Last week, I worked on a SharePoint project where I received a requirement to automate the creation of SharePoint lists. The client needed a solution to dynamically create new SharePoint lists whenever a specific event occurred without manually setting them up each time.
After researching, I found a solution: We can use the Power Automate Send an HTTP request to SharePoint connector to create SharePoint lists automatically.
In this tutorial, I will explain how to create SharePoint list using Power Automate and how to add various columns to it with a few examples.
Create SharePoint List Using Power Automate
Here, I want to create a SharePoint list with one column: the Title. So let’s see how to do it:
1. In the Power Automate, click the Instant Cloud flow, enter the Flow name, and choose the trigger flow (i.e., manually trigger a flow).
2. Then add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site where you want the list to be created
- Method: Select “POST” as the method
- URI: Provide the below URI:
_api/web/lists- Headers: Add a key-value pair:
Accept: application/json;odata=verbose
Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose- Body: Provide the below JSON format to specify the properties of the new SharePoint list:
{
"__metadata": {
"type": "SP.List"
},
"Title": "Task Assignments",
"BaseTemplate": 100
}Replace “Task Assignments” with your desired name for the SharePoint list. The BaseTemplate value of 100 is for a custom list. If needed, you can use other templates, like 101, for a document library.
Now, click Save and run the flow manually after it runs successfully.
Go to the SharePoint site to see that the SharePoint list has been created successfully.
This way, you can create a sharepoint list using Power Automate.
Create a SharePoint List With Different Columns Using Power Automate
In the above example, we saw how to create a SharePoint list with a single column. We will learn how to make a SharePoint list with multiple columns using Power Automate.
Using the above two steps, we will create a SharePoint list. If you have not completed those steps, please do so first. Then, follow the steps below:
1. In the Power Automate, click the Instant Cloud flow, enter the Flow name, and choose the trigger flow (i.e., manually trigger a flow).
2. Then add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site where you want the list to be created
- Method: Select “POST” as the method
- URI: Provide the below URI:
_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Task Assignments')/fields- Headers: Add a key-value pair:
Accept: application/json;odata=verbose
Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose- Body: Provide the below JSON format to specify the properties of the new SharePoint list:
{
"__metadata": {
"type": "SP.Field"
},
"FieldTypeKind": 2,
"Title": "Name",
"InternalName": "Name",
"Required": false
}This JSON creates a single-line text column. If this meets your requirements, you can use it.
3. Again, add the same Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site where you want the list to be created
- Method: Select “POST” as the method
- URI: Provide the below URI:
_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Task Assignments')/fields- Headers: Add a key-value pair:
Accept: application/json;odata=verbose
Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose- Body: Provide the below JSON format to specify the properties of the new SharePoint list:
{
"__metadata": {
"type": "SP.Field"
},
"FieldTypeKind": 3,
"Title": "Description",
"InternalName": "Description",
"Required": false
}
4. Now I want to add a ‘Status’ column which has three choices’” Completed,” “Pending,” and “Not Started.” To do this, add Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action with the below parameters:
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site where you want the list to be created
- Method: Select “POST” as the method
- URI: Provide the below URI:
_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Task Assignments')/fields- Headers: Add a key-value pair:
Accept: application/json;odata=verbose
Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose- Body: Provide the below JSON format to specify the properties of the new SharePoint list:
{
"__metadata": {
"type": "SP.FieldChoice"
},
"FieldTypeKind": 6,
"Title": "Status",
"Choices": {
"results": ["Pending", "Approved", "Rejected"]
}
}
5. Now I want to add a number column named Quantity; to do this, add Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action with the below parameters:
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site where you want the list to be created
- Method: Select “POST” as the method
- URI: Provide the below URI:
_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Task Assignments')/fields- Headers: Add a key-value pair:
Accept: application/json;odata=verbose
Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose- Body: Provide the below JSON format to specify the properties of the new SharePoint list:
{
"__metadata": {
"type": "SP.Field"
},
"FieldTypeKind": 4,
"Title": "Quantity",
"InternalName": "Quantity",
"Required": false
}
Now, click Save and run the flow manually after it runs successfully. Go to the SharePoint site, and you will see that the SharePoint list columns have been created successfully.
In this tutorial, I explained how to automate the creation of SharePoint lists using Power Automate. We covered two main scenarios: first, creating a SharePoint list with a single column (Title) and then expanding on that by creating a list with multiple columns, including a single line of text, a multi-line text field, a choice field for status, and a number field for quantity.
Related Power Automate articles:
- Get Current Date in Power Automate
- Create File Using Power Automate
- Add Days to Date in Power Automate
- How to Parse JSON Object to Array in Power Automate
- Create SharePoint lists from JSON using Power Automate
- Power Automate isInt() Function
After working for more than 18 years in Microsoft technologies like SharePoint, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI), I thought will share my SharePoint expertise knowledge with the world. Our audiences are from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. For my expertise knowledge and SharePoint tutorials, Microsoft has been awarded a Microsoft SharePoint MVP (12 times). I have also worked in companies like HP, TCS, KPIT, etc.
