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Help with creating a Flow with a OneDrive Shared Folder and Notifications

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Posted on by Traveling_Neko

A team member has shared a folder with our department that she created on her OneDrive for Business profile.

I'd like to receive notifications (mainly Outlook email or an alert when I'm in my OneDrive) when a new file is added or created to this Shared Folder, to which I have full access and rights to.

When I'm in the folder itself, the Flow option is not available. When I go into Flow and attempt to build for automation, the weblink address for the Shared Folder doesn't work during a test run. I get an error (Status Code 400) and "Bad Request".

Does this mean one cannot create a Flow for a Shared Folder that they do not own despite having full access to it?

And if this type of Flow doesn't exist, would the work around be that the person who adds a file must manually "Share" it out to everyone in order to indiciate there is a new file waiting? Thanks!

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Building flows

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v-yamao-msft on at

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Hi @Traveling_Neko ，

Currently, only folders that under “Files” on OneDrive for Business are available in Microsoft Flow, but not folders/files listed under “Shared”.

Here is one of the similar requests on Flow Ideas forum, please vote and comment the idea at here:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Ideas/OneDrive-list-files-in-shared-with-me-folders/idi-p/295879

Further, if you want to get an email notification, you could ask the member to create a flow from her side for this folder. In the Send an email action, input your email address in the To field, so that whenever a file is added to this folder, an email will be send to you.

Best regards,

Mabel

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Traveling_Neko 10 on at

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Thank you for the information, @v-yamao-msft . I have voted on the Flow Ideas forum for the request that matches mine. I will also try your recommendation to ask the Owner of the Shared Folder to set up a Flow trigger to send an email to others.

Quick question: how does one get a direct link added to the email/notification? In my tests with a Shared Folder that I own, I cannot seem to get a direct link added. I can add the "File pathway" but it is not a clickable link.

Thanks!

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v-yamao-msft on at

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Hi @Traveling_Neko ,

Thanks for updating.

Folder Path is not a clickable link, while you could use action Create share link or Create share link by path to create a link then send it via email.

Best regards,

Mabel

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kg27 2 on at

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I have found a workaround. You can make the flow yourself and then share ownership with the person who owns the folders or files in the OneDrive you are trying to connect to. That person then has to go in, remove your connections (wherever applicable), and add their own connections. From there you can go in to edit the flow and their OneDrive folders will appear for you to choose.

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jRufus 57 on at

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Instead of monitoring a OneDrive shared folder that other uses can access, you could monitor a SharePoint document library that other users can access.
SharePoint connector works perfect in this way.
Hope this helps

1 people found this reply helpful.

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nandan 32 on at

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Thanks @kg27 . I have the login/password of the other account, so I just needed to add a new connection with the owner's account
This worked for me... In My Connections, I added the real owner(not shared) and got it working

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jfull 2 on at

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Seems like an enormous limitation. As soon as the user who created a flow leaves an organization, all other users can continue to access the file, but no one will ever be able to use the flow again, even if they have full access to edit the flow, because the file can never be accessed within the flow by anyone but the person who originally created the flow.

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jRufus 57 on at

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It's not a limitation, @jfull .
What these people want to do, should not be done in OneDrive but in SharePoint.
The right answer to the original question is that you cannot pick a file shared with you in OneDrive from a Power Automate flow and you never will. OneDrive folders are for personal use and a general misconception is that OneDrive is the best tool for collaboration. It's not.
The fact that you can share a OneDrive folder with others, doesn't make OneDrive the best tool for sharing.
The one tool designed for collaboration in Microsoft 365 is SharePoint (or Teams for that matter). If you create a SharePoint site and add your colleagues as members, you and them can access everything within the site, including the sites Document Library (Documents menu option) that could be described as a OneDrive that all members can access.
The good thing about this document library is that all members can use every file and folder in the library to create their own notifications, Power Automate flows, Power APPs and all the rest.
So, no limitations here, just a matter of using the wrong tool for the job.
I hope this helps
Josu

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SigfrSternstb 2 on at

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But what about access control on sharepoint?
As you say and as far as I understand, everyone in a sharepoint team will get ownership.
In my case I want to limit write access to a few people, but allow read access for all team members.
Then those team members should be able to run power automate flows on that file.
Does anyone know a solution for that?

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OJ-14052014-0 4 on at

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As mentioned by @jRufus the best tool for this would be SharePoint.

If your requirement is to have limited access within a SharePoint document library, then you can adjust the permissions on that library to limit some users to read only whilst others have full control (or contribute).

This link should prove useful but if you are unsure, please feel free to reach out for some guidance.

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