Introduction to loops
Repetitive rules-based tasks performed on large data sets are prime candidates for automation. Automating such tasks greatly reduces their completion time and eliminates human errors. You commonly find these tasks across all industries, and you can automate them by using repetitive structures called loops.
Consider the following example: once a month, you generate a report containing all insurance contract changes for a multinational corporation’s employees. This report contains all employees whose insurance status should be checked and updated according to the company’s policies. Depending on the company size, this file might contain hundreds or even thousands of records that you need to examine and update in the company’s internal systems one by one. This task takes up valuable employee time and is highly error-prone due to its repetitive nature. In the preceding scenario, use loops to automate the task efficiently.
In this module, you learn about the use of loops and how different types of loops are deployed based on the task at hand. You also use loop actions in different scenarios to better understand their application in real-world scenarios.
By the end of this module, you understand the differences between the different loop types and use them to automate repetitive tasks with ease.
Learning objectives
In this module, you:
- Use simple loops to perform a given number of repetitions and iterate through data
- Deploy loop conditions to repeat actions until a condition is met
- Iterate through the items of a list by using For Each loops
- Explicitly end loops when required
Prerequisites
- Basic familiarity with the Power Automate desktop app flow designer
- Basic familiarity with lists, tables, and the square brackets notation