
    When I remember correctly, eventhough it opens sometimes a new page in the Browser it closes itself directly after the download. 
     
    And you can start the flow whenever and however you want. 
     

    If this solved your problem, please mark it as Solved to help others find the solution faster.
    If you found it helpful, consider giving it a Like to support each other in this community!

    Thanks, and happy building!

  • ManishM Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at
    Hello there, thanks for your response. I hope this reply of mine goes as a response to yours because "Reply to this post" button still appears below my question and not below yours....Anyway.
     
    My file download need is probably 50% of my users' activity. I have over 1k daily users who download 100s of files - many simultaneously. Therefore, using a power automate path does not seem feasible and also due to the blank screen opening on every download. So, there is a lot of file upload and download operation happening and I am using Dataverse so no alternate UI to access the files through a different system like in SharePoint.
     
    The workaround I have employed is to use a complete form control and keep only the file attachment control. However, this is for one file at a time since I am using File column of the Dataverse.
     
    I think there has/needs to be a better way to do this.
  • Daniel Bocklandt Profile Picture
    5,099 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Hey Manish, 
     
    Well Dataverse is not really a Document library. so working with ifferent documents is not quite it's purpose. 
    I don't understand why the number of documents would disqualify Power Automate. I would rather choose Power automte over Power apps since Power Apps isn't made for calculations or big transfer of Data (including Downloading Data). 

    if you send the correct parameters all the documents can be downloaded in one go. 
    The only Workaround woulld be to push the documents directly to their personal OneDrive. 
    hope this helped. 

    If this solved your problem, please mark it as Solved to help others find the solution faster.
    If you found it helpful, consider giving it a Like to support each other in this community!

    Thanks, and happy building!

     
  • ManishM Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at
    Thank you DBO DV.
     
    My app generates files on the fly based on user selection and then offers them for download. The generated files need a host, and I use Dataverse File column to upload it to and then, thru a UI offer it for download. The file, after download, is deleted for that user.
     
    I had tried using PA but the timing was so off between the file generation and PA trigger that the file never showed up for download.
     
    Thank you for trying to help me with your various approach to solve this limitation. I greatly appreciate it :) 
  • TL-31011646-0 Profile Picture
    4 on at
    In the Items property, I used to use {Name: XXXXXXX, Value: YYYYYYY}. With the feature removed, I've identified that you can either use the name property OR the value property, not both.
     
    If you use {Name: XXXXXX}, the attachment field will show the name of the attachment, but you can't download.
    If you use {Value:YYYYY}, you can download the attachment, but the file name is whatever PA supplies.
  • ManishM Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at
     
    I tried your method and only download action worked but a lot did not make sense when I saw the downloaded file. There was no mime info. User will never know which app to use to open the downloaded file since I host multiple filetypes. The file name is a must to know the content of the file so not something I'll be able to use as a solution.
     
    Thank you for trying to help me. I appreciate it 🙏. 
  • Suggested answer
    Jimisayo Profile Picture
    8 on at
    I found a solution to access files from the attachment column of a SharePoint list using attachment control:
     
    AddColumns(DropColumns(
       ThisItem.Attachments,
       Value,
       Id),
       Value,
     $”{AbsoluteUri}”,Name,$”{DisplayName}”
    )
     
     
  • Suggested answer
    DP_Gunta Profile Picture
    6 on at

    Actual Problem:

    When you copy the YAML code, you will observe the following in Items property.
     
    Items:
      =ForAll(
          Filter(
              TableName,
              ID = var_ID
          ),
          {
              DisplayName: ThisRecord.Attachment.FileName,
              Value: ThisRecord.Attachment.Value
          }
      )
    Items.Name: =DisplayName
    Items.Value: =DisplayName   // This is the issue!
    
     

    Even though you're assigning Value: ThisRecord.Attachment.Value, the file still doesn't download when you click on it. That's because Power Apps, for some reason, defaults Items.Value to DisplayName instead of the actual file Value.

    Solution:

    Just update the Items.Value property like this:

    Items.Value: =Value

    Now your attachment control knows where the real file is, and clicking it will work as expected!

    Ideally it should look something like this :

     
    Items:
      =ForAll(
          Filter(
              TableName,
              ID = var_ID
          ),
          {
              DisplayName: ThisRecord.Attachment.FileName,
              Value: ThisRecord.Attachment.Value
          }
      )
    Items.Name: =DisplayName
    Items.Value: =Value   // This is the fix
    
     

    Hope this helps! It worked for me, and I hope it works for you too. 

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Forum hierarchy changes are complete!

In our never-ending quest to improve we are simplifying the forum hierarchy…

Ajay Kumar Gannamaneni – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Ajay Kumar Gannamaneni as our Community Spotlight for December…

Leaderboard > Power Apps

#1
WarrenBelz Profile Picture

WarrenBelz 717 Most Valuable Professional

#2
Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture

Michael E. Gernaey 329 Super User 2025 Season 2

#3
Power Platform 1919 Profile Picture

Power Platform 1919 268

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard