In many organizations, creating standardized documents populated with up-to-date data can be both time-consuming and error-prone. By leveraging Power Automate to pull information directly from a SharePoint list and inject it into a Word template, you can eliminate manual copy-and-paste steps, ensure consistency, and accelerate your document-generation process. In this article, we’ll walk through how to build a flow that retrieves list items, maps fields to placeholders in a Word template, and outputs a fully formatted document—seamlessly bridging SharePoint data with professional Word reports.

Preparation:

For demonstration purpose, I only add one Text field and Image in the word template.

  1. Name=Title, Type= Plain Text Content Control, Title=mytitle.
  2. Name=Image, Type=Picture Content Control, Title=mypic.

And in SharePoint, If List has more image type columns, additional loop in the flow will make it work. I only add one column as Image type.

There are two main approaches for populate word template from List.

  1. Use ‘Send an HTTP request to SharePoint’.
  2. Use ‘Get Item’.

I will try the first one in this article.

1. Add a ‘Manually trigger a flow’.

It can also be a When an Item created.

2. Initialize variable for the SharePoint site (Optional)

Initialize a variable to store the site or use the site from dropdown list directly.

Replace the value with your SharePoint site.

image-20250606165727197

3. Add ‘Send an HTTP request to SharePoint’.

Site Address=mySite variable, use your own site.

Method: Get

Uri:

_api/web/lists/getbytitle('test/t')/items?$select=ID,Title,AttachmentFiles&$expand=AttachmentFiles

image-20250606165828929

Break down the formula:

_api/web/lists/getbytitle(’test/t’)/items
  • This targets the SharePoint REST endpoint for list items.
  • getbytitle(’test/t’) means “find the list whose Title is exactly test/t.”
  • /items means “return all items from that list.”
$select=ID,Title,AttachmentFiles
  • By default, SharePoint will return every field in each list item.
  • With $select you can limit the response to just the fields you care about—in this case:
    • ID (the list item’s unique identifier),
    • Title (whatever text is stored in that column),
    • AttachmentFiles (a navigation property that points to any file attachments on each item).
$expand=AttachmentFiles

  • In SharePoint’s REST API, fields like AttachmentFiles are not simple text or numbers; they’re “navigation properties” (collections of files).

  • If you simply did $select=AttachmentFiles without $expand, you’d get back only a URI reference or metadata stub to the attachments rather than the actual file details.

  • By adding $expand=AttachmentFiles, you tell SharePoint:

    “When you return each list item, also go fetch the full AttachmentFiles collection for me, so I can see the file names, URLs, etc., right inside the same JSON response.”

4. Add ‘Apply to Each’

Click fx , add formula and Click Add.

body('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint')?['d']?['results']

image-20250606171306977

5. Add ‘Get file content using path’

This is mainly for the Image.

Site Address: mySite variable.

File Path:

replace(
  first(items('Apply_to_each')?['AttachmentFiles']?['results'])?['ServerRelativeUrl'],
  '/sites/MySite',''
        )

Break down a little bit of the formula:

Grabs the first attachment for the current item in the loop (since I only has one image type column),

Reads its full ServerRelativeUrl (which includes /sites/MySite), and

Removes the /sites/MySite prefix, leaving it with a cleaner, site‐relative path like for example /Lists/MyList/Attachments/123/Plan.docx.

See below:

image-20250606171517879

6. Add ‘Populate a Microsoft Word template’.

Location: OneDrive for Business , you can use SharePoint Library as well.

Document Library: OneDrive

File: /PolulatedDocument.docx. You can choose the file from the Folder on the right.

Mytitle: items('Apply_to_each')?['Title']. Click fx, and type formula , and add.

Mypic: body('Get_file_content_using_path'). Click ⚡ and choose it (see below).

You may have different elements from your word template.

image-20250606172409304

7. Add ‘Create file’.

Site: mySite from the variable.

Folder Path: /Shared Documents. I choose the default Documents from ‘MySite’.

File Name: {items('Apply_to_each')?['ID']}.docx. I use the ID for the word file name.

File Content: body('Populate_a_Microsoft_Word_template'), click ⚡,you will see it.

See below:

image-20250606174856485

You can also add more steps, for example send the word file as attachment.

In closing, automating the population of a Word template from a SharePoint list with Power Automate not only saves time but also reduces errors by ensuring your documents always use the latest data. Once set up, the flow runs hands-free—letting you focus on more strategic work. Give it a try in your next project to streamline document generation and keep your team aligned.