Power Automate Send Email V2 Add Numbered List In Body

Caroline Mae

2 min read

·

01-01-2025

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Need to send emails with neatly formatted numbered lists using Power Automate's Send Email (V2) action? It's easier than you think! This guide will walk you through the process, showing you how to leverage the power of HTML to achieve professional-looking email communication.

Understanding the Challenge

Power Automate's Send Email (V2) action offers a simple interface, but directly adding numbered lists can be tricky using plain text. Plain text often results in inconsistent formatting across different email clients. To ensure your numbered lists render correctly and consistently, we'll use HTML.

The HTML Solution

HTML provides the structure and formatting control we need. The key element for numbered lists is the <ol> (ordered list) tag. Each item in the list is enclosed within <li> (list item) tags.

Here's the basic structure:

<ol>
  <li>Item 1</li>
  <li>Item 2</li>
  <li>Item 3</li>
</ol>

Implementing in Power Automate

Let's assume you have a variable containing the items for your list. For this example, let's call it myList. This variable could be the output of a previous step in your flow, such as extracting data from a SharePoint list or Excel file. myList will hold an array of strings, where each string represents an item in your list.

1. Create an HTML string: This is where we dynamically build the HTML for the numbered list. Use the Compose action to create a string that combines the HTML tags with the items from your myList variable. You will need to use expressions to build this string. A simplified example (assuming myList contains three items):

   '<ol><li>' & first(myList) & '</li><li>' & last(myList,2)[0] & '</li><li>' & last(myList,2)[1] & '</li></ol>'
   

   Note: This example is for a fixed three-item list. For a more robust and scalable solution, you'll need a loop within your Power Automate flow to dynamically create the list items (see below).

2. Use the 'Send Email (V2)' action: In the body field of your "Send Email (V2)" action, paste the HTML string generated from the Compose action. Set the IsHtml parameter to true.

3. More Robust Solution (Dynamically Building the List): For a list of variable length, use a Apply to each loop to iterate over myList. Inside this loop, create another Compose action building the <li> tags around each item. Concatenate all <li> elements at the end to form the complete <ol> structure. This makes the flow adaptable to different list sizes.

Testing Your Flow

Run your flow, and check the email you receive. The numbered list should be correctly formatted. If you encounter issues, double-check your HTML syntax and the way you're building the HTML string. Pay close attention to the correct use of the & operator for string concatenation within Power Automate expressions.

Conclusion

By leveraging HTML within the Power Automate "Send Email (V2)" action, you can efficiently create and send emails with professional-looking numbered lists, regardless of the length of your list. This improves the readability and overall clarity of your automated email communications. Remember to carefully construct your HTML string to ensure consistent and correct rendering across all email clients.