SharePoint Rich Text Links Not Clickable When Set by Power Automate

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Posted on by Jonihoni

Hey everyone,

I’m running into the following issue:

When my Power Automate flow reads a file from a folder and I try to store the link to it in a SharePoint list, the URL is too long for a standard Hyperlink column.

So I did some research and used a Multiple lines of text column (Rich Text) instead.

The flow works perfectly and writes the link correctly into the list, but afterwards the links are not clickable, unlike when I enter the same link manually.

The weird part: If I manually open the item in edit mode after the flow has run and add something simple at the end of the field (for example a single space), SharePoint seems to “re-interpret” the content and the link becomes clickable again.

In the last screenshot of my attachments, you can clearly see that once I added a single space, the link became clickable.

I also considered automatically shortening the long URL via another flow (e.g., Bitly), but that’s not allowed for me due to data protection policies.

Does anyone have a quick fix or a tip on how to make these links automatically clickable, without using external URL shorteners?

Thanks a lot!

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Vish WR 3,748 on at

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@Jonihoni

We cant see the screenshot , next time upload image using image uplod in the text area instead of file upload it will take longer time to appear

Vishnu WR

LinkedIn - My Tech Space

Please ✅ Does this answer your question if my post helped you solve your issue. This will help others find it more readily. It also closes the item. If the content was useful in other ways, please consider answering Yes to Was this reply helpful? or give it a Like ♥

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Jonihoni 18 on at

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@Vish WR

Thanks for the advice!
Here’s what my list looks like after running the flow: the URL is stored in the column. If I copy and paste the URL into a browser, it works — but it’s not clickable in the list view.

there you can see what happens after I add a single space at the end of the field: I think SharePoint re-renders the content and the URL immediately becomes clickable.

This is how I’m setting the value in my “Create item” action in Power Automate. The item link is being written there. I also tried using HTML and a few other approaches, but nothing worked so far... so I could really use some help here.

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Ellis Karim 12,163 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi @Jonihoni,

One option could be to use JSON column formatting on the SharePoint list itself, to display the content as a hyperlink. For example, url2 column below:

(1) Create a multiple lines of text column, of type plain text.

(2) Add the following Column formatting JSON code to url2

Paste the code below:

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "a", "attributes": { "href": "@currentField", "target": "_blank" }, "txtContent": "Open link", "style": { "display": "=if(@currentField == '', 'none', '')" } }

I tested it with a URL of 330 character:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page?test_parameter_to_ensure_that_the_length_of_this_url_is_well_over_three_hundred_characters_so_it_can_be_used_to_test_email_systems_or_other_software_that_might_have_limits_on_hyperlink_lengths_while_still_remaining_a_perfectly_valid_link_that_will_load_the_wikipedia_home_page_without_issue

Ellis Karim
elliskarim.com | LinkedIn | Bluesky
If this solved your issue, please mark it as ✅ Accepted Answer. If it helped, feel free to give it a 🩷 Like!

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Jonihoni 18 on at

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Hi @Ellis Karim,

thanks for your response, unfortunately it’s still not working on my side. I also tried editing the JSON, but that didn’t help either.

Here’s what my list looks like right now: I added url2 (same column name you used) and included the JSON code.

Could it be failing because the URL column contains <div> and  tags due to Rich Text formatting?

Also, I’m a bit confused about why the href should reference the current field, shouldnt it point to the URL column’s field instead?

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Jonihoni 18 on at

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Hi @Vish WR, @Ellis Karim,

Maybe you haven’t seen my previous reply. I’ve tried many different JSON implementations, including some generated by Claude, but unfortunately none of them worked correctly.

At the moment, I’m still at exactly the same point as I was in my last message. I’d really appreciate hearing back from you and getting some help with this issue.

Greetings Joni

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Ellis Karim 12,163 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@Jonihoni,

Sorry for the late response. I had off work due to illness.

Please check the following:

(1) The column is of type Multiple lines of text, and the type of text is set as Plain Text

(2) Here, I'm viewing/editing the url2 column.

(3) JSON column formatting code. Delete the existing code, and then copy-and-paste the following:

If url2 column contains html tags such as or etc, the JSON code below won't work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page?test_parameter_to_ensure_that_the_length_of_this_url_is_well_over_three_hundred_characters_so_it_can_be_used_to_test_email_systems_or_other_software_that_might_have_limits_on_hyperlink_lengths_while_still_remaining_a_perfectly_valid_link_that_will_load_the_wikipedia_home_page_without_issue

This url text should work:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page?test_parameter_to_ensure_that_the_length_of_this_url_is_well_over_three_hundred_characters_so_it_can_be_used_to_test_email_systems_or_other_software_that_might_have_limits_on_hyperlink_lengths_while_still_remaining_a_perfectly_valid_link_that_will_load_the_wikipedia_home_page_without_issue

Here is the JSON code again:

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "a", "attributes": { "href": "@currentField", "target": "_blank" }, "txtContent": "Open link", "style": { "display": "=if(@currentField == '', 'none', '')" } }

Here is a modified JSON code (version 2) for you to try. Both versions work on my test environment. Delete the existing code, and then copy-and-paste the following:

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "a", "attributes": { "href": "@currentField", "target": "_blank" }, "txtContent": "Open link", "style": { "display": "=if(length(@currentField) > 0, 'inline', 'none')" } }

In this version, if there are more than 0 characters typed into the url2 box, show the "Open link" hyperlink. If there are 0 characters (the box is completely blank), hide "Open link" hyperlink so we don't get a broken link.

Ellis Karim
elliskarim.com | LinkedIn | Bluesky
If this solved your issue, please mark it as ✅ Accepted Answer. If it helped, feel free to give it a 🩷 Like!

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