Can I gather information (like email addresses) from flow initiator when launching flow in Power Automate?

Question

I'm trying to set up a flow in Power Automate that allows the initiator to add data that will be used within the flow when they start the flow. For example, can I have an field where the initiator can input email addresses of those who should receive a notification that the document is ready for review?

I know that I could pull from another column in the document library with this information. But I'm not wanting to store this information in a column. I would like it asked when the flow is initiated in Power Automate.

Answer 1

This can be done when the flow is triggered for the selected item or document. (Also for a manually triggered flow, but you are talking about SharePoint libraries, so I'll focus on that.)

In the Flow portal, create a new flow with "Instant > From Blank". Then in the dialog where you choose how to trigger this flow, select "For a selected file" and click Create.

In the initiation action, specify the site address and library name, then click Add an input. The "Email" option is really a people picker control. When the flow is launched you can only select people from your tenant. The other options should be self-explanatory.

You can then find the input name in the dynamic content picker for subsequent actions.

When you publish the flow, you need to define the Run-Only users on the flow details page. These people will then see the flow in the "Automate" menu on their SharePoint command bar when a single document is selected.