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How to Send an Excel Date Reminder Email with Power Automate

Maira Mehtab Sep 27, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user wants to configure Power Automate to send an email notification exactly four weeks before a specific date stored in an Excel spreadsheet.

How to Send an Excel Date Reminder Email with Power Automate

Product: Microsoft Excel / Power Automate
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Automating proactive email reminders based on dynamic dates in an Excel workbook.
Observed behavior: Currently, a scheduled flow sends emails every Monday, which does not align with the requirement to send reminders exactly four weeks prior to the Excel date.

Before you start

Ensure your Excel data is formatted as an Excel Table (Ctrl+T) and saved in a cloud location like OneDrive for Business or SharePoint, as Power Automate requires structured, cloud-hosted data to read rows properly.

Solution 1Recommended

Create a Scheduled Cloud Flow with Date Calculations

Design a custom Power Automate flow that runs daily to check Excel dates and send emails if the target date is exactly four weeks away.

Since triggering an email four weeks before a specific Excel date requires precise daily checks, a simple weekly scheduled flow is insufficient. You need to build a daily scheduled flow that pulls all rows from your Excel table, calculates the date difference, and triggers the email only when the condition is met.

Set up a daily scheduled trigger

Log into Power Automate, click 'Create', and choose 'Scheduled cloud flow'. Set the flow to run once every day to continually check for upcoming dates.

List rows present in a table

Add a new step and search for the 'Excel Online (Business) - List rows present in a table' action. Select your cloud-stored Excel file and the specific table containing your target dates.

Add a condition for date comparison

Create a 'Condition' step. Use the Power Automate expression tool to compare dates. For example, use the expression addDays(utcNow(), 28, 'yyyy-MM-dd') to check if the date in your Excel cell matches the date exactly 28 days (4 weeks) from today.

Configure the email action

In the 'If yes' branch of your condition, add the 'Send an email (V2)' action. Map the dynamic content from your Excel table (like the recipient email column and subject) to send the targeted reminder.

Consult the Power Automate Community

Because Excel stores dates as serial numbers and formatting can be complex across regions, consider visiting the Microsoft Power Automate Community forums for specialized help refining your exact date expressions.

Create a Scheduled Cloud Flow with Date Calculations

Handling Excel Date Serial Numbers: If your flow returns a strange number instead of a date, go to your 'List rows present in a table' action, click 'Show advanced options', and set the 'DateTime Format' to 'ISO 8601'.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Power Automate read my Excel dates as strange numbers?

Excel stores dates internally as serial numbers (e.g., 44000). To resolve this in Power Automate, open the 'List rows present in a table' action's advanced settings and change the 'DateTime format' setting to 'ISO 8601' so the dates are read as standard text.

Can I trigger a flow directly when an Excel cell changes?

Power Automate currently does not have a robust trigger for specific individual cell changes in Excel. It is highly recommended to use a scheduled flow (running daily) that loops through your table rows to check for specific conditions instead.

Does the Excel file need to be closed for the flow to run?

No, the file can remain open. However, the Excel data must be strictly formatted as an official Table (using the Ctrl+T shortcut) and saved in a supported cloud storage location like OneDrive for Business or SharePoint.

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