Please continue to create content like this! I really appreciate your efforts & passion to teach people that there is always gonna be an easier way to do stuff without spending much on it. Your innovation is very inspiring. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! So far I found that I can only create an html file then convert it to pdf. This tutorial saved my day. There is one limitation: the API does not accept text longer than 255 characters. I added a Sharepoint "update item" step to add multiline, long text to a field (e.g., "comments") of the Sharepoint list prior to the send email step. It worked. Note: if you open the docx in Sharepoint, it does not show the values of the fields. Open it in standalone MS Word (or from the email), the values will be visible.
Your instruction was the only one that got my flow right! Thank you!!! Now I have to figure out if QuickParts can apply Rich Text formatting, but it's at least working.
DeShon, I wanted to extend a big thanks for this genius work. Too many “marketing” videos trying to push premium connectors when there exist the possibilities to run this all without the extra expense. Bravo !! Subscribed !!
Awesome! Thanks for watching! In this day and age, we have to make sure our solutions are cost effective. I am working on a model that when a premium connector is needed, we can contain it to a service account and not for all users using the solution...more on this soon.
Great walkthrough. I'm especially thankful that you leave the typical MS-Quirks in. I tend to begin to doubt myself whenever I need four tries to make powerautomate accept my inputs...Good to know that I'm not the only one...😂
You're welcome! I'm glad you found the idea of using word templates to create PDFs helpful. It can definitely be a simpler and more straightforward approach compared to using HTML templates. Let me know if you have any other questions or need further assistance!
This was so incredibly helpful, clear, and amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing! I have paid for courses that taught me .08% of what you taught me in this one video. APPRECIATE IT!
I always can appreciate different approaches to solutions. I might use this for lower volume lists I manage to be able to offload the cloud flow to other users but in my case, I had to request the Premium add-on for Power Automate due to the amount of API calls we are projecting to use.
Thank you for making this video. I’m having trouble understanding how to get the dynamic content “make” , “model”, etc. from sharepoint to add to their respective fields when updating the template file data.
He DeShon, this is a great video and I want to thank you for making it. For me, it enables me to make my Power Automate perform very dynamic. Great stuff.
It tooks me hours to solve (I am new to PA!), but I'm almost there thanks to this video! Thanks @Deshon Clak. I have one minor problem though, I can't seem to work around: My final file get's created and updated BUT if I open it with Word in browser, it just shows the copied template start-point, however, when I open the very same file in Word desktop app it shows the correct populated data entries. How can that be? (I am thinking the best way around this is just to set the library to open files in desktop app as default). KR
First thanks for watching, this is a major power Automate for a first go around...kudos to you!!! This is a known issue and this is why we convert to PDF so the experience stays in the browser. You are working fine, this is a known issue
@@DeShonClark Great, I'll have a look at your pdf-video in that case! Only have one problem with this whole flow now, and that is multiple choice answers from the Forms submission doesn't transfer that well to list/doc. It bungles several answers into one choice, and then I manually have to change it form the choice dropdown and delete the bungled data. Any info/video or ideas how to get around this issue? (I can't seem to find anything useful in this regard on the microsoft forums).
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad that the video was helpful for you. I'll definitely keep creating more content, so stay tuned for more. Take care as well!
I'm getting a lot of feedback that the values in the SharePoint library are not showing up in the word template. This happened to me when I was using word online versus the word application, I mean desktop app. Let me take a look and to confirm this approach still works with the latest updates
Wow, thanks for this video Clark. This one helped me a lot. However I have one issue, my template has a repeating table, so how should my SP library look like? Should I have another library for the repeating table and connect that with main library using lookup columns?
@@DeShonClark Thanks for the reply. BTW I found a solution using the inbuilt experimental PDF function in powerapps, you may want to check that out it is pretty easy.
Great video DeShon, this has really helped me with my current flow and have used your convert to a PDF instructions also. I noticed in a previous comment some months ago you suggested you used an expression to remove the template value (document property) if the field is not populated, I have tried a few expressions but have had no luck, could you please share the expression you use to make the value blank/empty?
Hey Rob, hope all is well....on the update properties action this is what we are using...obviously update with your respective prop name: if(empty(outputs('Get_item_-CustomerNumber')?['body/CustomerNumber']), ' ', outputs('Get_item_-_Item_Order')?['body/CustomerNumber'])
Hi, Thanks a lot for this amazing video. I have some questions: 1 - Sometime i have a yellow message error: "a proper required property missing or invalid" but i still don't understand why 2 - If i want to add a new control, i need fist to add a column in my sharepoint list then add my template in this library, open the template and the new control ? then i have to save my template ? Thanks a lot
This is one of the most common ask...images and tables...this technique does not support them, that would require a premium connector to use the Word Template proper
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you found the video easy to follow and learn from. I appreciate your support and encouragement! If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to let me know. Keep learning and have a great day!
