← Al Davies, 250 High Street

Fix "Column does not exist" in Power Automate Get items

Short answer: the filter is using a name that SharePoint does not know as a column. A column has two names. The display name is what people see in the list. The internal name is what a Get items filter needs. Find the internal name in the address bar of the column settings page, copy it exactly, and use it in the Filter Query box.

What the error looks like

Picture a flow that reads a SharePoint list called Orders. Get items has a filter, Status eq '1 Active', in the Filter Query box. The test run stops, the Get items card shows a red mark, and the message reads like this:

Action 'Get_items' failed: Column 'Status' does not exist. It may have been deleted by another user.

That wording is quoted in a Microsoft Q&A answer about this exact failure. Read it literally and you would hunt for a person who removed the column. Look at the list first. The column can sit there in plain view while the flow asks for it under a label the list does not store.

This guide is only about this error. If the flow runs green but returns no rows, see "Power Automate Get items filter query returns nothing: how to fix it". If you get rows but only 100 of them, see "Power Automate Get items stops at 100 rows: how to get them all".

Display name and internal name

Every SharePoint column has a display name and an internal name. The display name is the title you see at the top of the column. You can change it. The internal name is the name SharePoint stores for the column. A Microsoft Q&A answer on this error points the filter at the internal name. Microsoft's column formatting reference also refers to columns by "the internal name of the field".

A Microsoft Q&A answer about this error says: "If so, Status may be the column's display name rather than its internal name." The same answer asks: "Was the column originally created with another name and later renamed to Status?"

So these cases can all produce the error:

  1. The column name has a space, and the filter uses the space.
  2. The column was renamed after it was created, and the filter uses the new display name.
  3. The filter uses the wrong capital letters.
  4. There is a typo.
  5. The column really was deleted, or the Get items action points at a different list than you think.

Step 1. Find the internal name

Do this first.

  1. Go to your list in SharePoint. Open it from https://www.microsoft365.com and find your site, or use the link you already have.
  2. Open the list settings. Exact names of menus and screens may differ.
  3. Under Columns, click the column that fails.
  4. Look at the address bar of the browser on the column settings page.
  5. Near the end of the address, find the part that starts with Field=. The text after it is the internal name.

A Microsoft Tech Community reply on a filter query error says to "check the URL path for the internal column name ("Field=")." A Microsoft Q&A answer gives the same check: "Look for the value after Field= near the end of the URL."

You do not need to share the whole address with anyone. Copy only the part after Field=.

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: paste the name into a plain text note, and compare it to what the address bar shows, letter by letter, before you put it in the flow.

Step 2. Spaces become _x0020_

If your display name has a space, the internal name has a code in its place. Microsoft's Get items guide says, in its order by section: "Spaces in the column name are replaced with _x0020_ (0 is numeral zero)."

Its filter examples use the same rule. A column shown as Start Date appears in a filter as Start_x0020_Date.

So a column shown as Due Date is Due_x0020_Date in the Filter Query box. Write Due_x0020_Date gt '2026-10-01' and not Due Date gt '2026-10-01'.

Do not rely on this rule alone. Step 1 shows what SharePoint actually stored, and that is the name to use.

Step 3. Match the capital letters

A Microsoft Q&A answer says: "The internal name is case-sensitive, so please copy it exactly as displayed."

That means Title and title are different names for this purpose. Copy and paste the internal name. Do not retype it from memory.

Step 4. Check the column was not renamed

Think about the list's history. Someone may have created a column as Vendor Code, then changed the label to Supplier ID a month later. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: when a name that looks right still fails, read the Field= value on that column's settings page. It shows the stored name, and the stored name is the one the filter must use.

The Q&A answer quoted under "Display name and internal name" raises this same rename question, so a rename is a fair first suspect.

Every list also has a Title column, and it is required by default. A team may relabel it to something like Order Number so it fits their data. The label on screen changes; the stored name does not follow it. Read Field= on the Title column before you guess what to type.

Step 5. Check the list and the choice values

If the internal name matches and the error stays, look at the rest of the action.

For choice columns that go to No in a Condition, see "My condition on a choice column always goes to No".

Step 6. Lookup columns

Some columns show a value that lives in a second list. Take a Vendor column in an Orders list that looks up the Vendors list. A filter on the vendor's name cannot say Vendor alone. Microsoft's Get items guide shows the shape with Country/Title eq 'New Zealand'. It explains: "Country is a lookup column in the list and Title is a column in the referenced list."

Build the text in two parts. Put the internal name of your lookup column first, add a slash, then add the internal name of the column you want from the other list. For the Orders example that gives Vendor/Title eq 'Vendor 12'. Microsoft's connector page also says Get items supports "a maximum of 12 lookup columns," and that the flow in Power Automate fails past that.

Step 7. Find the bad condition

To find which condition holds the bad name, test the filter one condition at a time, as in "Power Automate Get items filter query returns nothing: how to fix it".

There is a second source of real names. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: run Get items with no filter, open the Outputs, and read the property names in the first row. Those names come straight from the list, so copy from there when Field= is hard to reach.

Step 8. Set Top Count and turn Pagination on

When the filter works, check how many rows you get. Microsoft's Get items guide says: "The default item limit is 100". It says you can raise this limit "up to the list view threshold limit of 5,000" by expanding Advanced options and setting Top Count, and that going past 5,000 makes the flow fail.

The same guide has a known limitation: "While using Get items on lists with more than 5000 items with a filter query, you may observe that no records are returned if there are no items matching the filter query in the first 5000 items. To fix this, enable Pagination on Get items from the action settings menu when working with lists with more than 5000 items."

So set Top Count to the number you need, up to 5,000, and turn Pagination on in the action's Settings.

What to avoid

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Why does Power Automate say a column does not exist when I can see it in my list?

You see the display name. The filter needs the internal name. A Microsoft Q&A answer says the column name may be "the column's display name rather than its internal name." Find the internal name after Field= in the address bar of the column settings page.

How do I write a column name that has a space?

Microsoft's Get items guide says "Spaces in the column name are replaced with _x0020_ (0 is numeral zero)." A column shown as Start Date appears in the filter as Start_x0020_Date. Check Field= to be sure.

Does it matter if I use capital letters?

Yes. A Microsoft Q&A answer says the internal name is case-sensitive and should be copied exactly as shown.

I renamed the column. Why does the old name still matter?

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: after a rename, the display name can change while the name SharePoint stores stays as it was. Field= in the address bar shows the stored name.

Does the filter work on a Choice column with number prefixes?

Yes, if you write the full text. For a choice shown as 1 Active, use Status eq '1 Active'. A filter for 'Active' will not match it.

Sources