Tutorials

Off the back of my Power Platform Quiz concept where I first used the HTTP API, I have built a solution that in real-time will dynamically serve up files hosted on SharePoint, also using the HTTP API in Power Automate! I first learned about this possibility whilst in discussion with Paul at TachyTelic. This is a working proof of concept and I would love to get your feedback. Imagine that you create documents that need to be served up to the public via your website. You might have version control on these and you might want approval. Quite often the file would be saved to a traditional server or onto a SharePoint document library and then comes the time of publishing. You get in contact with your web team, you send them a copy of the document and they publish the file to the website for you. What happens next? You spot a typo and you need to edit the file and have the Web Team republish that file via the corporate content management system. How much time would you spend on this process each time? ...

Need to combine data from multiple sources — like Excel tables and SharePoint lists — into a single array in Power Automate? In this post, I’ll show you how to create a one-to-one relationship between non-relational data sources using a single Apply to Each loop, filter arrays, and a compose trick to build a clean JSON array for the next stage of your flow. Data Sources Excel Sheet contains two tables of data that are related by the ID ...

Need to send personalised emails with unique attachments — like monthly invoices — to a list of customers? In this post, I’ll show you how to build a mail merge with attachments in Power Automate, pulling customer data from Excel and attaching the right file for each recipient automatically. If you have a requirement for creating invoices in an automated fashion please take a look at some of my other ideas here: ...

Ever wished you could populate an Excel invoice template as easily as a Word template in Power Automate? Excel doesn’t offer a built-in “Populate Template” action, but Office Scripts in Excel On the Web (currently in preview as of March 2021) changes everything. In this post, I’ll show you how to use TypeScript and Office Scripts to dynamically complete an Excel invoice via Power Automate. Watch the demo here ...

Looking to automate ServiceNow with Power Automate Desktop? After my previous post demonstrating how PAD can close down ServiceNow calls and save admin time, I was asked to do a step-by-step build video. Below you’ll find a 20-minute walkthrough covering the entire process. End to end build demo ...

I wanted to explore just how good Microsoft’s AI services really are, so I set up Azure Cognitive Services to detect celebrities from Twitter photos and gauge their emotions. Here’s what happened when I pointed Face and Computer Vision APIs at #breakingnews tweets — and how I shaved 12 months off Bill Gates’ age. Microsoft gives you a 12 month Azure free trial and so I thought I would have a play with some of their Cognitive Services API’s. ...

Ever needed to quickly pull a list of members from your Microsoft 365 Groups and export them? In this quick post, I’ll share a simple PowerShell script using the Get-UnifiedGroup cmdlet that does exactly that — filters your groups and dumps all members into a tidy CSV file. The PowerShell Script Use the Get-UnifiedGroup CMDLet and if your sites are prefixed like mine, filter on the DisplayName. $CSVPath = "C:\Temp\AllGroupMembers.csv" Connect-ExchangeOnline $list=Get-UnifiedGroup -Filter "DisplayName -like 'SitePrefix*'" foreach ($Group in $list) { #Get Group Members and export to CSV Get-UnifiedGroupLinks –Identity $Group.Id –LinkType Members | Select-Object @{Name="Group Name";Expression={$Group.DisplayName}},` @{Name="User Name";Expression={$_.DisplayName}}, PrimarySmtpAddress | Export-CSV $CSVPath -NoTypeInformation -Append } Output The above script will return a CSV. ...

What if you could run PowerShell scripts directly from Power Automate? After attending the Global Automation Bootcamp and seeing demos by Ben Stegink and Jaap Brasser, I was inspired to build a PowerShell Azure Runbook called from Power Automate using the Azure Automation Create Job step. Here’s how I did it. The Problem — SharePoint External Sharing My employer has a policy where all new SharePoint sites are setup with external sharing disabled and the only way to change this setting (as of today) is via the Admin GUI or PowerShell. We have a requirement to change the default setting to existing guests if manager approval has been granted, PowerAutomate has Approvals built in. This is the perfect opportunity for PowerShell to meet PowerAutomate. ...

Ever wanted to generate a PDF from a Microsoft Forms response without paying for premium connectors? In this post, I’ll show you how to populate a Word template dynamically using data from Microsoft Forms — all without the Premium Word Template action — using a clever SharePoint document library trick in Power Automate. The Build Demonstration Does your line of work require you to populate the same template over and over again? Maybe it’s invoices, certificates or receipts? What if you could complete a microsoft form and receive the completed file in return in under 60 seconds? Direct to you or your customer’s email or your document library in Teams? ...

Tired of wasting time on repetitive helpdesk admin? In this post, I’ll show you how I used Power Automate Desktop to automate ServiceNow call management — saving valuable time every week. When a user contacts you direct with a query, if it’s a quick fix, it’s often tempting to resolve there and then, albeit I have to request that the end user logs me a call so that I can record my time, the outcome and then close the call for KPI’s. ...