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Find and fix cause to Something failed in Power Automate

If you've set multiple flows for document reminders in SharePoint, you'll need to take a close look at each flow to find the one that fails

You will receive the following email from Microsoft Power Automate (powerautomatenoreply@microsoft.com). The email contains no further information except the text Sending reminder: Something failed.

the screenshot shows an e-mail message in the Outlook software of Windows from the sender with the name Microsoft Power Automate, in the subject and in the body, it says Sending reminder: Something failed
Screenshot – Sending reminder: Something failed e-mail from Microsoft Power Automate (GERMAN)

Possible Cause – Deleted SharePoint Library

The cause may be the deletion of a SharePoint team site or the deletion of a SharePoint document library for which you had set a reminder with (Power) Automate. In this case, the explanation is that when a document library is deleted, a flow for a document due date or expiration date reminder is not automatically deleted. Power Automate continues to run the flow for this, but no longer finds the document library for it.

If you've set multiple reminders using Automate in SharePoint, you won't be able to identify the right flow from the Sending reminder: Something failed email.

Error analysis in Power Automate

Flows for reminders are in the list of Cloud flows, under My flows at https://make.powerautomate.com. In the execution history, the status is always Successful, even for flows for reminders in deleted document libraries.

Screenshot shows the website for managing the Power Automate online service in the web browser: on the left more than 10 menu items with pictograms below each other, on the right of it a table with the heading Flows, Cloud flows and some entries with always the same symbol in front of it
Screenshot - Manage your Cloud Flows in Power Automate

You also can't see the failed flow in this list. To identify the broken reminder flow, you need to take a close look at each flow individually.

You can only see that a reminder flow fails because the document library has been deleted in the details of the respective execution: The step Scope to get items due in x day is marked with a red warning.

Screenshot shows the website for managing the Power Automate online service in the web browser: on the left more than 10 menu items with pictograms below each other, on the right above a flow diagram is the text Your flow ran successfully – below, a step of the diagram is marked with the text Scope to get items due in 1 day with a symbol for error
Screenshot - Error in details of the run history of a reminder flow in Power Automate

Under step Get list name by HTTP request it says Notfound. Check the URL in the Site Address field.

Screenshot shows the website for managing the Power Automate online service in the web browser: on the left more than 10 menu items with pictograms below each other, on the right above a flowchart is the text Your flow ran successfully – below, a step of the diagram with the English text Get list name by HTTP request is marked with an icon for error, directly below it the text Not found and below is a field with a website address
Screenshot - Cause of the error in the further execution details: an incorrect website address

Use a web browser to check the URL in the field under Site address – you'll probably see a 404 Not found HTTP error. Compare this address with the address of the deleted SharePoint sites or document libraries.

Learn more

Unfortunately, Microsoft Power Automate doesn't send a hint, such as the name of the reminder flow. If you have multiple flows, it is therefore time-consuming to identify the faulty one. Vote for the idea More information in email notifications when something fails · Community – Ideas need at least 50 votes (see Ideas need at least 50 votes before they are reviewed - Microsoft Power Platform Blog).

published on January 30, 2025 at 11:50pm