If you are a beginner in Power Automate and want to learn how to create flows that run based on a specific interval (such as daily, weekly, monthly, every second, minute, or hour), you should explore Scheduled Cloud Flows.
In this Power Automate tutorial, we will learn what Power Automate Scheduled cloud flow is and how to create a Scheduled cloud flow in Power Automate.
Power Automate Scheduled Cloud Flow
A Power Automate Scheduled cloud flow is a type of automation that runs at specific times or intervals. You set up a schedule, and the flow will automatically perform your defined tasks.
This flow can automate tasks like sending emails, backing up daily tasks, processing data, or sending reminders regularly, such as daily reports, weekly updates, or monthly notifications, without needing a user to start it.
Let’s see some examples you may need to Schedule Cloud flow in Power Automate.
Example 1: Scheduled Cloud Flow For Weekly Reminder in Power Automate
Here, we will discuss creating a Scheduled Cloud Flow that runs weekly, like Schedule a Flow to send a reminder email every Monday at 9:00 AM.
To recurrence the flow in the weekly, we need to provide the following information:
- Starting: Provide on which date you want to run your flow.
- at: Provide the time you want to run the flow, in my case, at 9:00 AM.
- Repeat every: We want to run the flow every weekday, so here, select 1 week.
- On these days: Select the day, i.e., Monday.
Example 2: Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate for Daily Report
Here, we will discuss creating a Scheduled Cloud Flow that runs daily, like Scheduling a flow to generate a report and email it every weekday (Monday to Friday) at 5:00 PM.
To do this, we need to provide the following information:
- Starting: Provide on which date you want to run your flow.
- at: Provide the time you want to run the flow, in my case, at 5:00 PM.
- Repeat every: We want to run the flow every weekday, so here, select 1 week.
- On these days: Select the Weekdays, i.e., Monday to Friday.
Example 3: Power Automate Scheduled Cloud Flow for Quarterly Review
Here, we will discuss creating a Scheduled Cloud Flow that runs quarterly, like Scheduling a flow to trigger a quarterly review process on the 1st of January, April, July, and October at 10:00 AM.
We need to provide the following information:
- Starting: Provide on which date you want to run your flow, like 1st January (or today’s date)
- at: Provide the time you want to run the flow, like 10:00 AM.
- Repeat every: We want to run the flow every weekday, so here, select 3 Month.
Example 4: Scheduled Cloud Flow for Annual Performance Review
Here, we will discuss creating a Scheduled Cloud Flow that runs annually, such as scheduling a flow for the annual performance review process on December 15th at 8:00 AM.
- Starting: 15th December (or today’s date)
- at: 08:00 AM
- Repeat every: 12 months
Example 5: Scheduled Cloud Flow Run only Last Friday of the Month
Here, we will discuss creating a Scheduled Cloud Flow that runs only on the last Friday of the month. To do this, we need to add a trigger condition.
Setup the flow that will run every week on Friday; for this, provide the below information:
- Starting: Provide on which date you want to run your flow.
- at: Provide the time you want to run the flow.
- Repeat every: We want to set up the flow for every week, so here, select 1 week.
- On these days: Select the day, i.e., Friday.
Then click on Create.
Now, we will add the trigger condition. To do this, select Recurrence, go to Settings, and click + Add under the Trigger condition.
In the formula bar, put the below expression:
@and(
lessOrEquals(int(utcNow('dd')),int(addDays(addToTime(startOfMonth(utcNow()),1,'Month'),-1,'dd'))),
greaterOrEquals(int(utcNow('dd')),int(addDays(addToTime(startOfMonth(utcNow()),1,'Month'),-7,'dd')))
)This trigger condition checks if the current day of the month is within the last 7 days.
Create a Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate
I want to create a scheduled cloud flow that runs every working day to back up the daily work summaries into OneDrive.
Suppose you have a SharePoint library where you store your daily work summaries. Your manager tells you to back up the summary file to your OneDrive. Let’s see how to back up the daily summary file using Power Automate.
Before creating flow, ensure you have a SharePoint Document Library like the screenshot below.
1. Sign in to Power Automate with valid credentials. Then click on + Create and Select Scheduled cloud flow.
2. Then, provide the flow name, and under Run this flow, provide the information below.
- Starting: Select the date. From which date the flow will start?
- at: Provide the time the flow will run. In my case, I want 10:00 PM.
- Repeat every: Provide the interval. In my case, I want my flow to run every day, so I select 1 Day.
Then click the Create button.
3. Next, click the + icon to add an action. In the search box, type the action name (in our case, ‘ Get files’) and select the ‘Get files (properties only)‘ flow action from the SharePoint connector.
4. Now, click on the ‘Get files (properties only)‘ option on the left side. Under Parameters, choose your Site Address and Library Name.
5. Next, we add an action to get the file content. To do this, Add the action Get file content using path SharePoint connector.
- Site Address: Select the SharePoint site address from the dropdown where the file exists.
- File Path: FullPath is dynamic content From Get files (properties only).
6. Now we will create a file in OneDrive for business, so select Create File action:
- Folder Path: where you want to store it in OneDrive.
- File Name: Here, I give “Today Task.docx.”
- File Content: File Content from the dynamic content.
7. Then, we add an action by emailing that your Daily SharePoint Backup is Completed.
To do this, click the + icon to add an action. In the search box, type the action name (in our case, ‘ send an email’) and select the ‘Send an email (V2)‘ flow action from the Outlook connector.
8. Here you will see three options:
- To – provide the email address to whom an email should be sent. We can provide the email address manually or using dynamic content.
- Subject – Add the Title of your email.
- Body – Add the message you want to send in the body! In this section, you can insert the link, change the font size, and make the text bold, italic, or underlined. You can format your mail as you want or can add dynamic content.
9. Then, save the flow by clicking the Save button.
Run a Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate
After saving the flow, I added a Word file (Today Task.docx) to the SharePoint library.
Now, we test our flow to do this. Click on Test Select Manually -> Click on Test inside the Test Flow tab.
Then click Run flow.
The Word file backup (Today Task.docx) is in the OneDrive folder; the created person receives an email.
In my case, I update my work summary daily in the Word file (Today Task.docx) to the SharePoint library, so when the flow ends, it will also replace the previous Word file in OneDrive.
I hope you followed all the steps to create a Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate.
Also, you may like some more Power Automate articles:
- Send Birthday Emails from Excel using Power Automate
- Create Custom Response Options for Approval Flows in Power Automate
- Move Email to Folder using Power Automate
- Power Automate Send Email On Specific Date
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.
