Populate a Word Document without Premium Actions via Power Automate (Method 2)

[@DamoBird365]

I’ve got a favour to ask! If you enjoy this, please double check that you’ve liked the video and subscribed to the channel! Thats a small way you can help me carry on doing this ❤🙏🏾 really appreciate you! 🩷 Subscribe: kzbin.info ☕ BuyMeACoffee: buymeacoffee.com/DamoBird365 🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/DamoBird365 🐦 X (Twitter): x.com/DamoBird365 📱 TikTok: tiktok.com/@DamoBird365 🙋‍♂ Feedback: forms.office.com/r/4EqE7VHVfH

[@J-b231]

Woww. Thank you sooooo much for putting this together! I was lamenting the fact that my company does not have a Power Automate premium license, and this is a key part of automation that I was hoping to achieve. I went home yesterday feeling defeated and so very sad. Today, I came into the office thinking, surely there is a workaround, and here you've found one. Thank you thank you. You've saved the day/week/month/year/entire-automation-future of this place. Brilliant.

[@DamoBird365]

👌🤪🥳😱 thank you. I appreciate your kind feedback. Made my weekend.

[@charlesjohnston907]

Excellent demo, thank you! Very simple way to get around the irritation of basic functionality being put behind the Premium pay-wall.

[@ritchaard]

Thanks so much - one of the most helpful videos I’ve ever watched. I don’t have access to premium features, so was about to give up! The fix is a bit long-winded but simple.

[@nehasrivastava2014]

Thank you very much for this video :) I was glad this was not a marketing video for a plugin etc. Plain and simple process, clearly explained. Amazing !!

[@davidmicka4333]

Can we use as source of data new List item? - in other words trigger this flow with Item created?

[@DamoBird365]

You could and then write the list data to the document library

[@juanandressantiago8372]

Incredible video, very helpful. Thank you very much. Saved me from the trouble of using premium.

[@casperlad84]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I have been looking at content types for a few weeks and this video explains it the most clearly. Awesome Job!

[@DamoBird365]

Oh wow, thanks 🙏

[@SiyamandRashid]

Thank you very much for the video, One thing is not good here and its the updates not visible on the online docs.. it shows only when you open the doc with app, is there is anything we can work around this?

[@DamoBird365]

The alternative is to license your flow for the premium connector I am afraid to say. This is a hack really.

[@mihajakin]

Thanks, this tutorial was really easy to follow and it did just what I needed. Thanks for your time.

[@SidMecha]

Thank you very much for sharing this method. I was struggling a lot trying to convert an XML file to PDF, and this method helped me to resolve the requirement with a different solution. Great work!

[@69Crawfish]

Great video! Thank you for sharing! I actually had someone approach me with something that this would be the perfect solution for! The only additional step I have is a connection to power apps in automate, which shouldn’t be an issue at all

[@silvandessouzacedrojunior9888]

Hey Damion, Very helpfull. I tring to do something really hard for me. I have some Rich text Im tring to put in a control as you did but I did not work. it apears the the tags instead the formatation. Help me

[@nerdimmunity7672]

Quick question. I am a recruiter. I receive CVs in all different styles and fonts and layouts. Is there a way that I can automatically rewrite CVs so that the CVs I receive are in the standard format (font, font size and layout) that I use?

[@DamoBird365]

You might be able to use the likes of gpt to extract key information and then apply it to a template in word. I’ve a video on using gpt4o on receipt images. But note that generative AI is non deterministic and is therefore creative by design. Try having a conversation with gpt with a sample cv and see if it can consistently extract the features you are looking for. Then you could look at automating it.

[@PaulieM]

That's a clever solution, Well Done Damien!

[@Vennex89]

When I followed all of your steps and ran the flow I received this error in Power Automate: “One or more field types are not installed properly. Go to the list settings page to delete these fields.” The new column I added as a Rich Text column. Do you think it has something to do with that?

[@kenglin13]

What if all my info comes from a Sharepoint list somewhere else on my Sharepoint site. Would I do this the same way (feels redundant making the columns again)

[@mardithpascua8112]

thank you for this. I successfully convert the file to Word and then added a Convert to PDF function and it works, However, the images from my word file was not included in the PDF file (eg. Border image and logos)

[@DamoBird365]

I’m not sure how you have embedded images to a word doc using this method? Are you converting html to PDF? In which case your images need converting to base64.

[@gilbertpradier]

Thank you for demo very helpful. Quick questions, I have a business requirement that I need to send out the document once data populated, can user still see the data if they open up the doc from email or download and view it or it has stay in the sharepoint to view the document with data populated...?

[@DamoBird365]

I think you’ll need to convert to pdf but it’s been a few years since I recorded this so I don’t recall. Do let us know if you test it.

[@oliverw9691]

Thank you so much for the effort! I have been searching for this so long.

[@kristophwhidden5145]

This is great! Wondering if arrays (invoice items, quantity, unit price) can be sent to the word document this way? We are looking to avoid premium parts for an invoice creation power app/power automate flow. Any direction would be wonderful!🙂

[@DamoBird365]

It could, but also you could use excel or html. Check this out: Create Word, Excel, HTML Documents & More with Power Automate & Power Apps kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeanmutnMlnd80

[@tpcun024]

Hello! It was great ... thanks a lot. I have one question : Do you think possible to have a picture(.png for instance) as a field to integrate in the word/PDF document ?

[@DamoBird365]

Not without premium.

[@EstherSchultz-n8e]

will the desktop app for mac have the necessary features you mention require the desktop app versus the web version?

[@DamoBird365]

I don’t believe it does but please report back if you find otherwise/

[@leandrozaccari3193]

Is not allowing me to add a picture as a document property. Any idea?

