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bradcannell's avatar
bradcannell
Copper Contributor
Feb 10, 2023

Add a link to an Outlook for web email to a Planner task as an attachment

Goal

I want to manually add a link to a particular Outlook for web email to a Planner task as an attachment. When I click on the attachment in the Planner task, I want the email to open in a new browser tab.

Background

I'm aware of how to create a Power Automate flow that will turn a flagged email into a Planner task. I have such a flow set up now and I love it. For example, here is a screenshot of a recent Planner task that was created by my Power Automate flow. You can see that there is an attachment that links to the email the task was created from. When I click on that attachment, a new tab opens in my browser as expected. I love it (I tried to upload a screenshot, but I don't have permission to upload images).

 

Problem

However, I sometimes want to manually add a link to a particular email as an attachment on a Planner task. When I say "manually," I mean I want to open Planner, click "add attachment," and paste an email URL into the "address" field of the "add attachment" dialogue box.

 

Here's what I've tried so far

  • I've tried opening Outlook for the web, clicking on the email I want to link to, then copying and pasting the URL into the "address" field of the "add attachment" dialogue box. When I click on the Planner attachment created this way, a new tab opens in my browser and displays my Outlook inbox, but the particular email I wanted to link to is not selected.
  • I've also tried opening a task that was created from a flagged email using a Power Automate flow (described in 2 above), clicking "..." on the attached email, clicking "edit", and then copying the address. When I paste the URL I just copied into a new browser tab, the email opens as expected. Great! So, this URL works and I just need to paste it into the "address" field of the "add attachment" dialogue box in the new Planner task, right? Wrong! When I do that and then click on the attachment I just created, a new browser tab opens with an error message that says, "This message may have been moved or deleted."
 

In my attempt to understand why this would be the case, I copied the URL from the tab opened by the first (working) attachment created by Power Automate into a text editor. I did the same thing for the browser tab with the error shown above that opens when I click on the new task attachment.

 

https://outlook.office365.com/mail/deeplink?ItemID=AAMkAGYxNGU5MTEwLWFhOWYtNGJhNC1hZTc2LTg3YjI5MjcyOTA2NQBGAAAAAADJ43aNPfzuRKgwJ7qmb2chBwAl%2Bo7OR%2F3pR6cy8z5S7XAuAAAAAAEMAADTCrII0Q8YS5OTE8DTuTdsAAHyDF5lAAA%3D&exvsurl=1

 

https://outlook.office365.com/mail/deeplink?ItemID=AAMkAGYxNGU5MTEwLWFhOWYtNGJhNC1hZTc2LTg3YjI5MjcyOTA2NQBGAAAAAADJ43aNPfzuRKgwJ7qmb2chBwAl%20o7OR%2F3pR6cy8z5S7XAuAAAAAAEMAADTCrII0Q8YS5OTE8DTuTdsAAHyDF5lAAA%3D&exvsurl=1

 

They are similar, but not identical. Specifically, where the first (working) Item ID contains "%2Bo", the second (non-working) ItemID contains "%20o". I suspect this has something to do with the problem, but I don't know why that change to the URL is being made or what to do about it. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

  • Index2024's avatar
    Index2024
    Copper Contributor
    Hi, could you explain the steps how to create a Power Automate flow that there is an attachment that links to the email the task was created.
  • efranco84's avatar
    efranco84
    Copper Contributor
    I'm looking for the same feature.

    I have a task I won't be working on soon, and I have an email that has relevant information for it.

    I wanted to create a task, and then link it to the email. That way when I decide to work on the task, I can get the relevant info quickly. In the meantime, I can archive the email and keep my inbox tidy.



    • ElizabethKeogh's avatar
      ElizabethKeogh
      Copper Contributor

      bradcannell  I would love to know how you turned a flagged email into a planner task. I have a Manager I'm working with that really wants to turn emails into Tasks and Power app developer hasn't been able to get this to work. Are you willing to share what steps you took? 

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