Automated email responder via Outlook + Power Automate (pt.1)

Hi there,

I am building an automated workflow that mirrors a real world scenario where you set an auto reply to a mailbox, and we all definitely must have come across mails of this nature at one point or the other..

• This automation takes charge of a user's outlook inbox.
• Detects incoming emails that match certain conditions. For example, if the subject contains words like "Support", "Urgent" as in this project.
• Then sends back a custom auto-reply.
• Also optionally logs the interaction to a SharePoint list or Excel file for records, which I shall be doing at another time.

For this project, the steps to be taken are

1. Trigger: When a new email arrives (Outlook trigger).
2. Condition (optional): If subject contains “support” or “urgent”.
3. Action: Send a reply email with a template response

Needed is a Power Automate license to access the Power Automate portal, and which is free at this point in time. You also need an outlook mailbox provisioned for the user.

Inside your Microsoft 365 account

• Open Power Automate
• Create a new flow → Automated cloud flow

• Give a name to your flow, scroll down, and use the Outlook connector (When a new email arrives (V3)) as the flow's trigger then create.

• Add a condition

• Drop down the options to check the boxes applicable.

• It is important to note here that the words set to trigger the auto reply might be in uppercase, lowercase, it might be in the body of the message or might be combined with other words. To bring all scenarios into one basket, it's better to use a function to trigger the auto reply
• Function for Subject: contains(toLower(triggerOutputs()?['body/Subject']), 'test report')
• Function for Body: contains(toLower(triggerOutputs()?['body/Body']), 'test report')
• PS. 'test report' here should be replaced with your desired keyword or an array of words.

• After saving the settings, you can now go ahead to test the flow you just created by sending a mail with either the subject "Support", "Urgent" or any other word you might want an auto reply to trigger. You should receive an auto reply based on your settings you have configured.