[@DamoBird365]

It’s not supported with this non premium method. You would need to go premium or html to pdf.

[@leandrozaccari3193]

@@DamoBird365 thanks. It does work very well and more clean than populate a document library for every single document. It’s amazing

[@nithyaa.n7474]

Could you please help me to export the entire Screen Data into Word Document in power app

[@DamoBird365]

I don't have a video on this, please try asking on the forum powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Forums/ct-p/FL_Comm_Forums

[@Gazal975]

Would it be possible to add a repeating section table? I have a JSON column from powerapps that i'd like to populate via the "free method".

[@DamoBird365]

Not so easy as you would just have to create a repeating text string with return lines, but definitely possible.

[@Gazal975]

@@DamoBird365 Would it be possible for you to show how to do it? I have tried to find a guide to make it work, some say it's possible but my findings have gone to a dead end. As i understand, updating file properties action doesn't have a built in repeating like the word online connector does, so how can one update file with repeating action with multiple rows like in word online?

[@thelegaldrive]

This is BRILLIANT

[@wawan2611]

What can I say.. many many of your content are very useful for me..thank you thank you thank you very much sir

[@DamoBird365]

Cheers Agus, please let me know if there is any other concept I could cover for you. [e-mail]

[@sissyjones8679]

This is an excellent video. I kinda merged the flow from both videos to accommodate my need. I need to create a Word document from a SP list item rather than a form. The flow works correctly, but it won't open the document in the Desktop app. It opens Word, but no document comes up. Any ideas?

[@DamoBird365]

Do you get an error? It should open in both online and desktop, albeit only desktop shows the dynamic content. Could it be the file extension? .docx?

[@sissyjones8679]

@@DamoBird365 I did not get an error. I tried docx and doc, but neither will open. When I download the document, it isn't recognized as a Word document.

[@sissyjones8679]

@@DamoBird365 I figured it out. It was my path name. I corrected it and now it works. Thank you so much!!!

[@rob-fischer]

Thanks for this great tutorial! 🙏🏼 It worked for me, but only with Word docs. When I extend the flow as you mentioned in the other video to convert the docx to pdf, the pdf only shows the [document_type] (or whatever name I've set) but not the content that I put in at the start of the flow. It also loses the design, like font f.e. Any idea?

[@rob-fischer]

Ok, found the solution: I had to get the file content again before converting after adding the content to the word file. But I still loose the custom font I have to use to fit the CI ;-)

[@jdduf]

Thank you very much for your tutorial! Simple question - once the dynamic document is actually populated, how do you ensure that the content populated can be edited? Sometimes, changes need to be made in the populated document after the document is populated, but I'm finding the Quick Parts (Document Properties) entered are not editable?

[@DamoBird365]

This may well be one of the limitations of this method. There is a dedicated Microsoft Word connector that is premium that has better support for that kind of scenario, otherwise you'll have to work around it if you need to remain on your standard license.

[@RebeccaRundle]

I cant seem to find the other video that you talk about in this one. What's it called?

[@DamoBird365]

Microsoft Forms to PDF without Premium Actions in Power Automate kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYesiHeIn7V-i80 👍

[@RebeccaRundle]

@DamoBird365 I've just found it. Bloody brilliant. I'm literally excited to replicate this one! Thanks for the super informative content. Love it

[@DamoBird365]

Thanks Rebecca, comments like this make my time spent making these videos worthwhile 👍

[@RebeccaRundle]

@@DamoBird365 I'm getting an error message at the "Update file properties stage" where the data in one of the fields exceeds the string maximum length of '255' - any ideas on how to remove this restriction as this field is a comments box from the form?

[@DamoBird365]

@@RebeccaRundle you’ve hit the limit of the non premium approach. You could use substring to select the first 255 characters or look at using html or excel.

[@InheeKR]

Really Awesome!!!😮 I know to populate a Word document with a premium action but this is a big thing!

[@louisdale1416]

Hello Damo! I train a lot of people and most of the time I am left with a list of people who attended the training. Is there a way I can use a Microsoft excel document or Microsoft list to populate a word document? Currently I copy and paste 20-30 names on a template. Any help would be great!

[@DamoBird365]

Create certificates like a mail merge and email them a copy?

[@louisdale1416]

@ yes!! something like that sounds like a dream!

[@DamoBird365]

I see Anders has done something similar kzbin.info/www/bejne/opucc3Rnm8d1fas if I was to do a video, what else might you be looking for?

[@louisdale1416]

That's perfect thank you! worked a treat. I'll make a Microsoft form for the participants to fill out from now on :)

[@giuliazanini1441]

What if I want to populate from excel rows?

[@DamoBird365]

You could get rows from a table, use an apply to each and then duplicate the video in the loop.

[@giuliazanini1441]

how come?? I tried this and did not work. Can you help me?@@DamoBird365

[@ВладимирВ-и8л]

Thank you very much again. I used again and again this scenario wit MS Form. And for now a have strange think. In forms I have several lists with selectable values. Some strings imported as only text, some imports as ["text"]. Why they imports as ["text"] I don't understand. Maybe you have some ideas?

[@DamoBird365]

Your form answer allows multiple answers and so they are returned as an array. Take a read here www.damobird365.com/easily-address-escaped-characters-in-forms-response/

[@ВладимирВ-и8л]

@@DamoBird365 Thanks for the answer, I decided to give up the multi choice of answers. And can you also tell me how to do: I have list with a choice of names of employees First Name, Last Name,Patronymic of the employee. Is it possible to somehow insert the employee's last name and initials into the document?

