SharePoint is an excellent place to keep files and manage them. Most of the time, we can access the file directly and edit it, like an Excel file, for example, but today, we're interested in the file as a blob of information. We want to get the file contents and then use them elsewhere in our automation, like sending it in an email, for example.

A few notes before we continue. There's a "sister" action called "Get file content using path" that works differently. We'll see it in a bit, but this one requires an "Identifier," while the other requires you to provide the file's path.

Also, there are analogous actions for OneDrive For Business, like the "Get File Content" action and the "Get File Content using Path" action, in case you're interested in using OneDrive instead of SharePoint.

Where to find the "Get File Content" action?

You can find it in "Standard".

If you don't see "SharePoint," click to expand.

Pick "SharePoint".

Pick the "Get file content" action.

Here's what it looks like.

There are also advanced options that you can pick by pressing the "Show advanced options".

Now that we know how to find it, let's understand how to use it.

Usage

The usage is quite simple. There are two parameters:

1. The SharePoint site where you have the file
2. The file itself.

It's important to note that you must pick the file from the UI and not provide its path. Check below in the "non-intuitive behaviors" for more details. Here's what it looks like:

When we run it, we get the following:

Notice that the data that we get looks "strange". Since the Excel file has an internal structure that is not readable by us, the result comes in base64. If you don't know what it is, don't worry. In this case, consider it as "data" and provide it to the actions that require the information, and Power Automate will take care of the rest.

The output contains two important properties: $content-type with the MIME type and $content with the base64 string. You can access the content using outputs('Get_file_content')?['$content']. This is useful when you want to send the file as an email attachment or create a copy of the file in another location using the "Create File" action. If you need to convert the base64 data, you can use the "base64ToBinary" function.

What about if we try to fetch the information from a text file like this?

The "Get File Content" action will return the following.

Since we're getting a text file, we won't get it as a base64 file, but we'll get its contents. This works the same way with CSV files, where the information is stored in clear text that you can "read". Again, this is a great way to get information in bulk from a file and parse it in subsequent actions.

Finally, look at the advanced properties, like the "Infer Content Type". This tells Power Automate to look at the extension and try to understand the content type. For an Excel file, it's something like this:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet

Applications need this information to know what to do with the files and how to open them, for example.

It's super rare that you'll need to worry about this, but I wanted to include an explanation of what it is in case you're curious or facing a situation where you need it. If you do, please let me know in the comments so I can include it here for others to benefit.

Non-intuitive behaviors

Here are some things to keep in mind.

You can't provide the path

Some people see the path in the action and wrongly assume that they can provide it dynamically.

Notice that the action's parameter is called "File Identifier" and not "File Path". You can use the file identifier if you can get it from other actions, but it won't work with the path.

However, you can dynamically provide the file identifier. If you're using a trigger like "When an item or a file is modified," the {Identifier} property is available in the dynamic content list. You can also use the expression triggerBody()?['{Identifier}'] to get it. The {Identifier} is a URL-encoded server-relative path to the file, and it works perfectly with this action. Just make sure you don't try to manually construct the identifier or use the "uriComponent" function on it - use it as-is from the dynamic content.

If you try to provide the path instead, you'll get an error message like this:

Route did not match
clientRequestId: b86c99b3-8408-4b44-8912-edcf070bbcdd
serviceRequestId: faf84c19-2e41-4c8f-a822-d6592d850991

Here's a quick way to test it. First, copy the value we got before to a "Compose" action.

Here's the result.

If you want to use the path dynamically, you need to use SharePoint's "Get File Content using Path" action.

JSON files with array roots

If you try to read a .json file where the root element is an array (like [{"name": "Pedro"}, {"name": "Maria"}]) instead of an object, you'll get an Internal Server Error. This is a known issue with the SharePoint connector. The workaround is to rename the file extension to .txt so the content type is inferred as text/plain instead of JSON.

I'm including this for completeness but this is quite a specific use-case. Just for you to know in case you find something like this.

Limitations

File size limit

The SharePoint connector has a 100 MB message size limit per action. However, since the "Get file content" action returns data as base64, and base64 encoding adds roughly 30% overhead, the practical file size limit is around 70-80 MB. If you exceed this, you'll get an error like:

Cannot write more bytes to the buffer than the configured maximum buffer size: 104857600

If you need to move large files, consider using the SharePoint "Copy File" action instead. With that action, the data never enters the Flow, and it supports files up to 250 GB.

Throttling

The SharePoint connector allows 600 calls per minute per connection, and this limit is shared across all Flows using the same connection. If you use the "Get file content" action inside an "Apply to each" action loop with high concurrency, you can hit this limit quickly. Keep the concurrency at 2-5 to stay safe. When throttled, you'll get HTTP 429 or 503 responses.

If you have found other limitations we should be aware of, please comment, and I'll include them in the article for everyone to benefit.

Recommendations

Here are some things to keep in mind.

Name it correctly

The name is super important in this case because we can pick the file from the UI and get the file's Identifier from other actions in the Flow. Therefore, always build the name so others can understand your use without opening the action and checking the details.

Always add a comment

Adding a comment will also help avoid mistakes. Indicate where the Identifier comes from, for example, how you get it. It's essential to enable faster debugging when something goes wrong.

Always deal with errors

Have your Flow fail graciously and notify someone that something failed. It's horrible to have failing Flows in Power Automate since they may go unlooked-for a while or generate even worse errors. I have a template that you can use to help you make your Flow resistant to issues. You can check all details here.

Final Thoughts

The "Get file content" action is a straightforward way to grab files from SharePoint and use them in your Flows. Just remember to use the file identifier, not the path, and you'll be all set. If you need the path approach, the "Get file content using path" action has you covered.

Back to the Power Automate Action Reference.

Photo by Ali Shah Lakhani on Unsplash