Fix Power Automate Reminders Triggering Too Early for SharePoint Items
Question details
The scheduled Power Automate flow is triggering reminders prematurely instead of exactly two hours after a SharePoint item is created.
- Product
- Power Automate
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Managing a SharePoint help-desk ticket system and using scheduled flows to send reminders for unassigned tickets.
- Observed behavior
- A ticket created right before the scheduled flow runs triggers a reminder almost immediately, rather than waiting for the required two-hour threshold.
Ensure you have editing permissions for the Power Automate flow and a basic understanding of the expressions used to calculate time thresholds in your current setup.
Redesign Flow to Compare Item Creation Time
Modify your scheduled flow to calculate the exact time difference between the ticket creation and the current time, rather than relying on a fixed interval recurrence.
When a scheduled flow runs every two hours, it sweeps all items meeting a static condition (like having no owner). If an item is created five minutes before the flow runs, it gets caught in the sweep immediately. To fix this, you must add logic that compares the item's creation time to the time the flow is running.
Open Microsoft Power Automate, locate your help-desk reminder flow under 'My flows', and click the 'Edit' button.
In your 'Filter array' or 'Condition' action, compare the item's creation time to a calculated threshold. Use an expression like addHours(item()?['Created'], 2) to establish the exact time the item becomes overdue.
Configure the condition to check if the current time (using the utcNow() expression) is greater than or equal to your newly calculated two-hour threshold.
Save the flow, create a test SharePoint item, and monitor the flow runs to ensure the reminder waits the full duration before triggering.
Seek Help from the Power Automate Community
Reach out to Power Automate experts for advanced flow logic and custom expression formulas.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my scheduled flow trigger immediately for newly created SharePoint items?
If your flow runs on a fixed schedule (e.g., every two hours) and checks for unassigned items, any item created just before the run will be processed instantly. The flow needs an explicit condition to check the item's creation timestamp against the current time to enforce a delay.
Can I use an automated flow instead of a scheduled flow for reminders?
Yes. You can use the 'When an item is created' trigger followed by a 'Delay' action set to two hours. However, this approach can result in many parallel running flows if your ticket volume is high, which may affect performance or hit limits.
How do I get the current time in a Power Automate expression?
You can use the utcNow() expression in your flow to fetch the current date and time in UTC format. This is commonly used in conditions to compare against item creation or modification timestamps.
