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Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate - General Discussion / Timing limitation betw...
Power Automate - General Discussion
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Timing limitation between Power Apps cloud flow and Excel Online spreadsheet

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Posted on by therufus 33
Good day to you all.
 
I have the following process.
 
  1. A user uses a Microsoft Form to enter payment information in
  2. The form then creates a row in an Excel Online spreadsheet (this spreadsheet is no longer used)
  3. A flow is triggered which grabs the resutls of the form and does the following:
    1. Initialize ReferenceID variable
    2. List rows in Excel for Business table with Order By set to ID desc and Top Count set to 1
    3. Sets the ReferenceID variable to the result
    4. Increments variable by 1
    5. Adds record using the ReferenceID variable as the ID, and the rest of the form data as the rest of the row fields
Seems simple enough right?
 
My issue is that when a user enters 2 payments or more in a short period of time (and by short, I mean within 5 minutes of each other), the result of 3.2 above is stuck on the results from 5 mins ago.
 
Example, if the user enters a new record at 09:00 and the last reference in the table is 17123, the flow puts in 17124 as the next row. If they enter another record at 09:01, the list rows shows that the last number is still 17123 so it inserts 17124 again. If the user waits for some period of time (I don't know what the number is at this stage, but > 10 minutes definitely works), then the flow works as expected and the highest ID is the correct number.
 
What the hell? Why does it take nearly 10 minutes for Power Automate to be able to read the latest information from Excel Online?
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  • Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture
    Michael E. Gernaey 38,427 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    Timing limitation between Power Apps cloud flow and Excel Online spreadsheet
     
    True true and hate to ask but if you can please mark my answer i'd appreciate it
     
    And yes lol its goofy but :-( well no buts hehe
  • therufus Profile Picture
    therufus 33 on at
    Timing limitation between Power Apps cloud flow and Excel Online spreadsheet
    Thanks Michael.
     
    I figured this was the issue.
     
    There is only ever one user entering records, so volume of simultaneous transactions won't be the issue here.
     
    I just can't believe in 2025, this kind of thing is... well.... a thing.
  • Verified answer
    Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture
    Michael E. Gernaey 38,427 Super User 2025 Season 1 on at
    Timing limitation between Power Apps cloud flow and Excel Online spreadsheet
     
    While not a great answer, the answer is, its just how it is. The file can remain essentially locked, and the cache doesn't happen so it doesn't reflect.
     
    Now I want to say that, but even WITH this, you are bound to have this issue the more Volume and Velocity of Users.
     
    Excel and Actions are not thread safe. So its a no win either way.
     
    However, again the answer is :-( you usually have to put waits in on the file AND then, you need to set the whole Flow to Concurrency on (at the trigger), and set it to 1, so only 1 runs at a time and then... with the wait also... you have a slim chance at mostly doing what you want without pulling your hair out. But your users will pull theirs out waiting
     
    And again I have to say, this is not simply an issue between Power Automate and Excel, it is a Threading Issue. There is nothing that stops 2, 3,4 10000 people from calling the flow, getting the next ID, while no one has saved yet and everyone having the exact same #.
     
    As that is the answer, I know it stinks, But if you can Mark it as the Answer :-( just remember please don't sho...t the messenger.

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