How to create a Zip file in Power Automate for free

In this post, I will explain how to create a Zip file in Power Automate without the use of any third party connectors or premium actions.

Introduction

Power Automate includes functionality to extract data from Zip files. The Zip file contents can be extracted to a OneDrive or SharePoint folder:

It’s strange that there is not a matching create archive action. An idea was posted on the community forum in 2017, but it has not been added, nor received many votes. Encodian provide this function, but many people prefer not to use external connectors.

SharePoint provides this functionality through the user interface, and I wondered if this API endpoint could be accessed from directly from Power Automate.

I quickly found that it is possible to create Zip files directly from Power Automate!

The key to unlocking this functionality is in the SharePoint API action RenderListDataAsStream. I used this API action in a previous post, easy way of getting Totals from SharePoint lists. This API action can return some useful information, such as:

• The Access Token required to access the items.
• The size of each file.
• The full item URL.
• The media URL – which is used for converting and manipulating files.

By collecting this information it is possible to formulate a new request to the media conversion enpoint which can generate a Zip File.

Flow Detail

Before we get into the details, here is a screenshot of a flow which zips an entire folder:

Although not as convenient as a built-in action, this flow isn’t very complicated. At the end of the flow, the zip file is written to a SharePoint Document Library and a OneDrive folder.

Flow Code and Implementation

To implement this flow for yourself, you need to do the following:

• Copy and paste the Scope Code below into one of your own flows.
• Update the references to SharePoint and OneDrive to match your own environment.
• Change the values in the compose action called settings
  • libraryPath is the path to the root of the SharePoint site.
  • zipFolderPath is the relative path of the folder that you want to Zip.
• Update or delete the final storage actions appropriately for your implementation.

Scope Code:

{
  "id": "b7af8f36-c669-4d9f-bb7d-bf14-63edb83a",
  "brandColor": "#8C3900",
  "connectionReferences": {
    "shared_onedriveforbusiness": {
      "connection": {
        "id": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_onedriveforbusiness/connections/shared-onedriveforbu-05f1da5e-297d-4a80-8df7-cb78-b654b8a3"
      }
    },
    "shared_sharepointonline": {
      "connection": {
        "id": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_sharepointonline/connections/de645f5680b74c47bbce762c8e2d06ac"
      }
    }
  },
  "connectorDisplayName": "Control",
  "icon": "data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMzIiIGhlaWdodD0iMzIiIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDMyIDMyIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPg0KIDxwYXRoIGQ9Im0wIDBoMzJ2MzJoLTMyeiIgZmlsbD0iIzhDMzkwMCIvPg0KIDxwYXRoIGQ9Im04IDEwaDE2djEyaC0xNnptMTUgMTF2LTEwaC0xNHYxMHptLTItOHY2aC0xMHYtNnptLTEgNXYtNGgtOHY0eiIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIvPg0KPC9zdmc+DQo=",
  "isTrigger": false,
  "operationName": "CreateZip",
  "operationDefinition": {
    "type": "Scope",
    "actions": {
      "accessToken": {
        "type": "Compose",
        "inputs": "@outputs('SharePointHTTP')?['body']['ListSchema']['.driveAccessToken']",
        "runAfter": {
          "SharePointHTTP": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Collects the Access Token required to access the files"
      },
      "Select": {
        "type": "Select",
        "inputs": {
          "from": "@body('SharePointHTTP')['ListData']['Row']",
          "select": {
            "name": "@item()['FileLeafRef']",
            "size": "@item()['SMTotalSize']",
            "docId": "@{item()['.spItemUrl']}&@{outputs('accessToken')}",
            "isFolder": "@if(equals(item()['FSObjType'],'1'), true, false)"
          }
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "accessToken": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Reformats the output of SharePoint HTTP action ready for submission to the Zip endpoint"
      },
      "Attachment_Items": {
        "type": "Compose",
        "inputs": {
          "items": "@body('Select')"
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "Select": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Additional formatting of the Select array"
      },
      "downloadZip": {
        "type": "OpenApiConnection",
        "inputs": {
          "host": {
            "connectionName": "shared_sharepointonline",
            "operationId": "HttpRequest",
            "apiId": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_sharepointonline"
          },
          "parameters": {
            "dataset": "@body('SharePointHTTP')['ListSchema']['.mediaBaseUrl']",
            "parameters/method": "POST",
            "parameters/uri": "/transform/zip?cs=@{body('SharePointHTTP')['ListSchema']['.callerStack']}",
            "parameters/headers": {
              "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
            },
            "parameters/body": "zipFileName=test.zip&guid=@{guid()}&provider=spo&files=@{encodeUriComponent(outputs('Attachment_Items'))}&oAuthToken="
          },
          "authentication": {
            "type": "Raw",
            "value": "@json(decodeBase64(triggerOutputs().headers['X-MS-APIM-Tokens']))['$ConnectionKey']"
          }
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "Attachment_Items": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Submits the request to the media server and downloads the Zip file"
      },
      "StoreZip": {
        "type": "OpenApiConnection",
        "inputs": {
          "host": {
            "connectionName": "shared_onedriveforbusiness",
            "operationId": "CreateFile",
            "apiId": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_onedriveforbusiness"
          },
          "parameters": {
            "folderPath": "/__PA_Test/Filled Word Docs",
            "name": "testFile.zip",
            "body": "@base64ToBinary(body('downloadZip')['$content'])"
          },
          "authentication": {
            "type": "Raw",
            "value": "@json(decodeBase64(triggerOutputs().headers['X-MS-APIM-Tokens']))['$ConnectionKey']"
          }
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "downloadZip": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Stores the received Zip file in OneDrive",
        "runtimeConfiguration": {
          "contentTransfer": {
            "transferMode": "Chunked"
          }
        }
      },
      "settings": {
        "type": "Compose",
        "inputs": {
          "libraryPath": "/sites/PowerAutomateText/Shared Documents",
          "zipFolderPath": "/DeclarationTemplateFilled"
        },
        "runAfter": {},
        "description": "Set library path to the location of the SharePoint document library that contains the documents for compression. Set zipFolderPath to the relative path of the Folder that you want to archive."
      },
      "SharePointHTTP": {
        "type": "OpenApiConnection",
        "inputs": {
          "host": {
            "connectionName": "shared_sharepointonline",
            "operationId": "HttpRequest",
            "apiId": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_sharepointonline"
          },
          "parameters": {
            "dataset": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com/sites/PowerAutomateText",
            "parameters/method": "POST",
            "parameters/uri": "_api/web/GetListUsingPath(DecodedUrl=@a1)/RenderListDataAsStream?@a1=%27@{encodeUriComponent(outputs('settings')['libraryPath'])}%27&RootFolder=@{encodeUriComponent(concat(outputs('settings')['libraryPath'], outputs('settings')['zipFolderPath']))}",
            "parameters/body": "{\"parameters\": {\"RenderOptions\": 4103}}"
          },
          "authentication": {
            "type": "Raw",
            "value": "@json(decodeBase64(triggerOutputs().headers['X-MS-APIM-Tokens']))['$ConnectionKey']"
          }
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "settings": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Retrieves the file and folder information required to create a Zip file"
      },
      "Create_file": {
        "type": "OpenApiConnection",
        "inputs": {
          "host": {
            "connectionName": "shared_sharepointonline",
            "operationId": "CreateFile",
            "apiId": "/providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apis/shared_sharepointonline"
          },
          "parameters": {
            "dataset": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com/sites/PowerAutomateText",
            "folderPath": "/Shared Documents",
            "name": "testWordFile.docx",
            "body": "@base64ToBinary(body('downloadZip')['$content'])"
          },
          "authentication": {
            "type": "Raw",
            "value": "@json(decodeBase64(triggerOutputs().headers['X-MS-APIM-Tokens']))['$ConnectionKey']"
          }
        },
        "runAfter": {
          "StoreZip": [
            "Succeeded"
          ]
        },
        "description": "Stores the received Zip file in a SharePoint document library",
        "runtimeConfiguration": {
          "contentTransfer": {
            "transferMode": "Chunked"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "runAfter": {},
    "description": "A scope to create a Zip file in Power Automate without the use of 3rd Party Connectors or Premium Actions"
  }
}

