SharePoint Document Issues

How to Track Files Deleted with a SharePoint Folder in Power Automate

Huma Ashraf Ch Oct 9, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to track specific files and subfolders that are deleted when an entire SharePoint folder is removed.

How to Track Files Deleted with a SharePoint Folder

Product: SharePoint and Power Automate
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Creating a Power Automate flow to monitor deletions, where the standard trigger fails to list the contents of the deleted folder.
Observed behavior: The Power Automate trigger provides only folder-level deletion information, omitting the individual files and subfolders contained within the parent folder.

Before you start

Ensure you have active login credentials for your Microsoft Power Automate environment and the necessary permissions to view custom flows for your target SharePoint site.

Solution 1Recommended

Consult the Microsoft Power Automate Community for Custom Flows

Because standard triggers only capture folder-level events, you will need a custom flow solution best sourced from Microsoft Power Automate experts.

Standard SharePoint triggers in Power Automate typically recognize the deletion of a folder as a single event, rather than individually listing every child item inside it. To extract data about nested files and subfolders, advanced custom flows utilizing SharePoint HTTP requests or recursive logic are required.

Visit the Community Forum

Open your web browser and navigate to the official Microsoft Power Automate Community at powerusers.microsoft.com.

Search for Existing Custom Flows

Use the forum search bar to look for queries like 'track deleted files in SharePoint folder' or 'get deleted subfolders SharePoint trigger'.

Post Your Specific Scenario

If you cannot find an exact match, create a new post detailing your current folder-level trigger and ask the community for guidance on extracting the deleted child items.

Consult the Microsoft Power Automate Community for Custom Flows

Community Registration: You will need to sign in with your Microsoft account to post questions or reply to threads in the Power Automate community.

Solution 2

Review the SharePoint Recycle Bin Manually

If your automated flow only gives you the folder name, you can manually inspect the SharePoint site's recycle bin to see what files were inside.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Power Automate only show the deleted SharePoint folder and not the files?

The standard 'When a file is deleted' trigger in Power Automate fires a single event for the exact object that was removed. If a parent folder is deleted, the event corresponds to that folder as a whole, not the individual child items inside it.

Can I recover files that were deleted within a SharePoint folder?

Yes, deleted folders and their contents are automatically moved to the SharePoint site's Recycle Bin. They are typically retained there for 93 days before being permanently deleted.

Is it natively possible to trigger a flow for every file inside a deleted folder?

Not natively with the basic Power Automate triggers. Achieving this requires complex custom flows, often utilizing SharePoint REST API calls to parse the recycle bin, which is why consulting the Microsoft Power Automate community is highly recommended.

Document & File Issues