[@DamoBird365]

@@ВладимирВ-и8л just the same idea. Create a quick part in the doc and update the column/additional properties on the document, but your data is from the list item(s).

[@ВладимирВ-и8л]

@@DamoBird365 I do this. But in the form I have one time selection of Full Name. But in document I have two quick insertion of name. In first uses full name for example full name Simonov Oleg Mikhailovich and short variant that I need is Simonov O.M. I think something about to create array with shorts and full names and then compare names and if I have some identical values insert short name from array to document.

[@DamoBird365]

@@ВладимирВ-и8л you can build that short and using an expression. Split() in a select, followed by a join. Not so easy to share in a YT comment. Feel free to drop me a message and I can try and explain.

[@ivy2818]

Awesome video! Thank you. I was just wondering if you had any workarounds for using “tick boxes” instead of yes or no answers? I have a template that needs boxes to be checked but I can’t find a way to do this so I’m hoping you might be able to assist me on the is? Thank you.

[@DamoBird365]

I’ve once used a symbol to indicate a box is ticked but haven’t ticked an actual tick box.

[@ivy2818]

Awesome. 😊 Thank you for responding. Sorry that’s what I meant. Do you have any videos on how to do that?

[@ArohShukla]

Awesome video. Clear Instructions. Thanks for sharing =

[@reneenyong4638]

thanks for the video!!it really worked! wanted to ask if i set this library settings in a sharepoint site, and i wanted to move to the other sharepoint library site. Is there any way to do so without setting all again?

[@DamoBird365]

You would probably want to write a script via rest api and power automate or Powershell. But natively, no.

[@charisnewman5987]

Hi Damien, Thank you for this and your other related tutorials. I'm having an unusual problem that I'm struggling to find a solution for and wondered if you had any ideas. I have a flow that runs from a button in a sharepoint list item (the list itself is populated from a MS Form). The list contains contact and personal information including date of birth (date/time column). The flow creates a word document and it all works fine except that when the word document is opened in preview the date of birth is one day out (even when the document is emailed as an attachment). It is fine when the document is opened in the Word app. I also noticed that if you click refresh on the document it shows the correct date briefly then reverts to the previous day, it also shows correctly if you download the file. If you print the document from the preview the date comes out wrong. I've tried using your onedrive solution to convert the document to a pdf but this populates the incorrect date every time so that doesn't help. Online research has led me to believe that this is a timezone conflict (between me in the UK and Microsoft HQ time). Is there a way to force word to just populate the document with the exact characters in the list without any temporal baggage? Sorry for the slightly long question! Thanks. Charis

[@DamoBird365]

Try the following and convert the utc time to your time learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/power-platform/power-automate/converting-time-zone-power-automate

[@charisnewman5987]

@@DamoBird365 Thanks for the speedy reply! I've experimented with this function but unfortunately I can't get it to consistently display the correct date of birth in both preview and full view. It seems to vary from item to item in the list. It's a date of birth so I don't need timezones to be interfering with it. Is there a way to just convert that field to text for the purposes of the document? I've tried adding a compose action with formatdatetime and adding that output (dd/MM/yyyy) to the update file properties but I get an error saying it wants a string/date in that field. Is there a way around that? I'm not that advanced with power automate so any advice is gratefully received! Thanks Charis

[@askgenieTube]

looks great but it appears that you can't use an Image column type. Is that true?

[@DamoBird365]

Yup, true. You could look at html to pdf.

[@91freckles]

This is a great video! I just discovered your channel, so you may have already covered this in another video, could you use a SharePoint List as the data source to populate the Word document?

[@DamoBird365]

Thanks Karen. I’ve another similar video: Populate a Word Document without Premium Actions via Power Automate (Method 2) kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5ubhHyffK-FpMU but it’s not based on a list either. If you’re using either method, you needs to get the item from the list and then populate the metadata in your doc library for every file you create. I’ve also got videos using the premium connector and excel, html, from Power Apps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeanmutnMlnd80 & kzbin.info/www/bejne/boG4d6KaiMhoeLs

[@91freckles]

@@DamoBird365 thanks for responding. I was able to use your tutorial to get my Power Automate Flow built. Grateful for your clear detailed instructions!

[@luzaaneisa5754]

Grea work, I am using html to pdf method to create invoice. I am having an issue with image footer and therefor trying to use word template. Can you show us how to do that from power apps trigger or when an item created in sharepoint list.

[@DamoBird365]

I’m working on a video this weekend to show how to create docs from Power Apps.

[@DamoBird365]

It's out now kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeanmutnMlnd80

[@AsianHistoryX]

Can I do the same in regards to image uploads?

[@DamoBird365]

I’m afraid not. There’s not an easy way to embed images without a premium connector.

[@TS-gy8jd]

Great video, but I have a use case where in a Forms survey it is possible to make paragraphs to write things down. But when I look at it in my Word document, it's all there one after the other. It would be very important to me if you can help me with my individual problem

[@DamoBird365]

This shows you how to generate dynamic content based on optional sections and dynamic values in this sections: Create Dynamic Word Document with Power Automate & Microsoft Forms kzbin.info/www/bejne/boG4d6KaiMhoeLs

[@Bucky1000]

Hello Damion, excellent tutorial! I'm wondering if there's a method to seamlessly insert or dynamically switch images in a Word document. I need to customize logos based on different projects for my cover letter, and having the flexibility to change them according to the specific project would be incredibly helpful. Additionally, if there's a way to import rich text format, that would be fantastic as well. Main thing here is my company dosn't alow premium. Appreciate any insights you might have!

