Power Automate/MS Forms - Checking for blank responses

Yes, you can handle blank responses efficiently in Power Automate without creating 50 individual condition blocks. Instead, use a single expression or simple logic per field, often within a "Compose" action or directly in the Word document population step.

Here’s how you can streamline it:

Option 1: Use coalesce() to Set Default for Empty Answers

The coalesce() function returns the first non-null value from a list of arguments. You can use this to set "Intentionally unanswered" as the fallback for any blank input.

 Example Expression:

For each response field:

coalesce(body('Get_response_details')?['yourQuestionID'], 'Intentionally unanswered')

You can use this inside:

A "Compose" action (to reuse the result later)

A "Populate a Microsoft Word template" action (for dynamic Word fields)

Option 2: Inline Expression in Populate Word Template

If you're using the "Populate a Microsoft Word template" connector, use expressions directly in the input fields.

Example:

if(empty(body('Get_response_details')?['yourQuestionID']), 'Intentionally unanswered', body('Get_response_details')?['yourQuestionID'])

This checks if the response is empty and injects the placeholder text if so.

 Tip for Managing Many Fields

Since you're dealing with 50 questions, consider using:

Variables or Compose Actions with dynamic naming

A consistent naming convention like q1_response, q2_response etc.

Reusing a formula like above for each without wrapping in Condition blocks

You can even create a helper flow that builds a dictionary of question/response pairs with defaults and then merges that into your Word template.