Rules, Reference and Troubleshooting
Course Ops
Rules that protect the system
- Never delete and re-upload the master workbook. Use Upload → Replace, or edit it in place — a re-uploaded file gets a new internal ID, and every flow that uses it breaks.
- “Locked for shared use”: close other tabs or apps that have the file open, then retry.
- Only test with
TEST_files, e.g.TEST_FILE_FOR_FLOW.xlsx, never a real course file. Delete test rows from EmailQueue afterwards: select the rows, then right-click → Delete → Table Rows.- Rows seem to be missing: Sent and Cancelled rows move to the Archive tab every 3 weeks, and Excel Online can take a few seconds to load the whole table. Check both before assuming anything is lost.
Quick reference: what “good” looks like
| Row state | Status | SentDateTime | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newly built | Pending Review | blank | |
| Approved, waiting | Approved | blank | SendDate is in the future |
| Sent | Sent | filled in | Shown with strikethrough |
| Cancelled | Cancelled | Shown with strikethrough | |
| Failed | Failed | blank | Fix the details and set back to Approved |
| Archived | Sent or Cancelled | Now on the Archive tab |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| A row is marked Failed | Check the email address and details, fix them, and set Status back to Approved |
| Rows past about row 256 never send | Daily Sender’s pagination got reset — ask Gabi (it must be 5000) |
| Flows fail with file errors after the workbook was replaced | It was deleted and re-uploaded — ask Gabi to re-select the file in each flow |
| Nothing sends | Check the rows are Approved, and their SendDate is today or earlier |
Full guide
For the complete Women’s Aid Email Automation User Guide, see Company/Moodle Platform/Women’s Aid/Power Automate/Womens_Aid_Email_Automation_Guide.docx on SharePoint.