[@DamoBird365]

You would have to go down the html route or possibly populate an excel file. This video shares some options: Create Word, Excel, HTML Documents & More with Power Automate & Power Apps kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeanmutnMlnd80 it’s also possible to change the image dynamically too 😉

[@idiotexperimentjr]

This is great, I do have a query about how you manage to keep the formatting of your text, when I add the quickpart it turns into basic formatting and doesn't allow for changing the colour/size/font. Is there something I'm missing? I'm using Word 2019/365. Cheers!

[@DamoBird365]

You should be able to simply change the formatting in the Word template?

[@NiftyNinjaa]

This is very useful! Thanks Damo! Quick question, What if my content type is a Multi Select Choice field? I am unable to see it in the Quick Parts. Is there any other alternative way to update multi choice column data from SharePoint list to the word template?

[@DamoBird365]

Not unless you’re willing to pay 😉 could you grab the choice, format and convert to a text column with Power Automate?

[@NiftyNinjaa]

@@DamoBird365 Sure, Let me try that and check. Thanks!

[@clearmanlawyers753]

Hi Damien thank you for your commitment to clarity and a strong, useful solution. I appreciate you making this video for us.

[@rechardpreston5581]

Hi how would I fill a table in the template using this method?

[@DamoBird365]

Not easily to be honest. You might want to look at populating an html document or using the premium action for word.

[@ukaszsobiecki5307]

Thank you very much for this video. Could you tell me what i could done wrong if my quick parts dont translate to data pass to metadata fields? When I'm opening my new document instead data provided by form i have name of my metadata in square brackets

[@DamoBird365]

If your data in the columns is being populated and not showing in word, can I check you are opening the file in word desktop client?

[@ukaszsobiecki8442]

@@DamoBird365 i was opening file in desktop app. Problem was in extension. I saved file in doc not docx. Thank you once again :)

[@MirkoDeJaegher]

@DamoBird365 I would like to hide some content-types in from the Form "Details pane", since some values will be copied into them. But as far as I can tell, if you set them as "Hidden", they will also not be available in the Word document, correct? Is there a way to still have them available in word, but not in the form? Cheers

[@DamoBird365]

I’m afraid your ahead of me there. Please report back on what you find but might be an idea to ask on the forum.

[@aireen7464]

hi may i ask, is this a viable approach to populate an image to word document? thank you in advance 😊

[@DamoBird365]

@@aireen7464 no, you cannot add an image this way. You would need to look at a premium connector or html or excel. What type of document are you trying to create?

[@aireen7464]

@@DamoBird365 i would like to extract qr code from a pdf and then save that qr image and update a word document by inserting that qr code image into the word document

[@StefanieVanlerberghe]

Hello DamoBird365, I have tried to create your flow to create an invoice automatically. I have a problem with linking the create content to the template. in your video you are able to get the column names from the Sharepoint list in developer of Word. the only possibility I have in my word template is to add markers to my field that already exist. I don't know if this has anything todo with the fact that I work on a Mac or are these tools simply removed from word altogether? Can you help me? Thanks in advance? Stefanie

[@DamoBird365]

I believe it’s not supported on Mac, others have commented same previously.

[@StefanieVanlerberghe]

any idea how I can resolve it? @@DamoBird365

[@jkdesjardines]

I keep getting an error about a string length exceeding 255 characters, even though the content type is set to multiple lines of text. Have you ever encountered this issue?

[@DamoBird365]

I think that this method won’t work with multi line text fields. The limit is therefore 255. You would need to look at premium or html.

[@jkdesjardines]

@@DamoBird365 Interesting, I should have mentioned that this error is new after many successful runs with multi line text. I'm not sure how I managed it or what changed

[@DamoBird365]

@@jkdesjardines in that case you’ve got me 😂 have you got any strange symbols or characters in your string?

[@jkdesjardines]

@@DamoBird365 Nope! Just a couple paragraphs of text

[@dion4894]

Hi, Is it possible to achieve this using an 'repeatable table' in Word?

[@DamoBird365]

It might be possible to achieve a repeatable row/string but not in the shape of a table, because this is just text fields, limited by character length too. You might be better off looking at html or excel, both of which I demo here Unleash the Power of Power Apps: Create Word, Excel, HTML Templates & More with Power Automate kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmeanmutnMlnd80

[@Hambrony88]

This worked perfectly for 1 document. I have been struggling to get the conditions command to work. Ex. we have a couple different templates using slightly different verbiage. How would I get power automate to point at the correct template depending on the answer of one of the form questions. The example is a Special Meeting vs Cancelled Meeting vs Rescheduled Meeting. Thanks in advance!

[@DamoBird365]

This video might inspire kzbin.info/www/bejne/apOZmpeJl9itq7c

[@AbuidJazukuka]

Excellent Tutorial. Just one question (I might have missed a step somewhere), when I put the .run code on the button OnSelect, PowerApps tells me that it does not recognise the .text you put after each text field. What did I miss?

[@DamoBird365]

I don’t understand? It sounds like you’ve replaced the trigger with a Power Apps v2? When you add input parameters to the trigger, they are called text,text_1,text_2 etc.

[@jarboloide]

How populate repeating section? (table multiple rows)

[@DamoBird365]

If you’re looking for repeating sections with standard connectors, you’ll need to look at html to pdf. It’s not an exact science and page breaks can be hard to control. Otherwise the word premium connector will let you use repeating controls. Is it worth doing a video on that?

[@jarboloide]

@@DamoBird365 yea! it would be very enlightening! if you can make a form that has simple text and table fields with multiple rows. I've done it using word premium, but if I could in standard it would be great. fill a form in powerapps with text fields and bring a collection (table) to the final document.

