How to rename files in SharePoint with Power Automate

the issue

Although SharePoint and Power Automate are heavily interwoven, there is no “rename file” action in Power Automate - if the file lives in a SharePoint library. Out of the box that is only possible for files living in OneDrive.

I recently saw a cry for help on twitter and decided to share here how my solution looks like.

In order to change a filename, we will need to use SharePoint REST API, which is accessible to us in Power Automate via the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action.

the Power Automate flow

1. To make things easy, we start with a For selected file trigger. (In a real-world scenario, you’d typically rename a file after something else has happened.)

2. We then Get file properties (not needed as we already have the ID from the For selected file trigger, but if you run this after another action you will need the file properties to get the ID so that you can rename the right file).

3. We now need to use the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action:

   • Site Adress: choose from Dropdown
   • Method: Get
   • Uri: _api/lists/getbytitle('<DisplayName of your Library goes here>')

   This will re turn the ListItemEntityTypeFullName property, which we will need for the next step.

4. As a last step, use another Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action:

   • Site Adress: choose from Dropdown
   • Method: Post
   • Uri: _api/lists/GetByTitle('<DisplayName of your Library goes here>')/Items(@{outputs('Get_file_properties')?['body/ID']})
   • Headers:
     • Content-type: application/json
     • IF-MATCH: *
     • X-HTTP-METHOD: PATCH
   • Body:

{'__metadata':
{'type':'@{outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint_to_get_type')?['body']?['d']?['ListItemEntityTypeFullName']}'},
'FileLeafRef':'<your new filename goes here>'}

For the type, we are selecting the ListItemEntityTypeFullName property from the output of the previous action. You could also use Parse JSON action to obtain that value.

Conclusion

Once again, the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action in Power Automate is a lifesaver for everything that doesn’t work with the built-in actions. Also, no additional license than your Microsoft 365 license is required to use it.

Resources

To learn more about SharePoint REST, use these resources:

• Get to know the SharePoint REST service
• Working with lists and list items with REST

Feedback & what’s next?

I’d love to know what are your renaming-scenarios and also what you use the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action for! Let me know on twitter. If you found this blog post useful, please also subscribe to my newsletter - news coming about every 2 months, I promise to not spam you!