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Working with email automation in Power Automate

Email is a common business communication tool, but managing it can be time-consuming. Power Automate offers robust capabilities to automate email-related tasks, which can significantly enhance your Tallyfy processes by ensuring timely actions, data capture for Tallyfy, and notifications related to Tallyfy tasks.

Email connectors in Power Automate for Tallyfy workflows

Power Automate provides several connectors for email services. The most commonly used is the Outlook 365 connector. Others exist for Gmail, Outlook.com, and SMTP.

This guide primarily uses Outlook 365 examples, but the principles of email automation to support Tallyfy remain consistent across connectors.

Common email automation scenarios for Tallyfy

Integrating email automation with Tallyfy can streamline many workflows:

  • Reading email content to trigger Tallyfy actions: Design flows that trigger when specific emails arrive. Power Automate can extract data from the email subject or body to automatically launch a Tallyfy process, create a Tallyfy task, or update an existing one.

    • Example: An email arrives from a supplier with an invoice. Power Automate extracts invoice details and creates a “Process Invoice” task in your Tallyfy finance process, pre-filling these details into Tallyfy form fields.

  • Handling email attachments for Tallyfy: Flows can save attachments to SharePoint or OneDrive. These files can then be linked or attached to relevant Tallyfy tasks.

    • Example: A client emails a project brief. A Power Automate flow saves it to SharePoint and creates a kick-off task in the Tallyfy “New Project Onboarding” procedure template, attaching the brief to the Tallyfy task.

  • Sending automated emails based on Tallyfy events: Send customized email notifications based on Tallyfy events (e.g., task completion, process milestone). Trigger these using the Tallyfy connector or Tallyfy webhooks. Emails can include dynamic content from Tallyfy form fields.

    • Example: When a Tallyfy “Customer Onboarding” process step “Send Welcome Pack” is completed, Power Automate sends a personalized welcome email, merging customer details from Tallyfy form fields.

Building an example email automation flow for Tallyfy

Let’s build a flow that monitors a shared mailbox (e.g., orders@yourcompany.com) for emails with the subject “New Order Request.” It then launches a Tallyfy “New Order Processing” procedure template, populating it with email details.

  1. Create a new automated cloud flow. In Power Automate, select + Create > Automated cloud flow (see understanding Power Automate basics). Name it Process New Email Orders into Tallyfy. Select trigger When a new email arrives in a shared mailbox (V2) (Outlook 365). Click Create.

  2. Configure the shared mailbox trigger.

    • Mailbox Address: Enter the email address of the shared mailbox (e.g., orders@yourcompany.com).
    • Folder: Usually Inbox.
    • Click Show advanced options.
    • Subject Filter: New Order Request.
    • Include Attachments: Set to Yes if order details might be in attachments.
    • To: You can specify the shared mailbox address here too, to be very precise.

  3. (Optional) Get email attachments. If order info is in an attachment, add Get attachment (V2) (Outlook 365). This may create an “Apply to each” loop if multiple attachments are possible. For this example, we assume key data is in the email body/subject. See managing files with Power Automate for attachment handling.

  4. Add Tallyfy “Launch process” action. Click + New step, search Tallyfy, select Launch process from the Tallyfy connector.

    • Blueprint ID: Select your Tallyfy “New Order Processing” procedure template.
    • Run Name (Process Name): Use dynamic content, e.g., New Order - [Subject from Email]. Use utcNow() expression for date/time.
    • Launch Form Fields: If your Tallyfy template has a launch form, its form fields will appear. Map dynamic content from the email trigger (e.g., From, Subject, Body Preview) to these Tallyfy fields.
      • Tallyfy Tip: Design your Tallyfy procedure template’s launch form with clear fields for Power Automate population.

  5. (Optional) Send a confirmation email. Add a Send an email (V2) action (Outlook 365).

    • To: Use dynamic content From (the original sender of the order request).
    • Subject: Your Order Request ([Subject from Email]) has been received.
    • Body: Thank you for your order. We are processing it in Tallyfy. Your reference is [Process Name from Tallyfy Launch process action output].

  6. Save and test your flow. (See managing and monitoring flows for testing tips). Send an email to the shared mailbox. Check if the Tallyfy process is launched.

Best practices for email automation with Tallyfy

  • Be specific with triggers: Use precise subject filters or sender addresses to ensure flows run only when intended for Tallyfy, avoiding unnecessary API calls.
  • Plan data extraction for Tallyfy: Define what email information maps to Tallyfy form fields or process names.
  • Design Tallyfy templates for automation: When creating Tallyfy procedure templates for Power Automate, design launch forms and task forms with clear, consistently named fields.
  • Robust error handling: Implement error handling for scenarios like missing attachments or unexpected email formats when interacting with Tallyfy.
  • Test thoroughly: Test with various email formats and senders for robust Tallyfy integration.

Middleware > Power Automate

Enhance Tallyfy workflows with Power Automate for data synchronization, automated triggers, and system connectivity.
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