Use Flow to update "date last saved" of every flow i own?

Copper Contributor

This ones a bit of a doozie:

Scenario:   If it has been 6+ months since a flow was last updated, our head office sends out a ton of angry emails asking if they can delete old/unused Flows.

I created flows that run, and dont need ongoing care and maintenance.  they do their job.   

there are so many of them that I dont want to have to open them all just to press Save every 5 months.

is there a way to use Microsoft Power Automate to "Save" (without changes) all of my Flows?

5 Replies

@steh604 no there isn't. It's rather shortsighted of your head office; there are many reasons why a flow might not run for weeks or months on end. For example, at my company we have flows that wait for IT Incidents, H&S incidents, changes to our Business Management System and so on. Many of them. They might not trigger for months but we need to know when they do. So the flow sits there. It's what so annoys me about Microsoft that they turn off flows that haven't run for 90 days. Who are they to decide what flow is live & active and potentially business-critical and what isn't?

 

Rob
Los Gallardos
Microsoft Power Automate Community Super User

not quite (but i definitely feel your frustration)
they arent comparing last-RUN. that would almost make sense in a way for Some things.

its literally going by the date that the flow itself was last Edited. this is apparently what the Microsoft Center Of Excellence defaults to for creating tasks to delete old flows.

Because " when a new MS Form response is received, add it to sharepoint list" is such an ever-changing task...

@steh604 sorry, not quite sure I understand, but there isn't a way in Power Automate to do what you want.

 

Rob
Los Gallardos
Microsoft Power Automate Community Super User

@steh604 Check if Power automate for admins connector or admin PowerShell helps in any way:

  1. Power Automate for Admins 
  2. PowerShell Cmdlets for PowerApps and Flow creators and administrators 
  3. Microsoft Power Platform Administration PowerShell 

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I wouldn't be looking to update all your flows. I'd suggest you discuss with your Power Automate admins and get them to reconsider what they are doing. There is zero logic in there decision in this case - just bizarre. If a flow is well built and the process hasn't changed then the flow has no need to be updated - if they can't see that then I feel for you.