Read a Text and Count its Occurrence From a Docx File in Power Automate

I recently worked with a client who needed to check how often a specific word or phrase appeared in Word documents stored in OneDrive. Instead of going through each document manually, we used Power Automate to read the text and count its occurrences automatically.

In this tutorial, I will explain how to read a text and count its occurrence from a DOCX file in Power Automate, both without using premium connectors and with premium connectors.

Read a Text and Count its Occurrence From a Docx File in Power Automate [Without Using Premium Connector]

For this example, I have a DOCX file named ‘Power Automate’, which contains information about Power Automate, and this document is present in OneDrive. The file has three pages.

Here, I want to search for the occurrence of the word ‘Power Automate’, and I found it appears 12 times.

Now, I want to achieve this in Power Automate.

Before proceeding, ensure you have a ZIP file in your OneDrive.

To do this, follow the steps below.

1. In Power Automate, create an Instant Cloud Flow and name it. Use the Manually Trigger a Flow trigger.

2. To select the file document file, add the Extract archive to folder action from OneDrive and provide below parameters:

• Source Archive File Path: First, select the ZIP file, then replace the file name with your document file name along with its extension.
• Destination Folder Path: Select any folder of your choice.

First, we select the ZIP file and then replace its name because the Source Archive File Path only allows selecting ZIP files.

3. Add Filter array action and provide the below parameter:

• From: Select body from dynamic content of the Extract archive to folder action.
• Filter Query: Provide the below expression in advance mode:

equals(item()['Name'],'document.xml')

4. Add a Get file content action and, in the File parameter, provide the following expression:

first(body('Filter_array'))['Id']

5. Then add a compose action and provide the below expression in the input parameters:

xpath(xml(outputs('Get_file_content')?['body']), '//*[name()=''w:t'']/text()')

This Compose action gives us the Word document content in an array format, but we need it as a string.

6. I will add a Join action, which converts the array into a string by adding a comma delimiter.

7. Now add the Initialize variable action, then provide the below parameters:

• Name: Provide the name as varCount
• Type: select the type as Integer.
• Value: provide the value as -1.

6. Add compose action to split the Power Automate word using the below expression:

split(body('Join'), 'Power Automate')

7. Then add Apply to each action and provide the above compose action output in Select an output from previous steps parameters:

8. Inside the Apply to each action, add an Increment variable action. Select the name varCount from the dropdown, and set the value to 1.

9. Add another Compose action to see how many times the word ‘Power Automate’ occurs in the DOCX file by adding varCount in the input parameters.

Now save and run the flow. Once your flow runs successfully, you can see the Count of Power Automate word Occurrence in the compose action:

It shows 12, which matches the manual count of the word ‘Power Automate’ appearing 12 times in the document.

Read a Text and Count its Occurrence From a Docx File in Power Automate [Using Premium Connector]

I have a Word file with the content below in the SharePoint folder for this example. We will read the text and count the occurrence of the word ‘example‘ using Power Automate.

To create this flow, we will use a third-party action, Convert file from Encodian, to convert the file to text. To use Encodian actions, you need an API key. To get the API key, go to this link and fill out the form to activate the free trial. It will generate an API key for you.

Now follow the below steps:

1. Create an automated cloud flow. Give the flow name and select the trigger When a file is created in a folder. Also, provide the Site Address and Folder Path.

2. Then add the Convert word action from Encodian and provide the below parameters:

3. Add a compose action and provide the below expression:

base64ToString(outputs('Convert_-_Word')?['body/FileContent'])

4. Now add the Initialize variable action, then provide the below parameters:

• Name: Provide the name as varCount
• Type: select the type as Integer.
• Value: provide the value as -1.

5. Add compose action to split the Power Automate word using the below expression:

split(outputs('Compose'), 'example')

6. Then add Apply to each action and provide the above compose action output in Select an output from previous steps parameters:

7. Inside the Apply to each action, add an Increment variable action. Select the name varCount from the dropdown, and set the value to 1.

8. Add another Compose action to see how many times the word ‘example’ occurs in the DOCX file by adding varCount in the input parameters.

Now, it’s time to save the flow. Click on Test -> Select Manually. Then, add the file to the folder. After the flow runs successfully, you will see that the word ‘example’ appears 3 times in the Word document.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, I explained how to use Power Automate to count the occurrences of a specific word or phrase in a DOCX file stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. I covered two methods: one without using premium connectors.

• Convert Word Files to PDF Using Power Automate
• Create a Sharing Link for a File or Folder Using Power Automate
• Add Item to SharePoint List Using Power Automate
• Create a Site Column in SharePoint Online Using Power Automate
• Remove Duplicate Items From SharePoint List Using Power Automate

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.