[@DamoBird365]

@@jarboloide something like kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2HcgaqkrtyNqa8 This is a bit of a rough demo using Rich Text Editor and HTML viewer. I convert to HTML and then PDF. I am looking to do a better demo shortly.

[@jarboloide]

@@DamoBird365 Helps me a lot! My difficulty will be in HTML, but I'll study to get it with your tips!. Thank you very much!

[@christopherceballos1383]

can you take the forms responses and add them to the file properties?

[@DamoBird365]

You could create a file when a new response is received and populate the metadata/file properties, yes.

[@MarcAnthonyDeCaria]

Damo great work! Is it possible to insert images into a word document from one of the columns on the SharePoint Library site, I am working on a flow to take form responses store them in a list then export to this document. Trying to sort images out. Anyway great video's csv to xlsx has really helped our business!

[@DamoBird365]

@@MarcAnthonyDeCaria it would be possible but by using a premium connector.

[@MarcAnthonyDeCaria]

@@DamoBird365 had to bite the bullet and get the premium connector. Would you happen to have a resource or video you have created on how to handle images? I have them stored in a SharePoint list as attachments, I need to get the amount of pictures in the attachments container to the document, I just am not sure how to handle this in the flow, the pictures could be anywhere from 1 to 10. Any guidance will be gratefully appreciated!

[@stephaniegoncalves1977]

How would I get this new file I created and email it to someone? I’m having a little trouble with this part

[@DamoBird365]

Hi Stephanie, can you explain what's not working for you?

[@stephaniegoncalves1977]

@@DamoBird365 Yeah. How do I attach the new file that was created to an email so I can send it to someone?

[@DamoBird365]

You can use the "send an email v2" action and expand the advanced options. Here you can include either a dynamic attachment name or one of your own choosing but make sure you include the file extension. You might have to include a get file contents action prior to this though so that you can include the updated file content in the "attachments content" of the email action.

[@stephaniegoncalves1977]

@@DamoBird365 Gotcha. And what do I put in as the file identifier for this second Get file content Action?

[@DamoBird365]

There should be a file identifier for the original create file which you have updated the params of? Alternatively, it may be the file id of the PDF if you created that instead? I've never sent the word file via email before, so I am curious to learn if the metadata is sent across too.

[@w8ing4uuu]

Thank you, does this workaround support repeating rows (e.g. a table with multiple rows: NAME | EMAIL... with an array from Power Automate)? I've seen it's easy to implement it with the "developer" tools and the premium actions. Can you think of any way to implement it here?

[@DamoBird365]

You couldn’t create a repeating control but you could format the data to be separated by return lines. Failing that look at my most recent office script video. Excel to PDF which is non premium.

[@w8ing4uuu]

@@DamoBird365 thanks, I'll give it a try

[@shaungeddes6647]

great video and easy to follow thanks. What would you change on the document type in SharePoint for a multiple choice option on a ms form as the data source, tried setting column type as single line text and choice type but neither worked. thanks for any advice in advance

[@DamoBird365]

I haven’t tried displaying multiple choice in Word before but have you considered repurposing the multiple choice result in you flow? Take a look here www.damobird365.com/easily-address-escaped-characters-in-forms-response/

[@davidadams421]

Excellent tutorial. A useful follow on to this would be to expand the scope to Document Sets, and how to pickup document properties pulled down from the Document Set level. I understand that creating Document Sets using Flow is difficult (requires a Sharepoint HTTP request). Time to level up in the next!

[@DamoBird365]

Sounds like you could teach me something there David. Can you give me more info on this?

[@davidadams421]

​@@DamoBird365 Document Sets are basically Folders with metadata. Any metadata you add to a Document Set 'filters down' to all the documents within it (note: only Microsoft Docs and PDF). The Document Sets feature is disabled by default, must be enabled in Site Collection Features. Document Sets are a special form of Content Type. They can also be configured with a standard set of documents, so when you create a Document Set, SharePoint automatically creates that set of documents for you. I use them as client folders but common use is as project folders. I can add the Client Name, for example, at the Document Set level, then every document below it has Client Name as a Document Property which can be inserted per your tutorial. I also use custom Document Content Types within the Document Set, and create custom views that filter by Content Type so I can see all Invoices, Proposals, Quotes, Final Reports etc I am currently trying to 'level up' by programmatically creating my client Document Set with Power Automate so when I add a new client in my CRM, all my standard client documentation is automatically created in SharePoint. Client Name etc., then comes from my CRM rather than having to type it into my documents manually.

[@DamoBird365]

This is definitely not a feature I’m familiar with but I could help you with automation if you get stuck. Keep me posted.

[@davidadams421]

@@DamoBird365 Will do. I'm almost there. I have my flow responding to external API requests but it's currently ignoring requests coming in from my CRM application for some reason. I'll get there.

[@davidadams421]

@DamoBird365 Well that was a 'journey'! Turns out my CRM's API (Zoho Bigin) strips out the URL parameters needed to authenticate the request and inserts them into the request body, which of course isn't documented in their API docs! That's why the incoming requests were being dropped. And programmatically creating the document set is a bit of a faff too, you have to first create a folder, then 'convert' it to a document set (change its content type). Adding the metadata to the document set is relatively straightforward, though. You also have to 'turn on' the setting that flows metadata from the document set into the documents contained within in - this isn't a default behaviour.

[@PeterPlezia]

Hey Damion. Love and use your content. It has greatly helped me and my colleagues in our day to day activities. I am curious about a new task. A few of my colleagues and I attend multiple meetings during a standard work week. I would like to use a MS Form to allow my colleagues to enter meeting details and other data, store those details in SPO, then create a weekly meeting 'report' that includes data from the previous 7 days and email to a larger team audience. I am struggling to figure out how to collect multiple notes for one meeting. Your solution takes one quickpart for a singular related entry. Any thoughts? Any resources you may be able to recommend? Thanks much!

