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Erik Wettergren's avatar
Erik Wettergren
Iron Contributor
Apr 30, 2019
Solved

How to use MS FLow and ODATA to filter a document library on file name?

Hi, I'm trying to filter a SharePoint document library using ODATA in the Get Items action in Flow. I can for example use the ODATA expression startswith(Title,'abc') to make it filter on the Title c...
Microsoft Flow
sharepoint
  • Terry_McCullagh's avatar
    Terry_McCullagh
    May 01, 2019

    Erik Wettergren 

     

    Erik,

     

    Instead of using name as the filter, try FileLeafRef -

     

    I was able to return all files from this library whose names start with the letter H.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Terry McCullagh

Terry_McCullagh's avatar
Terry_McCullagh
Brass Contributor
May 08, 2019
Erik - Glad to have been of assistance.
eliotcole-projectfive's avatar
eliotcole-projectfive
Brass Contributor
Oct 11, 2019

Terry_McCullagh 

 

First of all, *thank you* for this solution, it's great ... and has saved me *hours*.

 

Secondly, I should say that I haven't come here to doubt anything. However, I noted that this stack notes that FileLeafRef is a bit ... flighty?

 

https://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/241067/how-to-read-the-name-column-in-a-sharepoint-document-library

 

Is there a chance that this isn't the most reliable method, and we need to build a little logic scope to filter, as per Alice's ( @v-yuazh-msft ) answer in this question to be totally sure?:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/General-Flow-Discussion/Get-File-Properties-from-File-Name/td-p/157860

  • Terry_McCullagh's avatar
    Terry_McCullagh
    Brass Contributor
    Oct 14, 2019

    eliotcole-projectfive 

     

    Eliot,

     

    Thank you for reaching out and I'm glad this solution has saved you time. 

     

    I reviewed the posts you referenced and cannot comment on those since I haven't taken the time to try to reproduce any errors that may arise.  

     

    What I can say with certainty is using the solution as accepted by Erik Wettergren has worked for me in many a SharePoint tenant. 

     

    Perhaps @v-yuazh-msft can elaborate on the benefits of their answer. 

     

    Regards,

     

    Terry

    • eliotcole-projectfive's avatar
      eliotcole-projectfive
      Brass Contributor
      Oct 15, 2019

      Terry_McCullagh ... Nice one, and thanks for the response, I respect that you didn't have to say anything! 🙂

       

      I think that the approach that I will take is belt and braces. I'll ensure that I've got a fully annotated (commented) 'Pure Flow Logic' available to the user in what I call 'The Worst Timeline' * so that if it fails, then whomever is managing it can switch to that.

       

      Thanks again, mate! 🙂

       

       

      * A community reference used to describe a testing branch that I put in most Flows these days via a condition that's always set to run the main line. It'll contain notes, working (how did we get this JSON sample?), and alternates or future parts of the flow, plus some nonsense. Since it's not exactly the easiest place to organise separate Flows (at least, for free users) this feels like the easiest way to ensure that knowledge is available.

      • zymantas123's avatar
        zymantas123
        Copper Contributor
        Jan 02, 2022
        Hello I have a problem with filtering. I used condition attachmentname ends with .pdf but one of three folders still accepts and .png format files. How I can resolve this?

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