Fix Power Automate Flow Timeout When Modifying SharePoint Item
Question details
The user needs to resolve an issue where a Power Automate flow hangs and times out during testing when triggered by a modified SharePoint item.
- Product
- Power Automate / SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Testing a flow that is supposed to send an email from a shared mailbox whenever an existing item in a SharePoint list is modified.
- Observed behavior
- The flow hangs indefinitely during the testing phase and ultimately reports that the starting action was not performed.
Verify that your SharePoint list permissions are fully active and that the associated shared mailbox has not had any recent credential or access changes.
Recreate the Flow from an Official Template
Rebuilding the flow from scratch can resolve issues caused by a corrupted, stuck, or broken trigger path in the original automation.
Sometimes backend updates or temporary service glitches can corrupt a flow's trigger path, causing it to hang and fail to recognize when an item is modified. Recreating the flow completely refreshes the connection to the SharePoint environment.
Navigate to 'My flows' in Power Automate, locate the hanging flow, click the three dots (More commands), and select 'Turn off' or 'Delete'.
Click on 'Templates' in the left sidebar and search for the official template titled 'Send an email from a shared mailbox when an existing SharePoint item is modified'.
Select the template and connect your accounts. Enter your specific SharePoint Site Address and List Name in the trigger configuration.
In the email action node, enter the 'Original Mailbox Address' (the shared mailbox) and configure the recipient, subject, and body of the email.
Save the new flow. Click 'Test' in the upper right corner, choose 'Manually', and modify a test item in your SharePoint list to ensure the flow triggers successfully without timing out.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my Power Automate flow say the starting action was not performed?
This error typically indicates that the trigger (such as a SharePoint item being modified) was never successfully registered by Power Automate. This can be caused by a corrupted connection, revoked permissions, or a temporary outage in Microsoft's backend services linking SharePoint to Power Automate.
How can I tell if the timeout issue is specific to my SharePoint list?
You can isolate the issue by creating a brand-new test flow connected to a completely different SharePoint site and list. If the test flow works perfectly on the new list but fails on the original one, the issue lies within the original list's settings or column configurations.
Do I need to rebuild complex flow actions if only the trigger is broken?
If you have a very complex flow, you can try deleting just the SharePoint trigger action and adding it back instead of starting completely from scratch. However, if the flow still hangs after replacing the trigger, recreating it entirely from an official template is the most reliable fix.
