Send Scheduled Emails with Power Automate

In this episode of Power Platform for Educators, Matt Peterson walks through how educators can automate the process of sending scheduled emails using Power Automate. This tutorial is especially helpful for teachers who regularly communicate with parents or students and want to streamline repetitive tasks.

Scenario Overview

Matt shares a real-world example inspired by his wife, a former educator who used to coordinate a Washington D.C. trip for 258 eighth-grade students. Each week, she manually emailed parents with payment updates—a task that took over an hour. With Power Automate, this process can be completed with a one-time setup and run automatically every week.

Data Source Setup

Matt uses a SharePoint list to store the data, though an Excel file would also work. The list includes:

• Student Name (Text)
• Parent (Person column)
• Cost of Trip
• Amount Paid
• Amount Owed

The goal is to send a weekly email to each parent with a summary of their payment status.

Creating the Flow in Power Automate

• Name the flow (e.g., “SharePoint - DC Trip - Scheduled Email”).
• Set the recurrence (e.g., every Friday at 10:00 AM).

Building the Flow

1. Use the Get Items action to pull data from the SharePoint list.
2. Switch to the Classic Designer for better reliability with certain actions.
3. Add a Send an Email (V2) action.
4. Use Dynamic Content to personalize each email:
   • To: Parent Email
   • Subject: Weekly Reminder of Your DC Trip Finances
   • Body:

     Dear [Parent Name],
     
     Your total payments amount to [Amount Paid] for the total cost of the trip which is [Cost of Trip]. 
     You still owe [Amount Owed].
     
     If you have any questions, please contact me.
               

5. Power Automate automatically wraps the email action in an Apply to Each loop to handle multiple records.

Testing the Flow

After saving the flow, Matt recommends testing it manually to ensure it works as expected. The test confirms that each parent receives a personalized email with accurate financial details.

Benefits and Use Cases

This automation saves educators significant time and ensures consistent communication. While the example focuses on a school trip, the same approach can be applied to:

• Weekly student progress reports
• Assignment reminders
• Event notifications
• Administrative updates

Don't forget to check out the Pragmatic Works' on-demand learning platform for more insightful content and training sessions on Power Automate and other Microsoft applications. Be sure to subscribe to the Pragmatic Works YouTube channel to stay up-to-date on the latest tips and tricks.