[@DamoBird365]

Thank you very much. What is your main challenge here? Is it creating the word doc avoiding premium or the logic for multiple repeating items? Have you seen kzbin.info/www/bejne/boG4d6KaiMhoeLssi=r0mh4fCV2-QGR9mR

[@jdduf]

This video was EXTREMELY helpful - thank you! Have a question - can you add anything to this Power Automate flow for formatting based upon MS Form Responses? Very similar to the video that you did on Creating Dynamic Word Docs with Power Automate & Microsoft Forms. Where would you add those steps in this Power Automate flow?

[@DamoBird365]

Do you mean optional sections? Problem is the lack of repeating control. You could try appending sections in a flow to a multiline text but I haven’t tried this myself.

[@ЮрийПальчук-у4м]

Nice approach! Is there any way to do the same for Repeating Section Content Controls? E.g. on your template there is a section with Items with Title and Phone number for each. What if I want to pass an array of arbitrary amount of items?

[@keerthikarajasekaran7181]

I have the same query

[@ivettesilvas697]

How do you remove the Quick Part field in the created word document when the field is empty?

[@DamoBird365]

You wouldn’t be able to remove it but should be able to supply an empty string so that it’s blank.

[@markuddel]

Hello, Thank you very much for your videos. They are very clear and have helped me with several issues in my daily life. I was hoping that I could pick your brain with an issue that I don't know yet on how to resolve. I want to create an quality audit report. (A kind of a ISO9001 audit report) During the audit, I need to select randomly records from a pool. The number of records selected varies each time and can be zero. How would you create a report like this ? Thanks.

[@Norrinisradd]

Hi @@DamoBird365 , do you have a video explaining how to do this and how it could be applied when multiple fields may be empty?

[@johnfromireland7551]

Ok, but at the end, if you were to save that Word Desktop file, it would save to SharePoint Online? Then, if you reopen the Word doc in Word online would it show those content type field parts populated with the text you added?

[@DamoBird365]

I believe you are right. It's a strange one. You have to make a change to the document in Desktop, save it, and then you can view the quick parts online. Prior to this, you can switch to viewing online and you can see the whole document with Quick Parts. In my previous demo, I convert to PDF, so viewing in Word Online wasn't a requirement kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYesiHeIn7V-i80 but if you manage to crack it and work out when the quick parts don't show initially online, please let me know 😉 There is a UserVoice here word.uservoice.com/forums/271331-word-for-the-web/suggestions/10453287-enable-quickparts-in-word-online but it isn't getting much momentum.

[@miiik_]

Would this work with repeating section in word template?

[@DamoBird365]

You won’t be able to use the native repeating feature I don’t believe but you could format the data in Power Automate to produce multiple lines. It will be limited though.

[@philippkowalski1105]

This is a great video, very much in detail. However, one thing really troubles me (not sure if you still read the comments for it): Could it be that it is not an option to update this once the document is saved? What I mean by that is that - following your approach - I created a document with 3 fields / 3 quick parts. But I have many more and I wanted to add some more. But it seems they never appear in the Quickparts menu within words so no chance for me to add them to the template. Any idea how one can achieve this?

[@DamoBird365]

I’m not sure about that one. Are you using the desktop app and updating the original template. You would need trial and error. If you work it out, let us know.

[@alejandrozurita9075]

Hi! I need to be able to export Sharepoint pages to word. It's possible? All the tutorials I see are about exporting lists. This is something we normally did with Atlassian Confluence. Thanks!

[@DamoBird365]

Hi there, I’ve never tried to be honest. Sounds interesting. Are you looking for like for like exports? Drop me some more info to [e-mail]. It might be worth posting on the forum too powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Power-Automate/ct-p/MPACommunity

[@alejandrozurita9075]

@@DamoBird365 Thanks and I need to do this and I am going to keep testing and posting my problem on this link. I'm looking for something like this kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKbOZZKXqdeViNk

[@esember]

I am very gladful to see your help, Thank you! I am working on a template of power apps and it has separately 80 power automate flows. my issue is how to add image files to word documents by the same method?

[@DamoBird365]

There’s not a free method unless you want to unzip and edit xml. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnm6XqV3pt1qp68

[@frank52sk4]

Hello there !, I've followed your process with manual input to the letter, but although my flow runs successfully, the update fille properties will not update the new document.. Can you possibly help ?

[@DamoBird365]

A couple things to try. Do you see the file property values under the columns / metadata for the file? And then, have you opened the doc in word desktop?

[@frank52sk4]

@@DamoBird365 I had worked this out just before you emailed. Yes the columns were populated and no, I had not opened the document in the App. So, all working as shown in your video.O one further resulting question if I may, I intend to use a Form input and email the resulting document to those who complete the Form. Is there a way of doing this where the document opens in the App by default ? Or could I automate the creation of a pdf where those fields might be seen ?

[@DamoBird365]

@@frank52sk4 you could certainly try a pdf with the OneDrive connector, alternatively see if this works sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/219451/link-to-open-a-doc-in-the-client-app. I haven’t tried it myself but am sure I’ve seen deeplinking to do this in the past.

[@frank52sk4]

@@DamoBird365 Many, many thanks !

[@DamoBird365]

@@frank52sk4 please let me know what you go for in the end.

[@josuecontreras7931]

This was an extremely useful video. I’m having a problem and it is that the created document is not a word document. It is just a file that downloads to the computer and doesn’t have the dynamic information from the columns. Do you know why this might be?

