Power Automate: How to Fix the “Plain Text Trap” and Force Expression Evaluation

Power Automate can make a valid expression look broken by treating it as plain text. This is a frustration I call the “Plain Text Trap”. The fix isn’t rewriting your expression; it’s mastering the mysterious @ and @{} symbols. I'll break down the real rules of when to use them (and where they don't apply) so flow finally behaves as expected.

http://elliskarim.com/2026/02/21/power-automate-expression-shows-as-plain-text/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Some Power Automate JSON queries look completely wrong, but Power Automate runs them anyway!

I used #ChatGPT to explore how far this goes and uncovered 45 valid query patterns, including several I wouldn’t expect to work. This explains why.

#PowerPlatform #PowerAutomate #JSON #Microsoft #ChatGPT

http://elliskarim.com/2026/02/08/power-automate-json-bizarre-looking-query-expressions-that-actually-work/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Power Automate can read up to 100,000 Excel rows, but in scheduled flows this is capped at 5,000. Here’s why and a simple parent/child flow workaround to read large Excel tables on a schedule. #PowerAutomate #Excel #SharePoint #PowerPlatform #Microsoft

http://elliskarim.com/2026/01/31/power-automate-scheduled-flows-wont-save-if-excel-pagination-is-over-5000/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Sending emails from a shared mailbox in #PowerAutomate doesn’t have to mean over-sharing access. This post explains how to send emails securely without full mailbox access, and how to ensure sent messages still appear in the shared mailbox’s Sent Items using a simple #PowerShell fix.

http://elliskarim.com/2026/01/06/how-to-send-emails-from-a-shared-mailbox-in-power-automate-without-giving-up-privacy/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

🚀Top 10 Power Platform and SharePoint Blog Posts of 2025 (Most Read)

As the year comes to an end, here’s a look back at the most popular posts on my blog in 2025. Whether you’re catching up or discovering them for the first time, I hope you find them useful. Happy reading and Happy New Year!

http://elliskarim.com/2026/01/02/top-10-power-platform-and-sharepoint-blog-posts-of-2025/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Fix OData filter errors in Power Automate! Apostrophes in SharePoint and Dataverse queries (e.g. O'Reilly) can break your flow. Learn how to fix this and keep your flows running. #PowerAutomate #PowerPlatform #OData #TechTips #Automation #SharePoint #Dataverse

http://elliskarim.com/2025/12/06/power-automate-fixing-odata-filter-errors-when-strings-contain-apostrophes/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

When we create CSV files in #PowerAutomate, Excel can sometimes show non-English characters as rubbish. In this post I explain why that happens and show how adding a small hidden marker at the start of the file tells Excel to use the right encoding, so the text displays correctly.

http://elliskarim.com/2025/12/03/why-do-non-english-characters-in-my-csv-file-show-as-rubbish-in-excel-and-other-tools/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Learn how to take multiple-choice answers from Microsoft Forms and save them directly into a SharePoint multi-select column with Power Automate.

#MicrosoftForms #SharePoint #PowerAutomate #PowerPlatform

http://elliskarim.com/2025/09/22/how-to-save-microsoft-forms-multi-select-to-sharepoint/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

In this blog post, I’ll show you how to get user profile photos from Microsoft 365 using Power Automate, choose the size you need from the available options, and ensure your flow keeps running even if a user doesn’t have a photo. #PowerAutomate #PowerPlatform

http://elliskarim.com/2025/08/10/how-to-get-microsoft-365-user-profile-photos-in-any-size-using-power-automate/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Not sure what Power Platform licensing includes? Whether you're using Power Apps, Power Automate, or Power BI, Microsoft’s official guide breaks it all down: costs, options, and what’s actually included. #PowerPlatform #PowerAutomate #PowerApps #PowerBI

http://elliskarim.com/2025/07/03/understanding-power-platform-licensing-a-quick-guide/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social