Hello, did you ever work out if this is possible? I am trying to find a way to insert an image into my document but all my research points towards using the word connector which is now a premium feature
@@steviedb9 I spent days on Google trying to find out how to do this with no luck. Eventually I decided to tackle it a different way, hopefully this overview of my solution helps you. I have an audit in Powerapps; when a picture is taken it populates a corresponding Site Column which is formatted as "Multiple lines of text" in SharePoint. These fields are included in my Word doc template. When an audit is completed Power Automate populates the Word doc template and saves it to a library (and emails me). I manually download the populated Word doc and then run the following Macro ( I could probably automate this process but it's not crucial for me). As explained in the notes in the Macro the first step is to convert the Content Controls (Merge Fields) to plain text (if you don't do this step 2 doesn't work). Then it finds the image URL's, downloads the imges and resizes them. I have extra functionality in the Macro which handles various formatting tasks but no doubt you'll want a different look to what I want so I have left this out. Good luck. Dave Sub Convert_Content_Control_to_PlainText() 'Convert Content Controls (Merge Fields) to plain text Application.ScreenUpdating = False Dim i As Long With ActiveDocument For i = .ContentControls.Count To 1 Step -1 With .ContentControls(i) .LockContentControl = False .Delete False End With Next End With Application.ScreenUpdating = True 'Find the URL's - download and embed the iamges and then resize them Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory With Selection.Find .ClearFormatting .Text = "http*jpg" .Forward = True .Wrap = wdFindContinue .Format = False .MatchCase = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchAllWordForms = False .MatchSoundsLike = False .MatchWildcards = True Do While .Execute Dim imagePath As String imagePath = Selection.Range.Text imagePath = Right$(imagePath, Len(imagePath) - InStr(1, imagePath, ":\") + 2) Dim SHP As InlineShape Set SHP = Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture(FileName:=imagePath, LinkToFile:=False, SaveWithDocument:=True) SHP.LockAspectRatio = True SHP.Height = InchesToPoints(6) If SHP.Width > InchesToPoints(6) Then SHP.Width = InchesToPoints(6) End If Loop End With End Sub
@@davidlacey7572, thanks for sharing! I will try to go for an alternative, like exporting to PDF and them converting the PDF manually to Word. If I can make it work will let yall know
Hello, thanks for the great video. I have a problem I cannot solve, and maybe you can help me. I inserted 's date in my word template. The problem is that the date doesn't update. In practice, when I generate the PDF, the
Nice video... congrats... One question: How can I insert gallery data to the word model? For example: Imagine I want to see in the same ticket, a list of the last 3 users that used the slot... However, the question is: How to fill a list of data in Word templates?
Thanks for watching, this is an interesting scenario. Let me take a look and see if I can determine the best approach, we actually may need the premium connector for this. More to come soon.
@@DeShonClark Hi DeShon did you find a way to do this without the premium Connector? I am trying to populate an invoice request and need to be able to handle an array of objects for the billing items properties. Thanks for the great videos. Please keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you found the video helpful. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to let me know. I'm here to help!
it's not working for me :( it's updating only the properites of the columns in the library but not the details in the template. May it be that sth has changed and the function is not working anymore?
are you mapping the properties using MS Word desktop? then saving the document (not uploading to the doc library)? I used this feature recently...still works, but the properties must be mapped using MS Word desktop app
Great Video, thanks. Would this work if you had multiple rows you needed to add to the word template rather than the single inserted row? let's say the insert was five rows with multiple times and dates and space requirements.
thanks for watching multiple rows and dynamic tables is a no-go for this. I would recommend going premium for those requirements and images. Note: you can design this is a way to where the premium is only required for the svc account and not all of the users of the solution
Can this be done with JSON data passed from powerapps? For example have the template uploaded like you do, then on the press of a button pass the data from 10 or so fields in JSON to power automate, then use that data to populate the fields in the template?
This works best with document properties in Word. I assume technically you could use Json and a find and replace, but you would need to "break open" the word file (aka the zip)
Hi, Deshon, Thanks for youe great video, but I could not figure it out how you et up those customized properties /Fields in the quick access tool bar and also how it coudl show in properties field, for me it only shows the built in properties.