[@DamoBird365]

Have you forgotten to include .docx on the file name?

[@MafuHardy]

Is there a workaround if you don't have the desktop version of word? I only have the Business Office 365 online package

[@DamoBird365]

Not that I’m aware of. Even with the premium connector you need developer tools to add in the controls for dynamic content. If your final requirement is a pdf, you could try html to pdf or excel to pdf. I’m hoping to do excel to pdf soon.

[@MafuHardy]

@@DamoBird365 thanks for the reply. I would be interested in an excel to pdf solution if you have a reference. Python solution doesn't looks difficult either actually, but less friendly for others in the office.

[@DamoBird365]

@@MafuHardy are you using python in Power Automate?

[@MafuHardy]

@@DamoBird365 Not thought of combining them actually. First time I knew it was an option!

[@DamoBird365]

You can’t do it natively but I think you could create an azure runbook or alternatively desktop flow but licensing is quite expensive. I’ve just done a video on a azure runbook for restoring flows with Powershell in Power Automate.

[@FranciscoLegonDev]

Thank you. Could you make a version of this were you populate a digital signature? I mean the encrypted one with an associated digital certificate, not just an image of a signature (an electronic signature). Of course this can be done with AdobeSign or DocuSign but I'm sure it must be possible with free connectors. Maybe with an "invisible" XML Signature.

[@DamoBird365]

Do you have an example of this outside of Power Automate? I am not sure what you are trying to create? The word doc is a zip file, so it would be possible to unzip, edit the XML and re-zip, but I don't have a physical example to replicate/copy.

[@sarchasm_puns]

Nice job! Wondering if we are limited to 250 characters with this method when updating file properties?

[@brianmeis8035]

Thank you so much for this! I’m very new to power automate and this was exactly what I needed to navigate sharepoint, quick parts, and creating the flow. I am curious if you would consider doing a video to help people understand the work around when you get the error can’t find list id when trying to update file data. It didn’t happen here but happened with method 1. Thanks again, out of all the videos I watched this one helped me the most!

[@DamoBird365]

Thanks for the feedback. If it's an error you can repeat, send me details via [e-mail] and I will try and take a look when I get a moment. Damien

[@brianmeis2652]

@@DamoBird365 I was definitely able to reproduce the error...sadly it was unintentional :p What ended up working for me was basically creating a new document library and just following the steps above. I don't think I changed any column names but I think power automate thought different. I can't thank you enough for the overall solution, I think long term this saves lots of hours and frustration for the folks I work for :) no more manually trying to update PDFs for the end users... Thanks again so much - subscribed and I can't wait to see what's next

[@reaperqnu]

Thanks for the instruction. I was able to populate the word template using the quick parts approach, but is it possible to also insert image without premium connectors?

[@t3k07]

did you find out?

[@MrHighvolt]

Why do you need power automate for this? Just filling in the information in the file details works as well.

[@DamoBird365]

Do you mean populate the file manually? Or do you believe there is another way to automate? Can you share details?

[@MrHighvolt]

@@DamoBird365 you can just make the columns in a document library, those columns will be available as quickparts in the word document. You can fill in that metadata in sharepoint in the file details, or in the grid view of the document library. Or just from inside the word document. I dont see why you need power automate for this?

[@DamoBird365]

@@MrHighvolt a Microsoft Form can be accessed externally, whereas a doc lib is internal. Get a customer to complete a MS Form and via Power Automate it will complete the metadata and generate a document based on the template. I’ve seen many sectors use this. Some businesses like to have a permanent document. Does that help? What is your use case?

[@MrHighvolt]

@@DamoBird365 Oh, thanks for explaining. The usecase makes sense now. I had issues with getting the Document ID as a quickpart field in my documents. I was creating a document contentType in the Content Type Gallery that would have this column. However, when i'm on another site, creating such a document, the template is there, but the DocID is not updated. Well, sometimes it is, sometimes its not. Its very inconsistent. I was looking at powerautomate to help me with that, and I stumbled on your video. I'd like to have Document ID and Document Version inside all our documents. But that seems to be almost impossible, while it seems very trivial to me.

[@DamoBird365]

@@MrHighvolt thank you. I appreciate you coming back to me also. I’ve not encountered the issue you’ve mentioned. Hopefully you find a solution or workaround.

[@durgeshmerchant]

Thank you, this was very useful information to figure out solution for the workflow..

[@DamoBird365]

You're welcome Durgesh!

[@medtechmove9523]

What do I do if my corporate sharepoint login does not allow to create own site?

[@DamoBird365]

Good question. If you cannot create a new document library and you don’t have premium licensing, you’re going to have to ask your IT dept to make you an owner of a site.

[@medtechmove9523]

@@DamoBird365 Might be difficult in a company with 5000+ employees :-)

[@HappySingh-pj6wj]

Hi Damion, Thanks for the video and the work you put into making. Wondering if anyone had this same issue.? Everything works prefect but the finial file generate via the flow doesn't show file extension like how the template.docx is showing. they are without file extension means each time it generates the file I must download the file and open it in word. Thanks in advanced

[@DamoBird365]

Just make sure you add .docx to the end of the file name in create file. You can add .docx to the end of a dynamic block.

[@HappySingh-pj6wj]

@@DamoBird365 thank you so much for your reply and the video.

[@AlvineSasongkoW]

Hi Damobird. Can we do this for picture too?

[@DamoBird365]

@@AlvineSasongkoW no it’s not possible sorry. You can inject a picture via xml but it’s quite a challenge.

[@favito142]

This tutorial was exactly what I was looking for, thanks. Is it possible to take the same concept, instead of a word doc, you do it with an excel file?

