Apologies I am quite new to Power Automate. I have a SharePoint list in which I need to compare two date columns.

I need my flow to update the date in the 'Next review date' column, to be 6 months later than the 'Date of last review' column (which is updated manually in SP).

The current flow works but is very slow and updates every single item in my list, when I just want it to update items where the 'Next review date' is not equal to the 'Date of last review plus 6 months'.

Can anyone advise how I could use the filter query in 'get items' to stop every item being updated with each flow run? I think my issue is removing the time stamp and formatting the dates as 'date only'.

(The reason I am not using a SharePoint calculated column is because calculated columns are not compatible with a separate flow I have built for sending email reminders).

Thank you!

Categories:

Building flows

@Paula_M It's a lot more efficient to use a Filter Query in the Get Items action to filter out your items first before you loop through them. By using the Apply to Each and Condition action, you are looping through every item in your SP List and running a check which is inefficient. I've linked a tutorial at the bottom of this post that will help you to get the dates you need in your filter query.

Whenever you filter out items, it can be helpful to use a Compose action afterwards to store the count of items returned. I would recommend testing this part of your flow first before you move onto building the rest of your flow.

Return Item Count

Whenever I use a Filter Query in a Get Items action, I always like to return the count of items returned in a Compose action. This is helpful when building a flow and can also be used to troubleshoot your flow.

Insert a Compose action. Add an Expression. Use the length() function.

Select the Dynamic content tab and insert the value dynamic content from the Get Items action into the length() function.

Run a test. Review the outputs of the Compose action to ensure the number of items being filtered out is what you are expecting. If it's not, you'll need to check your filter query.

You might find this YT Tutorial helpful:

How to Work with 📆 Dates in Power Automate | Example Scenarios and Tips & Tricks

Are you easily stumped when working with Dates in Power Automate? In this Power Automate tutorial, I’ll show you how to compose an expression that will return a future date, a past date, how to count the number of days between two dates, how to check for a birthdate and anniversary date as well as tips and tricks when working with dates in Power Automate.

I’ll cover some common use cases and concepts that can help you to build better Power Automate flows. Feel free to skip ahead using the timestamps listed below. I’ve also linked a few other tutorials that you might be interested in as well.

IN THIS VIDEO:

✅ 4 Date Functions You Need to Know

✅ How to use the Convert Time Zone Action

✅ How to Get a Future Date

✅ How to Get a Past Date

✅ How to Return SharePoint Items Due in a Number of Days

✅ How to Return SharePoint Items Due within a Date Range

✅ How to write a Filter Query for SharePoint Items Due in 30, 60 and 90 Days

✅ How to Calculate the Number of Days between Two Dates

✅ How to Check for a Birthdate and Anniversary Date

✅ How to work with Dates and Times in Excel

✅ How to use a Manual Trigger with Date Input

✅ How to Output Dynamic Text with an Expression

✅ How to Check if a Date Falls on a Weekend

Hope this helps!

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