Power Automate: Build an E-Filing Intake Notification Workflow

What This Builds

A Power Automate workflow that automatically notifies the clerk team when a new filing arrives in the e-filing portal queue — so clerks don't have to manually check the e-filing portal every 20 minutes throughout the day. When a new e-filing arrives, the relevant clerk gets a Teams notification within minutes.

After building this, the e-filing queue is monitored automatically — clerks focus on processing filings, not on checking for new ones.

Note: This automation uses Microsoft Power Automate, which is part of Microsoft 365. It requires IT cooperation for some steps since it accesses your court's Microsoft environment. This guide assumes your court uses Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise.

Prerequisites

• Microsoft 365 account with Power Automate access (check with IT)
• Microsoft Teams is used for your team communications
• Your e-filing portal generates email notifications (most Tyler-based portals do)
• IT approval or assistance for connecting to your email system
• 2 hours, possibly with IT support for initial setup

The Concept

Power Automate works like Zapier but lives entirely within Microsoft 365 — making it IT-friendly for government environments. It connects apps you already use (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint) without requiring external services.

This automation watches your shared clerk email inbox for new e-filing notifications. When one arrives, it extracts the case type and filing information, then posts a notification to your Teams channel so the right clerk can process it immediately.

Think of it as an automated mail sorter — when a new e-filing arrives, the right person is notified before the email gets buried in the inbox.

Build It Step by Step

Part 1: Set Up the Trigger

1. Log in to Power Automate at powerautomate.microsoft.com with your work credentials
2. Click + Create → Automated cloud flow
3. Name it: "E-Filing Intake Notification"
4. Choose trigger: search for "When a new email arrives" → select the Outlook version
5. Click Create

Configuration:

• Set Folder to the inbox folder where e-filing portal notifications arrive
• In Advanced options: Set Subject filter to the subject line the e-filing portal uses (e.g., "New Filing Received" or whatever your portal sends)
• Check "Only with attachments" if notifications include the filing document

What you should see: A trigger step with the email settings configured.

Part 2: Add a Teams Notification Action

1. Click the + button below the trigger to add a step
2. Search for "Microsoft Teams" → select "Post a message in a chat or channel"
3. Connect to your Microsoft Teams account (use your work account)

Configuration:

• Set Team to your clerk team's Teams workspace
• Set Channel to your clerk team's general or intake channel
• Set Message using dynamic content:

📋 New e-filing received

Subject: [Subject dynamic content from email]
Time received: [Received time dynamic content]
From: [From dynamic content]

Please check the e-filing portal to review and process.

What you should see: The action step with Teams message configured using dynamic content from the email.

Part 3: Add a Condition for Urgent Filings (Optional)

Some e-filings are marked urgent or are emergency filings (TROs, emergency custody). You can add a condition to flag these differently:

1. Add a Condition step between the trigger and Teams notification
2. Set condition: Subject contains "Urgent" or "Emergency" or "TRO"
3. If yes: Post to a separate urgent channel with @mention of the supervisor
4. If no: Post the standard notification

What you should see: A branching workflow that routes urgent filings differently.

Part 4: Test the Flow

1. Click Save to save your flow
2. Click Test → choose "Manual" → click Test again
3. Send a test email to the monitored inbox with the correct subject line
4. Wait 1–2 minutes for the flow to trigger
5. Check your Teams channel for the notification

What you should see: A Teams message appears within 2 minutes of the test email arriving.

Part 5: Turn On and Monitor

1. If the test works correctly, click Turn on to activate the flow
2. Monitor the flow history for the first week: Go to Power Automate → My flows → click your flow → view Run history
3. Check that all runs show "Succeeded" — investigate any "Failed" runs

Real Example: Monday Morning Backlog

Setup: The flow has been running for a month.

Monday morning: The court opens after a 3-day holiday weekend. 47 e-filings arrived over the weekend. Without the automation, a clerk spends the first hour checking the e-filing portal, logging each one, and alerting colleagues.

With the automation: Each of the 47 filings triggered a Teams notification when it arrived. The clerk team arrives Monday morning with a clear Teams channel history showing all 47 filings. The supervisor can see the volume, assign processing to clerks, and have priorities identified before the public counter opens at 8am.

Time saved: ~1 hour per backlog morning, plus ongoing 10-15 minute daily check replaced by real-time notifications.

What to Do When It Breaks

• Flow not triggering → Check that the email subject filter matches exactly — even a single character difference stops the trigger
• Teams messages not appearing → Re-authenticate the Teams connection in Power Automate (connections expire); go to Connections and refresh
• Missing some filings → Check if the e-filing portal uses multiple email subjects; add multiple trigger conditions
• IT won't approve the flow → Ask IT to create it in a "service account" rather than your personal work account, so it doesn't depend on your credentials

Variations

• Simpler version: Set up a simple Outlook rule (no Power Automate required) to auto-forward e-filing notifications to a dedicated shared Teams channel. Less sophisticated but zero IT involvement needed.
• Extended version: Add a SharePoint list step that logs each incoming filing — building an automatic intake log without manual entry

What to Do Next

• This week: Work with IT to get Power Automate enabled for your account and build the basic version
• This month: Monitor the flow for any missed triggers and adjust filters as needed
• Advanced: Add a second automation that generates a daily digest summary of all filings received — useful for supervisors reviewing overnight activity

Advanced guide for court clerk professionals. This automation requires IT department coordination for implementation in most government environments.