Skip to content

Let's POWER Automate

From no-code to low-code

Menu
  • Expressions
  • Filters
  • General
  • Problems
  • Triggers
  • Application specific solutions
    • Excel
    • Forms
    • Planner
    • Outlook
    • SharePoint
    • Teams
  • Resources
Menu

Identify MS Forms questions with the same name in Power Automate

Posted on March 3, 2021April 14, 2021 by Tom

“My MS Forms form has multiple questions with the same name, how can I recognize in Power Automate which is which?”


The input from MS Forms questions into Power Automate is one the more complicated ones. It’s not a problem for simple forms with unique questions, but it gets complicated for forms with repeated questions. On the surface it looks simple, the dynamic content uses the question name, but what if there’re 2 questions with the same name? How can you recognize which is which to use the right one?

Power Automate with Forms questions with the same name

If it was a SharePoint column, or an element from JSON, you could check the background code, but not for MS Forms. Instead of a readable column name it contains that question’s identifier. So, is there a way to connect the identifier to a question?

Power Automate dynamic content background code

Get the information from the form

Since you can’t take the information from Power Automate, you must send it from the form. Do a test run with the form and properly describe the columns in the response. The assumption is that you already have a flow to process the forms response.

Power Automate Forms questions description

Check the flow history

Once you submit the response, go to the flow run history into the ‘Get response details’ action. At the end of that action you’ll see the ‘body’ with all the responses. And in the responses you’ll clearly recognize the questions you just described and their identifiers.

...
"r197abc0eaf6c4494805698e60f359481": "Comments question 10, section 1",
"r0af6700a13634485812d37593e434773": "Comments question 11, section 2",
...
Power Automate 'Get response details' body

Use the right dynamic content

Once you know the question identifier, it’s easy to use the correct dynamic content. If it’s just two or three questions, you can add all of them into the action and remove the ones with different identifier.

Power Automate recognize Forms questions

But if it’s more than that, you might want to build the dynamic content by yourself. Add one of the dynamic contents into an action and copy/paste it into a text editor.

@{outputs('Get_response_details')?['body/r197abc0eaf6c4494805698e60f359481']}
Power Automate copy/paste dynamic content

You can see that the question identifier is in the [‘body/….’] section. Replace that identifier with identifier of the question you need and copy/paste it back.

@{outputs('Get_response_details')?['body/r0af6700a13634485812d37593e434773']}
Power Automate update Forms question dynamic content

You just successfully identified the question and added it to your flow.

Summary

In most situations in Power Automate you can recognize the data by its background code, but not with MS Forms. MS Forms will give you just the question identifier and it’s up to you to understand it.

But if you can’t recognize it directly, you can still describe it to yourself. Put a proper description to these questions, do a test run and check the result. Even if you don’t understand coding you can recognize the question key in the response body and use it.


Do you struggle with the various expressions, conditions, filters, or HTTP requests available in Power Automate?

I send one email per week with a summary of the new solutions, designed to help even non IT people to automate some of their repetitive tasks.

All subscribers have also access to resources like a SharePoint Filter Query cheat sheet or Date expressions cheat sheet.

Zero spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Now available:

The Ultimate Power Automate expressions cheat sheet
Equip yourself with the tool to translate your thoughts into Power Automate expressions!

Do you struggle with the various expressions, conditions, filters, or HTTP requests available in Power Automate?

I send one email per week with a summary of the new solutions, designed to help even non IT people to automate some of their repetitive tasks.

All subscribers have also access to resources like a SharePoint Filter Query cheat sheet or Date expressions cheat sheet.

Zero spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Hello and welcome!

My name is Tom and I'm a business process automation consultant and Microsoft MVP living in the Czech Republic. I’ve been working with Microsoft technologies for almost 10 years, currently using mainly Power Automate, SharePoint, Teams, and the other M365 tools.

I believe that everyone can automate part of their work with the Power Automate platform. You can achieve a lot by "clicking" the flows in the designer, but you can achieve much more if you add a bit of coding knowledge. And that's what this blog is about.

To make the step from no-code Power Automate flows to low-code flows: using basic coding knowledge to build more complex yet more efficient flows to automate more of your daily tasks.

  • Format results of date calculation in SharePoint columnJune 29, 2022
  • Why is your Power Automate flow creating duplicatesJune 26, 2022
  • How to create a unique identifier in your Power Automate flowJune 22, 2022
  • How to assign custom SharePoint permission level with Power AutomateJune 19, 2022
  • Remove permissions from a specific SharePoint user with Power AutomateJune 15, 2022

Power Automate blogs worth visiting

Damien Bird
Dennis (Expiscornovus)
Paul Murana

© 2022 Let's POWER Automate | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme