How to Add Comments to SharePoint List Items Using Power Automate?

While working on a SharePoint list, you might want to keep track of updates, changes, or feedback on specific items. SharePoint lists have a built-in comments feature, but what if you could automate this process? For example, adding a comment automatically when the status of a task changes.

With Power Automate, we can set up a flow to add comments to list items automatically. This makes it easy to log updates and add timestamps without doing it manually.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to add comments to SharePoint list items using Power Automate. I will also explain how to add comments with mentions and retrieve comments using Power Automate.

Add Comments to SharePoint List Items Using Power Automate

Imagine you are managing tasks in a SharePoint list called Task Tracker, which includes columns like Task Name, Assigned To, Due Date, and Status.

Every time the Status of a task changes (e.g., from In Progress to Completed), you want to add a comment to the item that logs the new status along with the date and time of the change.

Now follow the below steps:

1. Create an automated cloud flow. Give the flow name and select the trigger When an item is created or modified. Also, provide the Site Address and List Name.

2. Then add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:

• Site Address: Select the SharePoint Site Address
• Method: Select “POST” as the method
• URI: Provide the below URI:

_api/web/lists/getbytitle('List Name')/items(' ItemID ')/Comments

Change the List Name and ItemID to match your list names.

• Header: Use the below headers to make REST API calls to SharePoint:

accept: application/json;odata=verbose

• Body: Provide the below JSON format:

{
    "text": "Status changed to @{triggerBody()?['TaskStatus/Value']} on @{formatDateTime(utcNow(),'yyyy-MM-dd at HH:mm tt')}."
}

You can provide your comments.

Now, it’s time to save the flow. Click on Test -> Select Manually. Add or Update items to the SharePoint list.

Once the flow runs successfully, refresh the SharePoint list, and you will see the added comment.

Add Comments with Mention People in SharePoint list Item Comments using Power Automate

In this example, I am using the same Task Tracker list, but now I want to mention the person assigned to the task in the comment so they get notified about the status change.

Now follow the below steps:

Create an automated cloud flow with a trigger: When an item is created or modified. Then add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:

• Site Address: Select the SharePoint Site Address
• Method: Select “POST” as the method
• URI: Provide the below URI:

_api/web/lists/getbytitle('List Name')/items(' ItemID ')/Comments

Change the List Name and ItemID to match your list names.

• Header: Use the below headers to make REST API calls to SharePoint:

accept: application/json;odata=verbose

• Body: Provide the below JSON format:

{
    "text": "Status changed to @{triggerBody()?['TaskStatus/Value']} on @{formatDateTime(utcNow(),'yyyy-MM-dd at HH:mm tt')}. @mention{0}, please review.",
"mentions": [
        {
            "email": "@{triggerBody()?['AssignedTo/Email']}"
        }
    ]
}

Now, it’s time to save the flow. Click on Test -> Select Manually. Add or Update items to the SharePoint list.

Here, I changed the status In Progress to Completed.

Once the comment has been added, the mentioned users will receive a mail like below:

If you want to mention multiple people, then you use below:

{
   "text": "Your Comment @mention{0} and @mention{1}",
   "mentions": [
      {
         "email": "Email Address"
      },
      {
         "email": "Email Address"
      }
   ]
}

Get Comments to SharePoint List Items Using Power Automate

In the two examples above, we saw how to add comments to SharePoint list items using Power Automate. Now, let’s see how to retrieve those comments.

Now follow the below steps:

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. Add a Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action from sharePoint Connector with the below parameter:

• Site Address: Select the SharePoint Site Address
• Method: Select “GET” as the method
• URI: Provide the below URI:

_api/web/lists/getbytitle('List Name')/items(' ItemID ')/Comments

Change the List Name and ItemID to match your list names.

• Header: Use the below headers to make REST API calls to SharePoint:

accept: application/json;odata=verbose

Now save and run the flow. Once you run the flow, click Send an HTTP request to SharePoint and copy the body:

3. Add a Parse JSON action and provide the below parameter:

• Content: Select the body(Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action) from the dynamic content.
• Schema: To add the schema, click on ‘Generate from sample’, paste the copyed code, and then click ‘Done’. The schema will now be generated and visible.

4. Add a compose action and provide Inputs parameters as Body text from dynamic content:

It will automatically add a for each loop.

Now save and run the flow. Once your flow runs successfully, you can see the comment in the compose action:

Here, the item has two comments.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, I covered how to automate adding comments to SharePoint list items using Power Automate. I explained how to add comments with the status update and timestamp whenever a task’s status changes in the Task Tracker list. We also explored how to mention the person assigned to the task in the comment so they get notified. Additionally, we went through the steps for retrieving comments from the SharePoint list item.

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Bijay Kumar

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.