[@DamoBird365]

Hi Favian, if you want to send me a template excel file I could look to use it as a demo. I’ve done an excel invoice template using office scripts. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqTOooSEecqajsU thinking about doing a forms to excel template one too now!

[@monsalveclashroyale2766]

how populate word with images?

[@DamoBird365]

You would need to use the premium connector for images.

[@theflyingcamera]

Awww man! After messing around in PowerAutomate for ages and being blocked every time due to not having a premium subscription I found your video. Everything was going to plan and then I hit the "Oh you have a Mac, so you don't need a full copy of Word" issue 😭 There doesn't appear to be any way of adding in the fields as there's no Quick Parts on the Mac. I had a glimmer of hope when I found the AutoText section but that's not the same. Please say you know how to do this via the Mac version of Word!!

[@DamoBird365]

I don’t know I am afraid. Might be worth asking on the forum or Reddit? If you do find a way, feel free to report back 👍

[@numinaacu]

Thank you so much it's very excellent and easy to use tutorial! It worked for form submission to microsoft word's metadata but not works for input from flow :( Any idea?

[@DamoBird365]

Input parameters to a trigger should work exactly the same. It could be PowerApps or virtual agents or anything.

[@moyura2]

Very unique thinking. Thanks for sharing.

[@davidadel2999]

Amazing tip, it's really helpful thank you so much, But I have a quick question, how to add new row in the document library? I did it from the flow and it is working fine, but I have a list of employees Info that I want to upload on the share point document library and its not giving me the option to copy and past them on the share point document library, and it's hard to add them one by one on from the flow itself, can you help in that please Thanks in advance :)

[@DamoBird365]

Hey David, you need to create a document in order to fill out the fields on a row. I think you are describing a Microsoft List. You could use a list to trigger the flow but you would have to copy the list item details to the document library when you create a copy of the template.

[@davidadel2999]

@@DamoBird365 I have an excel sheet with 300 employee with (name, staff id, position, etc..) I want to merge this info in a word document template, and I have followed exactly your steps, the issue I'm facing is in the flow you have created I have to add the info one by one from the flow as you did manually, which will be not practical in my case, is there any option that I can copy and past them all at once?

[@DamoBird365]

I believe you want to have a flow with the excel action for list rows present in table, then if you add the column values dynamically to the update file properties action, it will automatically insert an apply to each loop.

[@davidadel2999]

@@DamoBird365 will try and give you a feedback, thank you 😊

[@davidadel2999]

I have created a list, in the same Sharepoint site, and I made the trigger "when an item is added or modified)" in that list to creat an new item in my document library, it worked really well, So whenever I add a bulk in the list it creat all the items in the document library and creat the word document merged with the info for each item. Thank you so much for your help 😊

[@CarlosMartinez-kt5pf]

Great video, thanks. Question, Is there a way follow this method to include pictures?

[@DamoBird365]

I don’t believe you can. There is a method to insert images using zip and xml. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnm6XqV3pt1qp68

[@youareme2006]

Thanks Damien. Are you able to apply this method to a pre-existing SharePoint list or do you have to start from scratch? I don’t want to stuff up what I’ve already created!

[@DamoBird365]

I don’t see why not albeit I’ve not used this method for over 12 months. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

[@tubez29]

Excellent tip! Thank you. How does it handle other field types such date fields, rich text, and potentially images?

[@DamoBird365]

Hi Jose, as far as I am aware, this standard approach will only allow basic text. The premium connector does allow other field types though.

[@tubez29]

@@DamoBird365 thanks for your reply. Before I go ahead and investigate more, would you care to elaborate a bit more? I tried the Premium connector using Power Automate. You can only tag Text fields. Did you find anything different? Is that what you were referring? Thank you!

[@DamoBird365]

I did a premium connector demo just the other day to demo repeating text controls kzbin.info/www/bejne/onO7hKZ7ftGKpc0 but it’s also possible to include images (albeit no repeating). What’s your requirement? Send me some details to [e-mail] and maybe I can do a video.

[@MrAbueslam]

Thank for this great video, can you please create a video on showing how to create invoice using word template without premium and filling in line items from sharepoint lists . Thanks

[@DamoBird365]

I have a video that does this with an excel template kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqTOooSEecqajsU but could consider a word doc too. Thanks for idea.

[@munirsabtu5996]

how to customize document property?

[@DamoBird365]

Hi Munir, can you explain a bit more? What are you trying to achieve? Damien

[@munirsabtu5996]

@@DamoBird365 actually I want to fill word template in onedrive from microsoft form. but I dont know how to do it

[@Key-mv2lu]

Thank you very much! It's really helpful!!

[@michelangelonero]

Hey top tier video, got it working so far! But my goal was to populate a word template with an image, uploaded by a form. I created a column for that image, but it does not show like the other columns in the word quick parts menu. I tried it in word with a image place holder with the same naming, but in the process the column would not show in power automate. Could you or someone else imagine what I am doing wrong? Thanks

[@DamoBird365]

Hey Erzengel, this solution won't work with images and quick parts. You would have to use the premium word action or create an html file. I don't have a video of adding images 🤔 maybe I need to create one eventually.

[@michelangelonero]

@@DamoBird365 ahh okay was expecting something like that. I bet there could be more people interested in such a vid

[@DamoBird365]

@@michelangelonero here are the word connector limitations, one of which you cannot best images learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/wordonlinebusiness/#known-issues-and-limitations. Are you literally just embedding a single image that is attached? Does the document need reviewed/edited or is pdf ok?

[@jjactual9321]

Very helpful and well explained! Thanks