Loops and Branching in Cloud Flows

Why flows need logic

Conditions (If/Then/Else)

A Condition action checks whether something is true or false, then runs different actions based on the result.

Structure:

• If yes (true): Run these actions
• If no (false): Run these actions

Carlos’s conditional routing

When a patient feedback form is submitted at Greenleaf Health, Carlos wants different things to happen based on the rating:

• If the rating is 4 or 5: Send a thank-you email to the patient
• If the rating is 1, 2, or 3: Send an alert to the clinic manager and create a follow-up task in Planner

One flow, two different paths. The condition decides which path to take.

💡 Nesting conditions

You can put a condition inside another condition — this is called nesting. For example:

• If rating is 5: Send thank-you and ask for a Google review
• Else if rating is 4: Send thank-you only
• Else if rating is 3: Send to manager
• Else: Send to manager AND director

While nesting works, too many levels make flows hard to read. For multiple specific values, use a Switch instead.

Switch

A Switch action checks a value and runs different actions based on which case it matches. Think of it as a more organised version of multiple nested conditions.

Rating Value	Action
Case: 5	Send thank-you, request review
Case: 4	Send thank-you
Case: 3	Alert clinic manager
Case: 2	Alert manager, create task
Case: 1	Alert manager and director, create urgent task
Default	Log an error (unexpected value)

Switch vs Condition: Use a Condition when you have a true/false check. Use Switch when you have multiple specific values to match against. Switch keeps your flow cleaner than deeply nested conditions.

Apply to Each (Loops)

Apply to each repeats a set of actions for every item in a list or array.

Example: Carlos sends personalised emails

Carlos gets a list of 20 patients who have appointments tomorrow. He needs to send each one a reminder email with their specific appointment time.

Instead of building 20 separate email actions, he uses Apply to each:

1. Get items from the Appointments SharePoint list (returns 20 rows)
2. Apply to each item in the list:
   • Action: Send an email to the patient with their name and appointment time

The flow runs the email action 20 times — once for each patient. If there are 5 patients tomorrow, it runs 5 times. If there are 100, it runs 100 times. The loop adapts automatically.

ℹ️ Concurrency in Apply to Each

By default, Apply to Each processes items one at a time (sequentially). You can enable concurrency to process multiple items in parallel — up to 50 at a time.

This is useful when the actions inside the loop are independent of each other (like sending emails). It makes the flow run faster but the items may not process in order.

Enable concurrency in the settings of the Apply to Each action.

Do Until

Do until repeats actions until a condition becomes true. Unlike Apply to Each (which loops through a list), Do Until keeps running until you tell it to stop.

Example: waiting for a response

Carlos sends an approval request and needs to check every hour whether the approver has responded. He sets up:

• Do until the approval status equals “Completed”
  • Action: Wait 1 hour
  • Action: Check the approval status

The loop runs repeatedly until the condition is met. To prevent infinite loops, you set a count limit (maximum iterations) and a timeout (maximum duration).

Loop Type	Iterates Over	Stops When
Apply to each	A list of items	All items are processed
Do until	Nothing specific — just repeats	A condition becomes true (or limits are hit)

Parallel branches

Parallel branches let you run two or more sets of actions at the same time within a flow.

Example: Carlos’s onboarding

When a new hire is added at Greenleaf Health, Carlos needs to:

• Branch 1: Create an account in the HR system and assign training
• Branch 2: Order equipment and set up the workstation
• Branch 3: Send welcome email and add to Teams channels

These three branches run simultaneously because they do not depend on each other. The flow is faster because it does not wait for Branch 1 to finish before starting Branch 2.

After all parallel branches complete, the flow can continue with a final step — like posting a summary message to the HR channel.

All flow controls at a glance

Flow Control Actions

Control	Purpose	When to Use
Condition	If/then/else branching	True or false decisions — two paths
Switch	Match a value against multiple cases	Multiple specific values — cleaner than nested conditions
Apply to each	Loop through a list of items	Process every item in a collection one by one
Do until	Repeat until a condition is met	Wait for something to happen or retry an action
Parallel branches	Run actions side by side	Independent tasks that do not depend on each other

🎬 Video walkthrough

🎬 Video coming soon

Loops and Branching — PL-900 Domain 4

Loops and Branching — PL-900 Domain 4

~9 min

Flashcards

Question

What is a Condition action in Power Automate?

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Answer

An if/then/else control that checks whether something is true or false, then runs different actions for each path. Every condition has a Yes branch and a No branch.

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💡 Show hint

Question

When should you use Switch instead of a Condition?

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Answer

Use Switch when you have multiple specific values to check (like a rating of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5). It is cleaner than nesting many conditions inside each other. Use Condition for simple true/false checks.

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💡 Show hint

Question

What does Apply to Each do?

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Answer

It loops through a list of items and runs the same set of actions for each item. If there are 20 items, it runs 20 times. The number of iterations adapts to the list size automatically.

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💡 Show hint

Question

How is Do Until different from Apply to Each?

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Answer

Apply to Each iterates over a list of items. Do Until repeats actions until a condition becomes true — it has no list. Do Until needs a count limit and timeout to prevent infinite loops.

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💡 Show hint

Question

What are parallel branches?

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Answer

A flow control that runs two or more sets of actions at the same time. Used for independent tasks that do not depend on each other. The flow waits for all branches to finish before continuing.

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💡 Show hint

Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check

Carlos has a list of 50 patients and needs to send each one a personalised appointment reminder. Which flow control should he use?

AConditionBSwitchCApply to eachDDo until

Check Answer

Knowledge Check

What must you configure on a Do Until loop to prevent it from running forever?

AA list of items to iterateBA count limit and a timeoutCA parallel branchDA switch case

Check Answer

Knowledge Check

Carlos needs to check a patient rating value and take different actions for ratings of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Which flow control is the BEST choice?

AA single Condition actionBFive nested Condition actionsCA Switch actionDAn Apply to each action

Check Answer

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Next up: Time to build a cloud flow from scratch. We will walk through creating instant, automated, and scheduled flows — including using Copilot to describe a flow in plain English.