Additional Information

This flow works by sending an array of files or folder names to the media conversion endpoint as form data. A sample array looks like this:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "name": "_rels",
      "size": "1168",
      "docId": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com:443/_api/v2.0/drives/b!wGO-FC/items/01KW24YP...?version=Published&access_token=eyJ0eXAi...",
      "isFolder": true
    },
    {
      "name": "docProps",
      "size": "2861",
      "docId": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com:443/_api/v2.0/drives/b!wGO-FC/items/01KW24YP...?version=Published&access_token=eyJ0eXAi...",
      "isFolder": true
    },
    {
      "name": "word",
      "size": "477746",
      "docId": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com:443/_api/v2.0/drives/b!wGO-FC/items/01KW24YP...?version=Published&access_token=eyJ0eXAi...",
      "isFolder": true
    },
    {
      "name": "[Content_Types].xml",
      "size": "2703",
      "docId": "https://accendo1.sharepoint.com:443/_api/v2.0/drives/b!wGO-FC.../items/01KW24YP...?version=Published&access_token=eyJ0eXAi...",
      "isFolder": false
    }
  ]
}

This array is created in the Select action based on the output of the SharePointHTTP action. This example flow is designed to zip an entire folder but you might have more specific requirements.

If you want to filter this array you have a choice of two places in which to do it:

• By modifying the URI in the SharepointHTTP action to filter what it returns in the request (Examples here).
• By adding a filter array action after the Select action and then using that filter as the input for the Compose action called Attachment Items.

Filtering the Select action is the easiest option, but less efficient.

Conclusion

I’ve been looking for a way to a create Zip file in Power Automate for a while (in order to be able to modify Word documents) so it is great to get this done.

Although this solution works well, It’s clear that a native function to do this wouldn’t be much work, so please vote the idea up if you would like to see this.