Thanks DeShon for the amazong trick... however I'm stuck because the Quick Parts in Word isn't recognizing the fields from the SharePoint list, any thoughts on that? Thanks again!
hey Marius, make sure you are using Word desktop app...not the Word online...then you should see the site columns pop-up when under Quick Parts. When clicking on the word file from within SharePoint document library...use the open in Desktop App...i think you should be good Bro
Great video, thanks for putting this up. When i move my template docx file from the document library where the "v" columns are create to the shared document library, the tokens are no longer available. any suggestion?
Hi there.. Have used your fab instructions a number of times now but have hit a problem with 1 tenant. Every time I open the document in word it tells me it had unreadable content and asks if I want to recover the doc but even saying yes this fails. Ive opened a ticket with MS but was hoping you may have come across this before ?
Thank you for your comment! Yes, this method can work with a repeated section on the Word template. You would just need to set up your SharePoint site columns and map them to the placeholders in the template for each repeated section. The process would be the same, where you get the template content, create a new file, update the file properties, and then send the file as an attachment. Let me know if you have any further questions!
I know this is a late question but here goes. I'm trying to create a Standard Operating Procedure type document set. The body of the document is series of steps to be completed, each step in a different row of a table. Depending on the SOP this can be two steps or twenty. The data is to be stored in Excel online or lists. How do I generate a document that does not have the one-to-one field relationship as with this example, but with part of the document having one-to-many steps? Is this even possible? I'm thinking we need a step to generate a table in memory and somehow insert that table into the word document. Any thoughts?
thanks for watching. I love the idea. This would be so much simpler using the premium connector...just note, you can design this in a way to where the premium connector is contained to a single svc account (vs. every user of the app).
Thanks Edirin, that is a twist...we have several looking into this, but so far seems like the premium connector may be the easiest way, but we're still digging
Thank you for sharing that tip! That's a great way to save time and add the "Document Property" option to the ribbon for quick access. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future videos. Thanks again for watching and for your comment!
Brilliant, just what I need. Is it possible to add a table to the word document and populate it with dynamic table data from a flow/sharepoint list using this method?
Thanks, however the approach doesn't work for word online, because they still do not support quick parts. Liked the video though, learnt from it- but doesn't meet our needs May follow an alternate approach or stupid VBA
Hi Clark. So I did get this working beautifully for a couple of years, but then for some reason the "File Content" parameter doesn't stay put for the create file connector. It changes to "body" and the word template no longer gets populated with data. The file is being generated and attached in email, it's just not populated with the data. Is this a bug in the O365 environment ?
Did you figure this out yet? I'm facing the same problem over here. Whenever I "redo" this, it works for a couple of times. But then the data just gets added to the properties of the file, without the file using the properties...
Hi Deshon, thanks a lot for this brilliant tut! Any ideas on how to do it (editing and adding Document Properties) on Word for Mac? Because the toolbar is different and there's no button to do it... :(
Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I do not think HTML is supported in this format. If you are using plain text it is great but not for very complex template. Repeating table is also not supported using this logic.
Thank you for your comment! I appreciate your feedback. You're correct that this method is best suited for simpler templates without complex formatting or repeating tables. If you need to create more complex templates with HTML or repeating tables, you would need to explore other options or premium connectors. Let me know if you have any other questions!
This is great, DeShon. Do you know if you can insert images in templates with QuickParts (or, in generale, without using the Word Online premium connector)?
hey Riccardo, this is one of the most common ask, but I have not found an "easy" way to accomplish this. inserting images and tables within a template may require the premium connector
@NICOLAS CORREA CAVIERES hey Nicolas, I got your message on ALL media outlets :-) I'll have to take a look, I assumed images and dynamic tables we just plug-n-play with the premium connector..let me try one.... do you have a usecase you would like me to use...you can keep it generic
Darn! Doesn't work for me. I have a document library with a lot of columns, but when I create a new Word document inside that library, I don't see the columns listed under Quick Parts > Document Property. Any advice?
Hi, Thanks for sharing the idea, I followed all the steps but my new documents is the same as the template, no properties got filled in. Do you have any idea?
I have not been able to crack the code on rich formatting and images piece. Signatures and dynamic images is a common ask. I think premium may be the way to go in those scenarios...just cleaner and easier to maintain. Note: you can centralize the process to where you only need premium for the svc account vs. everyone user of the app
hi thank you for the video very informative, is it possible to use the same approach for table and repeated headers, lets say the ItemLines will be also a single text and we can make it as repeated line in the template if we created a table?
thank you for watching...I have not tried this with tables, my gut says this will be a premium connector. Tables and embedded images prove to be a true challenge.
He DeShon, one question could we also do something similar with HTML files when it comes to injecting the values from the columns? So instead of a Word document we have a HTML file with placeholders. Hope you find the time to answer this question, thanks in advance.
