Power Automate: OneDrive for Business – For a selected file Trigger

Did you know you can trigger Flows for files directly in OneDrive for Business? Let’s say that you have a contract that you want to send for approval. You need to generate a link to the file or attach it to an email, send it to the people who need to approve it, receive notifications, and merge changes. Or you press a button and let Power Automate do the work for you by using OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” trigger that catches these requests.

Let’s see how to use it.

Where to find it?

To find it, you can search for OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” trigger or select “Standard”.

Select “OneDrive for Business”:

Pick OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” trigger:

Here’s what it looks like:

There are no fields to configure, so let’s look at how to use it.

Usage

First, let’s create a Flow called “Approve Contract” (the name will be important later).

Now that we have a Flow with OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” trigger, let’s go to our OneDrive and see how to trigger the automation:

OneDrive for Business did all the work in the backend, and it’s already displaying the Flow for us to run.

When you run, if it’s the first time, you may need to configure/confirm the connections.

After this, the Flow will trigger on Power Automate.

Outputs

The trigger returns a lot of information in a JSON format, although the conversion from JSON is done automatically for you. Here’s an example:

{
    "headers": {
        ...
    },
    "body": {
        "entity": {
            "filePath": "/TMP/Test File11.xlsx",
            "fileUrl": "https://manueltgomescom-my.sharepoint.com/personal/manuel_manueltgomes_com/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7B5f82b4aa-827d-4c7d-b607-963b0542e7f7%7D&action=default&uid=%7B5f82b4aa-827d-4c7d-b607-963b0542e7f7%7D&ListItemId=372689&ListId=7B5f82b4aa-827d-4c7d-b607-963b0542e7f7&odsp=1&env=prod",
            "ID": 372689,
            "itemUrl": "https://manueltgomescom-my.sharepoint.com/personal/manuel_manueltgomes_com/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7B5f82b4aa-827d-4c7d-b607-963b0542e7f7%7D&action=default&uid=%7B5f82b4aa-827d-4c7d-b607-963b0542e7f7%7D&ListItemId=372689&ListId=8e3fcb4a-4b52-4790-a96b-89f9e426aa90&odsp=1&env=prod",
            "fileName": "Test File11.xlsx",
            "FileId": "372689"
        }
    }
}

Notice that we only got the information about the file, not the file itself. Other triggers like OneDrive for Business “When a file is created Trigger”, for example, will return the file information we can use. Still, the OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” will return the file ID. We can then use that ID and the “Get File Content Action” action to get the file to parse.

Limitations

If you build the Flows in the “My Flows” section, only you will see them in OneDrive for Business. This is not a limitation per se, but it’s something that you should be aware of, but there’s no real impact since you’re triggering the Flow in files that are in your OneDrive for Business and not a shared place like SharePoint where multiple people have access to the same file.

Recommendations

Here are some things to keep in mind.

Don’t use this for synchronization

I see many questions regarding the synchronization of files. OneDrive for Business “For a selected file” trigger is an excellent target to catch files that need replication. But I would strongly advise you not to do it. Synchronization of files is an amazingly complex topic in computer science, and we are all super when something doesn’t synchronize properly. If the trigger fails, data will be out of sync, and Power Automate won’t rerun it. If the data is changed on the destination folder, you already have a problem that will only worsen over time.

Name it correctly

The name is super important since we need to provide context for what we will do with the file. Keeping the name “For a selected file” won’t give any helpful context. Always build the name so that other people can understand what you are using without opening the action and checking the details.

Additional contracts to the name

Since you’ll be seeing the flow’s name in OneDrive for Business, and it’s your only clue as to what it will do to the selected item, it’s essential o keep the names as straightforward as possible.

In this example, “Request sign-off” is not clear enough. Request sign-off of what? What will happen? Name it so that, even with only a few characters, people will know what happens when they trigger the automation.

Finally, this is the only exception I see to not using environment clues like “PROD” in the name, for example. Space is limited, so if the name is too long, it may be truncated.

Always add a comment

Adding a comment will also help avoid mistakes. Indicate what you’re expecting, why the Flow should be triggered, and what the data will be used. It’s essential to add comments when limiting the trigger with some custom rulessince these are not prominent in the UI, and people may get confused as to why the Flow doesn’t trigger when it’s simply a rule preventing it from doing so. It’s essential to enable faster debugging when something goes wrong.

Finally, let people know why you’re choosing the parameters you configured. For example, why do you select that folder if you have a folder defined? It may make sense now, but not in a few months.

An automated trigger is better than a scheduled one

Sometimes people are tempted to use scheduled triggers that pool the resources once in a while. This way, they can control when the information is fetched and save many Power Automate “triggers” if their quota is low. However, even if it isn’t, it may be more efficient to do batch tasks than once by one. I understand, and in some cases, I can agree, but it brings a lot of difficulties in the process. For example, you may need to keep track of what changed from the last run until this one so that some things may get lost. Also, you’re forcing something to happen periodically, even if there’s no data.

I always recommend using these “automatic” triggers instead, where they trigger one by one, but only when there’s data, so you’re always sure you get something to do. Also, debugging triggers that parse a single data point instead of multiple simultaneously is much easier. If something fails on one, then you can fix the Flow and repeat the process. But while parsing multiple ones, things can get a lot harder.

Back to the Power Automate Trigger Reference.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash