Tips & Tricks

Power Automate Tips & Tricks

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 3)

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Power Automate Tips & Tricks

As promised in our previous blog post, this is part 3 of Tips and Tricks to make using Microsoft Power Automate more convenient! In our previous post, we covered tips #11 – #20. Today, we will be covering tips #21 – #30. 

Tip #21 Choosing the correct flow

Tip #22 Add new connection 

Tip #23 Using templates 

Tip #24 Passing inputs to cloud flow

Tip #25 Secure input or output

Tip #26 Using expression actions

Tip #27 Increase speed of “Apply to each” action 

Tip #28 Scope action

Tip #29 Exporting or Importing Flows via Web Portal

Tip #30 Manage gateways

 

For those of you who prefer to watch the video, you can have a look at the video below. If you prefer to read, just scroll down further for the article.

 

Power Automate Tip #21: Choosing the Correct Flow

If you navigate to the “My Flows” section on the Power Automate web portal (https://flow.microsoft.com/) and click on the “New flow” tab, you will realise that there are various kinds of flows available. These include Automated cloud flow, Instant cloud flow, Scheduled cloud flow, Desktop flow, Business process flow. Which type of flow should you choose? We’ll explain.

Different types of flows in Microsoft Power Automate web portal

1. Automated cloud flow

You can use this flow when you have a use case that requires a process to be run automatically, such as when a new email arrives or when a file is created.

Building an automated cloud flow in Microsoft Power Automate

2. Instant cloud flow

You can use this to start an automation with the click of a button – manually trigger a flow through the web portal.

Building an instant cloud flow in Microsoft Power Automate

3. Scheduled cloud flow.

You can use this flow if you have a use case that requires you to run the flow at a specific timing.

Building a scheduled cloud flow in Microsoft Power Automate

 

Power Automate Tip #22: Add new connection

If you navigate to “Data”, under “Connections”, you can add new connections with other applications. Click on the “New connections” tab to see all the different applications you can form connections with.

adding a new connection in Microsoft Power Automate

The list of applications you can make connections with in Microsoft Power Automate

Alternatively, you can create new connections with applications via cloud flows. Navigate to the “My flows” and click on the flow you wish to connect. Then click on the edit tab.

Clicking the edit tab to add new connections in Microsoft Power Automate

When you are adding an action, select the particular application. Once it has been connected successfully, it will reflect inside the Connections tab (on the side bar: Data > Connections)

Microsoft Power Automate interface showing a successful connection

 

Power Automate Tip #23: Using Templates

If you navigate to the templates section, you will realise that instead of creating a flow from scratch, there are different types of templates you can use depending on your process.

Where to find the Templates section in Microsoft Power Automate

List of Microsoft Power Automate templates available for use

For example, using the “Notify and Email when a new file is uploaded to OneDrive” template, you will have to sign in to your OneDrive and click “create”. Once you click “continue” you will then be brought to a cloud flow with the OneDrive and notifications applications.

Example of setting up a Microsoft Power Automate template

 

Power Automate Tip #24: Passing Inputs into Cloud Flow

Navigate to “My Flows” on the sidebar. After selecting your desired Cloud Flow, click on “edit”.

How to start passing inputs into Microsoft Power Automate cloud flow

You can create an input variable under “Manually trigger a flow”, by clicking on “+ Add an input”. There are numerous types of inputs such as text, number, email etc, but as an example, we will be using the text type “Please enter URL”.

Choosing types of user input in Microsoft Power Automate

Test this flow by clicking on “Test” in the top right hand corner and selecting “Manually” from the test flow options.

Testing Microsoft Power Automate flow

Selecting

The action will then prompt you to enter URL. However, you will notice entering the URL is mandatory.

The Microsoft Power Automate flow prompting the user to enter a URL (and it's mandatory)

You can make the field optional by clicking on the three dots icon beside it and selecting “Make the field optional” from the drop-down menu.

Making the field optional in Microsoft Power Automate

Testing the cloud flow will show that the field has now become optional!

The result of testing the Microsoft Power Automate cloud flow after the changes, showing that the field is now optional

 

Power Automate Tip #25: Secure Inputs and Outputs

Under “Manually trigger a flow”, click on the three dots icon and select settings.

Where to find the secure inputs and outputs settings in Microsoft Power Automate

Under settings, you can secure the inputs or the outputs by toggling the options to On.

The settings to enable secure inputs and secure outputs in Microsoft Power Automate

If the inputs are enabled, the URL variable will only be applicable within the “Manually trigger a flow” action. You will not be able to access it under condition or in the steps after.

 

Power Automate Tip #26: Using Expression Actions

To illustrate this, we will use the example of creating a flow to check if the input variable is empty. Select “Add an action” and under” Choose an operation” search for “initialise variable”.

Adding an action to start using expressions in Microsoft Power Automate

Initializing a variable to proceed with using expressions in Microsoft Power Automate

In the “Initialise variable” dialogue box, declare the name of the variable and type as Boolean. Click the field for Value, then click on “Expression” tab.

Choosing expression to use in Microsoft Power Automate

For the expression, you need to indicate if(expression: boolean, valueIfTrue: any, valueIfFalse” any). In this case, select “dynamic content” and click on “URL”. The expression will look like if(empty(triggerBody( )[ ‘text’] ), true, false)

Choosing the dynamic content to be used in the expression in Microsoft Power Automate

Once you click “ok”, save the variable, and run the flow, you will get an error which says the text does not exist.

Error after running the flow, showing that 'text' doesn't exist

This is because of the field being optional. To prevent this error, you’ll need to add a “?” before the [‘text’] in the expression for any field that you’ve indicated as optional. The expression should read if(empty(triggerBody( )?[ ‘text’] ), true, false) Adding a ? before ['text] to fix the previous error issue when working with any optional field

The flow will run successfully and return the value “true”.

Successfully running the Microsoft Power Automate flow after the fix in the previous step

The value returned after successfully running the Microsoft Power Automate flow

 

Power Automate Tip #27: Increase the speed of “Apply to each” action.

Under the “Apply to each” dialogue box, click on the three dots icon and navigate to “settings” on the drop-down menu.

Accessing the menu for

Accessing the settings for

Under settings, turn on the “Concurrency Control”.

Turning on concurrency control for

You can then run more than one record concurrently. However, do take note that if you have any variables involved in “Apply to each”, you should do your testing to ensure the data tallies.

Increasing the

 

Power Automate Tip #28: Scope action

If you have multiple actions doing the same task, you can use the scope action to group them together and act as one container.

Click the “+” sign where you want to add your action, the click “add an action”. Search for scope action under “Choose an operation”.

Searching for the scope action in Microsoft Power Automate

You can then drag your conditions and other actions inside Scope. You have successfully used the Scope action!

The results after dragging an action (in this case

You can also rename the “Scope” to reflect the task being done by clicking on the three dots icon and selecting “Rename”. In this case, it’s being renamed to “Check if empty”.

The results after renaming the scope action to reflect what we're working on

 

Power Automate Tip #29: Exporting or Importing Flows via Web Portal

Navigate to “My flows” and select “Export” from the “More commands” (three dots icon) dropdown menu. Export it as a package (.zip) as you’ll need .zip files for importing this flow into another account.

How to access the option to export a Microsoft Power Automate flow.

To import the flow you’ve exported, you can click on the “Import” as shown below.

How to import a flow into a particular Microsoft Power Automate account

You now know how to successfully export or import flows via the web portal!

 

Power Automate Tip #30: Manage Gateways

Navigate to “Monitor” under “Machines” and click on “Gateways” to see the gateways that you are using.

Viewing the gateways you're using in your Microsoft Power Automate account

You can see how many flows are run in a day by clicking on the desired gateway.

(In this case we haven’t run anything, so there’s nothing to see.)

Viewing the flows run in a day in Microsoft Power Automate through the gateway

 

30 Power Automate tips & tricks – done and dusted!

There you have it. With this article, we’ve completed our series 30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate. We hope you found these tips useful!

If you missed the previous 2 parts, do check them out so you don’t miss out on useful Power Automate tips from seasoned developers that can help make your Power Automate journey easier, more productive, and more meaningful.

Check out the previous parts here:

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 1)

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 2)

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 3) Read More »

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 2)

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As promised in our previous blog post, this is part 2 of Tips and Tricks to make using Microsoft Power Automate more convenient! In our previous post, we covered tips #1 – #10. Today, we will be covering tips #11 – #20.

Tip #11 Wait for window

Tip #12 Focus window

Tip #13 Select tab in a window

Tip #14 Select menu option in window

Tip #15 Focus text field and send keys

Tip #16 Run python script to validate email address format

Tip #17 Run desktop flow

Tip #18 Run javascript function on webpage

Tip #19 Extract data from webpage

Tip #20 Manage errors

For those of you who prefer to watch the video, you can have a look at the video below. If you prefer to read, just scroll down further for the article.

Power Automate Tip #11: Wait for window

If opening an application takes some time, we can use “wait for window” and focus it.

Firstly, search for the “wait for window” action.

In the “Wait for window” dialogue box, select the “find window” parameter as “By window UI element”, and turn on the “Focus window after it opens” option.

Running the flow will successfully open the desired window!

Power Automate Tip #12: Focus window

Assuming you have multiple windows to process, you can use “Focus window” to ensure you are working on the correct application.

In the “Focus window” dialogue box, in the “Window” dropdown menu, choose the window you want to focus on. In our example, it’s the “Window ‘Expenselt Standalone”.

This will ensure that the flow focuses on the application you are working on!

Power Automate Tip #13: Select tab in a window

Set your required tab in the “Select tab in a window” dialogue box. In our example in this case, the tab is “Window ‘My CRM (Sample App)’ > Tab item ‘Others’”

Running the flow will select the tab you need! In this case, it is the tab “Others”

Power Automate Tip #14: Select menu option in window

You can use the “Select menu option in window” action instead of configuring the flow to click the UI elements of the menu option you want to choose.

For example, I want to choose File > Clear fields. I can select the “Select menu option in window” action from the action pane, then select “Add UI element” in the “Select menu option in window” dialogue box. A new dialogue box “Tracking session” will open, asking you to add your UI elements. Select “clear fields” from the “file” drop down menu of the application and click “done”. Back at the “Select menu option in window” dialogue box, click Save.

Running the flow will allow you to automatically clear the fields!

Power Automate Tip #15: Focus text field and send keys

Let’s say you want to do a loop to type a value into an application (for example, like the picture below) followed by a tab to move to the next field. The “populate text field” action does not allow you to add shortcut keys. Instead, you can do so by using “send keys” action.

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

In the “Send keys” dialogue box, choose “misc”, then “tab” from the “insert special keys” drop down menu. Set the delay between keystrokes as 50.

In the flow, add an additional step – the “Focus on text field in window” action.

In the “Focus on text field in window” dialogue box, click the “text field” tab. Under the UI elements drop down menu, choose “Edit: ‘Other’”

The flow will then open the “Other” tab, focus on the “Generic 1” test field, and type “Test”, followed by the Tab key into the active window.

To make it loop, add a “Loop” action between the “Focus on text field in window” and “Send keys” actions in the flow. In the “Loop” dialogue box, set the “Start from” as 1, the “End to” as 10, and increment as 1. The flow should look like the second image below.

Running the flow, will focus the text field to “Other” and fill all the fields with “Test”.

Power Automate Tip #16: Run python script to validate email address format

First, set a variable as “EmailAddress”.

Then, write a python script to create regex and method to check email and validate if it’s valid or invalid.

Clicking on the flow variable pane, will show the python script output and if the email is valid or invalid.

Power Automate Tip #17: Run desktop flow

Assuming the validate email script we discussed in Tip #16 is on a separate desktop flow, we can call the desktop flow by searching for the “Run desktop flow” action. Choose “Validate Email Address” from the Desktop flow dropdown menu. Declare the input variable as the email address whose validity you want to check.

Running the flow, will allow you to run the python script and show if the email address is valid or invalid in the flow variables pane.

Power Automate Tip #18: Run JavaScript function on webpage

Microsoft Power Automate does not have a scroll down action to allow scrolling on a webpage. Fortunately, you can use the “Run JavaScript function on webpage” to do so!

In the “Run JavaScript function on webpage” dialogue box, under “JavaScript function”, indicate the function – “ExecuteScript” and declare the class name.

In order to get the class name, open your web browser, focus on the portion of the webpage beyond which you want to scroll, and right-click on it. From the dropdown menu, choose “Inspect”. In this case, we wish to scroll past the “Get started” button, hence we right-click on it and select “Inspect”. Doing this will reveal the class name.

You can then copy the class name and paste it in the “Run JavaScript function on webpage” dialogue box. Then we get the value of x with an index of zero – “x[0].scrollintoView();”

Running the flow will open the webpage and scroll to the desired portion of it!

Power Automate Tip #19: Extract data from webpage

Let’s assume we wanted to extract the Amount and Change for Euro from the webpage.

Start by selecting the “Extract data from webpage” action, and then select the browser instance you want to extract the data from. An Extraction preview popup will appear.

In order to extract the data, right-click and select “Extract element value” from the dropdown menu, and then click on text(‘Euro’). Repeat these steps for “Amount” and “Change(24h)”. You will notice the Extraction preview popup will begin to fill up with values.

Upon selecting the next row – British Pound, you will automatically populate the rest of the rows.

You can then rename your columns. In this case, the column names will be “Currency”, “Amount”, “Change(24h)”.

After running the flow, open the “DataFromWebPage” variable value from the flow variables column. You have successfully extracted data from a webpage!

Power Automate Tip #20: Manage errors

Let’s say we’re using on block error to manage what happens when the flow encounters an error, and we would like to capture the reason for the error(s). To capture the error message of any error within a block of actions, use the “Get last error” action.

First, select the “on-block error” action from the action pane. In the on block error dialogue box, give it a name. Then click on “Continue flow run”, and select “go to end of block”, and click Save.

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

Select the actions that you would like to manage with the on block error action and put them within the on block error action (pink section).

Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated

Select the “get last error” action and drag it below the on block error action.

Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated

In our example, to simulate an error, we wrote a flow to extract data from webpage, but closed the browser before extraction could begin (prompted by a display message box). With the “get last error” action, we will be able to see the error message “click link on webpage failed” in the LastError variable (in the variable pane).

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

More Power Automate tips & tricks coming your way!

We hope you found these tips useful! Did you miss part 1? Check out 30 Power Automate Tips & Tricks (Part 1)!

Meanwhile, keep a lookout for Part 3 for even more tips and tricks!

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 2) Read More »

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Top 30 Microsoft Power Automate Interview Questions for Developers

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Are you preparing for a Microsoft Power Automate interview? If you are, you’re at the right place. In this article, we will go through the most common Power Automate interview questions (and answers!) you’re likely to face when interviewing to become a Power Automate developer. Interview topics range from cloud flows to Power Automate for desktop, and more.

⏭️Skip ahead to Power Automate interview questions and answers

If you’re looking for a job as a developer working on Microsoft Power Automate, you’re on the right track. Since Microsoft announced that it was making Microsoft Power Automate for desktop free for all Windows 10 users (and now bundled for free with Windows 11), the demand for Power Automate — and consequently Power Automate developers — have been skyrocketing.

According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation 2021, Microsoft Power Automate is ranked as a leader. This is what the report had to say: “Microsoft’s RPA value proposition includes RPA with API orchestration that can integrate multiple systems of record to automate routine data transcription work. Microsoft uses all the components of its Power Platform to create a single, unified, end-to-end platform that offers automation, integration, low-code application development and analytics capabilities in order to meet enterprises’ business process automation requirements.”

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You’ll find plenty of opportunities furthering your career if you become an expert in Microsoft Power Automate, and we’re here to help.

Without further ado, below are the top 30 commonly asked Microsoft Power Automate interview questions and answers for developers.

Power Automate interview questions regarding product offerings

1. Which are the 4 key products under the Power Platform?

  • Power BI
  • Power Apps
  • Power Automate
  • Power Virtual Agents

2. What are the 4 value pillars of Power Automate?

The 4 value pillars are:

  • automate at scale
  • seamless and secure integration
  • accelerated productivity
  • intelligent automation

3. What is the key difference between Power Automate and Power Automate for desktop?

Power Automate is used mainly for the API-automation of cloud services and internal API services, otherwise known as Digital Process Automation (DPA). Power Automate for desktop, on the other hand, is used for UI-automation of legacy web, Windows and terminal applications, also commonly referred to as Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

4. What is an environment?

An environment is a space to store, manage, and share your organization’s business data, apps, chatbots, and flows. It also serves as a container to separate apps that might have different roles, security requirements, or target audiences. For example, you can have separate environments for development, UAT and production.

5. What is a solution?

Solutions are the mechanism for implementing Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) in Power Apps and Power Automate. The solution represents the package for all the different components that a business problem needs to be solved with. When you host your flows in a solution, they become portable, making it effortless to move them and all their components from one environment to another.

A solution is either managed or unmanaged.

  • Unmanaged solutions are used in development environments while you make changes to your application.
  • Managed solutions, on the other hand, are used to deploy to any environment that isn’t a development environment for that solution. This includes test, UAT, SIT, and production environments.

6. What are the different types of flow in Power Automate?

You can create 3 types of flow in Power Automate – cloud flows, desktop flows and business process flows.

  • Cloud flows: Cloud flows are used when you want your automation to be triggered either automatically, instantly, or via a schedule.
  • Desktop flows: With Power Automate for desktop, you can create desktop flows to automate tasks on the Web or the desktop.
  • Business process flows: Business process flows provide a guide for people to get work done by defining set of steps for people to follow to take them to a desired outcome.

7. What are the 3 building blocks of a cloud flow?

The 3 building blocks of a cloud flow are trigger, action and conditions.

  • A trigger is the event that starts a cloud flow.
  • An action is the task that’s started when a trigger is invoked.
  • Lastly, conditions inform the cloud flow to perform actions based on predetermined logic set in the flow.

8. Is Power Automate compatible with Windows 10 Home?

Yes, you can use Power Automate to create your desktop flows and monitor them on the Power Automate web portal. However, you cannot trigger desktop flows to run from the cloud on Windows 10 Home devices. In addition, other types of desktop flows (e.g. Windows recorder V1 and Selenium IDE) are not supported.

Interview questions about Microsoft Power Automate for desktop

9. What is the difference between Power Automate console and Power Automate flow designer?

The flow console is the central interface of Power Automate for desktop from which you can launch the flow designer to create or edit flows. You can also delete, rename, and run existing flows.

The flow designer contains all the tools required to design and debug a desktop flow. Additionally, any images, UI elements, or variables of a desktop flow can be accessed and managed here.

Find out more about the Power Automate for desktop interface! Check out our comprehensive Microsoft Power Automate for desktop interface tour.

10. Name all the panes contained inside Power Automate console.

  • Workspace (including Main and Subflows)
  • Actions pane
  • Variables pane
  • UI Elements pane
  • Images pane
  • Errors pane.

11. What are subflows and why do you need them?

Subflows are groups of actions, which may be referenced as a group within a desktop flow. Every flow contains the Main subflow – this is the subflow that is run when a desktop flow starts. Any other subflows may be invoked through the Run subflow action.

Breaking the deskflow into smaller subflows is paramount to good project design and allows you to create quality automation that is modular, maintainable, readable, flexible, reliable and extensible.

Impress your interviewers! Learn more about flow control in Microsoft Power Automate for desktop

12. What is the difference between Run subflow action and Run desktop flow action?

The Run subflow action triggers a subflow that is defined within the main desktop flow. On the other hand, the Run desktop flow action triggers another desktop flow—this so-called child desktop flow can receive input variables and may produce output variables. The parent desktop flow run will be paused until the called child desktop flow completes.

13. What are some of the common supported variable datatypes in Power Automate for desktop?

Text value, numeric value, Boolean value, list, datatable, datarow, custom object, mail message, file, folder and more.

Find out everything you need to know about variables in Microsoft Power Automate for desktop.

14. What is the difference between input/output variables and flow variables?

Input and output variables allow you to pass data to and from Power Automate for desktop, including between Power Automate cloud flows and desktop flows. In addition, you can use input variables to set values manually when the flows are triggered through the console. Flow variables, on the other hand, refers to all the variables that are used within the desktop flow itself to store data.

15. What are sensitive variables?

Within the Variables pane, users can mark both input/output and flow variables as sensitive. The values of sensitive variables will not be visible in the flow designer during debugging. Nor will the values be logged for desktop flows triggered by the Power Automate web portal or the console.

16. What are actions?

Actions are the basic building blocks of a desktop flow. Actions are categorized based on the following action groups – Variables, Conditionals, Loops, Flow control, Run flow, System, Workstation, Scripting, File, Folder, Compression, UI automation, HTTP, Browser automation, Excel, Database, Email, Exchange ,Outlook, Message boxes, Mouse and keyboard, Clipboard, Text, Date time, PDF, CMD session, Terminal emulation, OCR, Cryptography, Windows services, XML, FTP, CyberArk, Active Directory, AWS, Azure, Google Cognitive, IBM Cognitive and Microsoft Cognitive.

Want to know more about some lesser-known actions? Check out these Microsoft Power Automate tips & tricks that will surely impress your interviewers!

17. What are UI elements?

UI elements are used to identify and interact directly with windows and their contents without resorting to image recognition or absolute coordinates, as the latter methods are oftentimes less reliable.

Learn how to interact with windows and applications using UI elements in Microsoft Power Automate for desktop. It’s useful for things like automating data entry into your CRM or any other application.

18. Can a user perform work on the machine while a desktop flow is running?

It is not recommended for a user to perform work on the machine while the desktop flow is simultaneously running as this might interfere with the flow itself. To prevent any undesired human interferences, you can use the Block Input action to ignore mouse or keyboard input from the user while the flow is running. To re-enable user input, add another Block Input action to the flow, and set it to Unblock Input. Do note that for this action to function properly, you need to run Power Automate for desktop with Administrator rights.

