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Power Automate: Update Item step failing with “Could not find list item”

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Posted on by MM-04061658-0

I have two Power Automate flows.
Flow 1 takes a Microsoft Form response and creates a SharePoint list item. This one works correctly.

Flow 2 is an approval flow.
This uses the same MS form; when a response is filled out, it triggers the approval - this part works. What doesn't work is the final Update item step. I’m trying to set the SharePoint list “Approved” column to Yes, but the step fails with the error:

“Could not find list item.”

What am I missing?

Categories:

Building flows

Power Automate Desktop

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Pstork1 69,511 Most Valuable Professional on at

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If you are using the column that is added when you turn on content approval in the list then you can't use Update Item to set that value. There is a specific action called, "Set Content Approval Status".

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11manish 2,611 on at

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If you're using two separate flows, add a Get items action in Flow 2 to retrieve the SharePoint record created by Flow 1 using a unique identifier (such as the

Forms Response ID), then use the returned SharePoint ID in the Update item action.

In most cases, the error "Could not find list item" occurs because the Update Item action is receiving a Forms Response ID or Approval ID instead of the actual

SharePoint List Item ID, or because Flow 2 is running before Flow 1 has finished creating the item.

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Valantis 5,971 on at

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Hi @MM-04061658-0,

The most likely cause: Flow 2 is passing the Forms Response ID as the item ID in the Update Item action, but SharePoint needs its own internal list item ID. These are completely different values.

Fix: in Flow 2, after the approval completes, add a Get items action filtered by a unique value from the form (e.g. the responder's email or a reference number). This returns the SharePoint item that Flow 1 created. Then use the ID from that Get items result in your Update Item action.

Second possible cause: Flow 2 runs faster than Flow 1 and tries to update the item before it exists. If both flows trigger on the same form submission, Flow 1 might not have finished creating the item yet. Add a delay or use the Get items with retry logic to handle this.

Pstork1's point is also worth checking: if your Approved column is actually the built-in SharePoint content approval column (not a custom Yes/No column), Update Item can't set it. Use the Set Content Approval Status action instead.

Best regards,

Valantis

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David_MA 14,755 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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What is the purpose of having two different workflows? I would put both the create SharePoint list item and the approval into the same workflow. Without seeing the workflows you have created, and only going off of what you describe, how does the second workflow get the ID of the SharePoint list item from the first workflow?

By having both actions in one workflow, you are guaranteed to have the correct SharePoint list item ID to update after the outcome of the approval has been received.

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