Microsoft Flow is a free tool that can automate some routine operations, like automatically adding calendar events, forwarding emails, and so on. I have been using it for many years now, since it just launched. And Todoist connector is one of my most used building blocks. Unfortunately it recently stopped working. Search for Todoist in the search bar, then tap the Todoist icon. Select the action or trigger you wish to set for your flow (for example: “When a task is completed”). Open the dropdown menu under Project Id and select a project from your Todoist account. Tap Done in the top-right corner. Once you’ve chosen a project, tap + New step.
At the company where I work we regularly have knowledge transfer sessions called Brown Bag Lunches (BBLs) which I think is a great way to share and give back. I am in charge of scheduling these.
I wanted automate the process for planning these sessions and give my colleagues a way to submit suggestions for content. I started by setting a simple Microsoft Form for them to add suggestions
What Is Microsoft Flow
Sorry about the Swedish 🙂
Microsoft has a page for looking at the results of the form submissions which I could have used to get the subjects and plan them manually… but where is the fun in that :-). My solution was to add a flow that is triggered every time a form is submitted which adds it to an excel spreadsheet and adds a todo task in my todo list of choice Todoist.
The result from Forms is in a JSON format so the first thing we need to do is to parse the JSON message.
The parsing of the JSON also means that we can use the content as dynamic content and add it without having to write an expression… the No-Code way. The JSON message also only contains the response id so we will have to use a “Get response details” block to get the actual information of the form.
The reason we are extracting the information is to put it in the Excel file… The response only contains the submitting users email adress so to get the excel file to look a bit nicer I use the Get User Profile block to look up the users real name from the Azure AD/SharePoint. This is a really cool block since it can get a whole lot of cool info from you organization such at a users manager etc.
Finally I add a line to an excel file and put a reminder i my todo list
Microsoft Powerapps And Logic Flows
I would really continue building this logic to automate the planning even further… I might have to revisit this in a later post 🙂
Have a nice weekend
Johan
Microsoft today announced a handful of new features Flow. For those who don’t know about Flow, it’s a service which allows users to automate things, similar to services like IFTTT. With the September update for Microsoft Flow, Microsoft is adding integration for four new services, including Todoist, Smartsheet, AppFigures, Insightly. With these integrations, users of these four services will be able to connect them to other services like Twitter, or GitHub and automate their workflow. For example, you can setup Todoist to create a to-do task everytime you get an important email on Outlook.com
Alongside Todoist, Smartsheet, Appfigures and Insightly integration, Microsoft is also integrating SharePoint Online lists into Flow with the September update. With SharePoint Online lists integration, Flow users can create flows directly from SharePoint Online Lists which can be quite handy.
In addition to these features, Microsoft also adding the Microsoft Graph People Picker, making it much easier to choose contacts or email addresses while creating an email. The update also introduces new features for developers, allowing them to integrate their websites or apps into Flow very easily. And lastly, Microsoft has started releasing video documentations for the service, which users can use to get some help when they are stuck.
If you are interested in trying out Microsoft Flow, you can do so here — however, do keep in mind that the service is currently in preview.