How to Send Planner Due-Date Reminder Emails with Power Automate
Question details
The user needs to learn how to automatically send email reminders to assigned users before their Microsoft Planner tasks reach their due dates.
- Product
- Microsoft Power Automate and Microsoft Planner
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Automating task management and notification workflows
- Observed behavior
- The user is looking to establish a scheduled flow that retrieves incomplete tasks, compares their due dates with the current date, and triggers an email notification based on a specified lead time.
Ensure you have active licenses for Microsoft Power Automate, Microsoft Planner, and an Outlook mailbox connected to your Microsoft 365 account to send the emails.
Create a Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate
Build a scheduled flow to automatically check Planner tasks daily and send email reminders for tasks approaching their due date.
This approach uses a scheduled trigger to run at a specific time every day. It retrieves all tasks from your specified Planner board, filters out the completed ones, and evaluates the due dates to trigger an email.
Log in to Power Automate, click 'Create' on the left menu, and select 'Scheduled cloud flow'. Name your flow, set it to run once every day, and click 'Create'.
Click 'New step', search for 'Planner', and select the 'List tasks' action. Choose the appropriate Group Id and Plan Id from the dropdown menus to retrieve your tasks.
Add a 'Filter array' action. In the 'From' field, select 'value' from the 'List tasks' dynamic content. Set the condition to check if 'Percent complete' is 'less than' 100.
Add an 'Apply to each' control and select the output from your 'Filter array' step. Inside the loop, add a 'Condition' to check if the task's due date matches your target date using the formatDateTime() and addDays() expressions (e.g., 7 days from today).
In the 'If yes' branch of your condition, add the 'Send an email (V2)' action from the Office 365 Outlook connector. Use dynamic content to populate the 'To' field with the assigned user's email, and craft your subject and body with task details.
Consult the Power Automate Community for Advanced Logic
If you are dealing with complex scenarios, such as multiple assignees per task or excluding weekends from due-date calculations, the community forums can provide specialized assistance.
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- 1. Download and Install: Visit the official WPS Office website to download the free installation package for your operating system.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my flow sending reminder emails for tasks that are already completed?
This happens when the flow retrieves all tasks without filtering. Make sure you add a 'Filter array' action or a condition step to process only tasks where the 'Percent complete' field is strictly less than 100.
Can I send reminders for tasks assigned to multiple people?
Yes, but it requires additional logic. Because the 'Assignments' field in Planner is an array, you will need to use an 'Apply to each' loop or the 'Select' and 'Join' data operations to extract all assigned email addresses into a single string for the 'To' field of your email action.
How do I change the reminder time from 7 days to 3 days?
In the condition step where you calculate the target date, modify your addDays() expression. Change the number of days added to the current date from 7 to 3. For example: formatDateTime(addDays(utcNow(), 3), 'yyyy-MM-dd').
Do I need a premium Power Automate license to connect to Microsoft Planner?
No, both the Microsoft Planner and Office 365 Outlook connectors are standard connectors. They are included in most basic Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans without requiring a standalone premium Power Automate license.