Hey Paul, thanks for watching. I don't see any technical reason why you couldn't use the same for an HTML file. Because this process just deals with files in general. You may need to change it a bit to deal with the "content" of the file ..vs the metadata of the file ..that will be the main difference...hope this clarify the approach. Let m know how it goes.
@@DeShonClark didn't work out for me to get this working with a html file. With Word you have the quickparts through which you can map the fields, but in html offcourse not. Would you be willing to take a peak at this and see if you are able to make this work? I would be so gratefull if you could ;-)
really good solution for my application, you know if have a way to insert an image on this template? cause im trying to convert base64 to img based on a sharepoint column but till the moment i dont find this type of function
What if instead of emailing the file you just want to save the file to sharepoint? I follow along until the email portion and the file that is created is a word doc with none of the Document Properties filled out.
I am trying to do this too. I tried "on new email receipt" - get attachment- attachment content- create file (file content = attachment content) But this returns the original template without the metadata added.
I'm actually saving the file to a doc library...which is how I am able to email it. I actually delete the file from the Lib after the email is sent. Also note: the document will NOT display metadata when launched in the browser...desktop app only for showing the doc with the metadata....or convert the file to PDF ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iW3J7RAyxOo.html
Hello, My power app had a date field that gets into the word and later converted into pdf. But when I get the pdf, the result date is -1 day to what was selected. I am stuck badly. Can you please help me?
they key with any date field is understanding that the dates are stored as UTC...so any local time zones, would need to be converted and once converted, special care is needed when saving (to ensure it is saved as UTC). All that to say, with this video and using the 'template' store your dates (once formatted and converted) as strings....no need for the date type value...hope this helps. I share your frustration, as dealing with dates, local time conversions, and formatting is tricky
@ 11:08, Im lost here- I dont have what you have to move the file to. I tried moving it to other places, but get an error- "The file or folder contains properties that will be lost at the new destination."
Thank you for the tutorial. its seems that i am stuck at the "create file" step where i kept getting "JSON.parse: bad escaped character at line 1 column 1996 of the JSON data" error.
thanks for watching. Repeating tables are tricky. I plan to ask Paulie M on the LIVE Q&A session this Saturday. Check out the video for 7/31 and see if Paulie can share some insight on this
@@DeShonClark Any luck with this? I've checked out the videos but couldn't find anything. This would be incredibly helpful. Also, your videos are amazing.
Hey DeShon, great content!! This has been super helpful. I was wondering, if I wanted to use Multiple Line Text instead of single line text, let's say for addresses or for open ended questions for something like a Mid-Year/End of Year Review, would I run into errors? Just wondering, what issues could the multiple line text option for a few site columns cause?
@@DeShonClark After some tinkering, it would appear that "Word Online" does not show MLT mapped values, single line works fine though. If you download the file then the MLT content does appear just fine. It's annoying that word online doesn't support these types of columns as it means my users have to download the documents to see all the values :( If you had any ideas on this, it would be greatly appreciated
How can I send a word document as the body of the email with it's formatting in tact and the images included.. can we try this in Power automate? Any tips please..
Yes, but I'm not sure if all the formatting gets pulled in like tables, bullet list, formatting, etc...i use it to bring in large text (over 256 chars)
Thank you very much. I would like to populate a word file, taking out information of an excel list (name, surname) - both excel and the word template are on OneDrive. Might you have a similar video explaining the necessary workflow? It would be of great help :-) Thanks again, Mary
@@DeShonClark Sorry for bothering you again. Could you give me advice on the workflow, if I don`t have the approval process before? I would rather trigger it manually, but I don`t know, where to put the variables then before I start to create the file. Your help is very much appreciated :-) Kind regards, Mary
Hi DeShon, first of all, thank you for this material, was perfect for my project... But a i have some issues like the following: what if users do not fill all de fields, the document will show de variable name and some times would be perfect if that empty data does not show on the document. Other thing is when i have a multiple lines in a rich text from powerApps, for example i am using richtext and paste multiple lines: 1. example 2. example 2 3. example 3 And so... it will concatenate at the final document like this: 1. example 2. example 2 3. example 3. Is there a way to fix this? i appreciate you answer...
Hey Daniel, thanks for watching I really do appreciate it. For the fields showing when they are blank, I think you can set the default value to a empty space this will resolve it. If word detects that the value is empty AKA null it will display the field as a placeholder, but we just need to fill this in with a space. One of the techniques I use was an expression in power automate to check if the field is blank and if so just put an empty space which will make it render as desired. As far as the multi-line rich text, this is a tricky one, and I have not yet solved for this one.