19. Which are the browsers supported by Power Automate for desktop?

To automate web-related tasks, Power Automate for desktop provides the Automation browser that is preconfigured and works out of the box. Besides the Automation browser, the platform supports the four most popular browsers: Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. These browsers need additional configuration or/and browser extensions to work.

20. What is Automation browser and what are its pros and cons?

To automate web-related tasks, Microsoft Power Automate provides the Automation browser that is preconfigured and works out of the box. Although the Automation browser is based on Internet Explorer, it provides some features and limitations that increase automation effectiveness.

Pros:

  • Automation browser works out of the box, while Internet Explorer requires additional configuration. Security configurations may be unwanted in organizations with strict security policies that prohibit manual changes.
  • The Click download link on web page action works with the Automation browser whatever the Internet Explorer version. For the actual Internet Explorer, the action requires version 8 or below.
  • Automation browser suppresses all message dialog boxes that may pop up unhindered in the actual Internet Explorer. However, if this feature is undesirable, apply the (ShowDialogs) suffix at the end of the URL in the Launch new Internet Explorer action.
  • Automation browser has a small performance advantage because it doesn’t load unnecessary elements and add-ons like the actual Internet Explorer does.

Cons:

  • Automation browser doesn’t support tabs or opening links in windows. When the user clicks on a link, the browser opens it in the same window/instance.

21. What is UIFlowService?

UIFlowService is a Windows service that is installed with Power Automate on the desktop machine. By default, it’s set to start automatically and runs as the user NT SERVICE\UIFlowService which is created during installation. UIFlowService supports attended/unattended desktop connectivity to the Power Automate cloud service, either directly or through the on-premises data gateway.

22. What are exceptions and how do you handle exceptions in Power Automate for desktop?

Exceptions are events that occur while a flow is running. These events disrupt the expected flow of actions, and cause it to fail if they are not handled properly. Exceptions occur when an action cannot run as intended, and may be caused by various factors: incorrect inputs, unexpected values, software/hardware failures, unavailable resources, etc.

Exception handling is the mechanism that allows Power Automate for desktop to handle and recover from unexpected circumstances and issues that might occur while a flow is running. Exceptions can be handled at the action-level – most actions’ properties contain an On error button which allows access to the action’s exception handling settings. In addition, it is possible to apply exception handling to an entire block of actions through the On block error action.

The options available for handling errors include retry action, set variable, run subflow, continue flow run (i.e. go to next action, repeat action and go to label) and throw error.

23. How do you debug a desktop flow?

It is common to have to debug desktop flows due to changes in the system/applications, data formats and/or process requirements, or if a desktop flow cannot run because it contains errors.

The following tools can be used to debug a desktop flow:

  • Reviewing the errors in the Errors pane
  • Adding breakpoints in the flow
  • Running a desktop flow action-by-action, or run from a specific action

24. What are some of the best practices when creating desktop flows?

Some of the good design principles include:

  • Modularity – Separation of concerns with dedicated subflows allows fine granular development and testing
  • Maintainability – Good structure and development standards
  • Readability – Meaningful names for variables, UI elements, etc
  • Flexibility – Keep environment settings in external configuration files
  • Reliability – Exception handling and error reporting
  • Extensibility – Ready for new use cases to be incorporated

25. How to share or export a desktop flow?

There are 3 ways to share or export a desktop flow:

  • To replicate a desktop flow, edit it through the flow designer and copy the actions within a subflow. The copied text can then be sent directly to other users or saved to a text file for easier sharing. The receiver can simply paste the text to a flow designer and run it.
  • Share the desktop flow directly through the Power Automate portal. There are the two permission levels you can use when you share desktop flows: co-owner and user.
  • Export a solution that contains the desktop flow. The receiver can then import the solution into any environment that meets the prerequisites.

Check out our article on how to share your desktop flow in Microsoft Power Automate for desktop to learn how to share your desktop flows, step by step.

26. What are data loss prevention (DLP) policies?

Power Automate offers to administrators the option to create and enforce DLP policies that classify desktop flows action groups as business or non-business and mark actions or action groups as blocked. That way a non-business action can’t be combined with an action that has been marked as business so as to avoid data exposure outside the organization.

Power Automate Interview Questions on Process Mining and Task Mining Features

27. What is Process Advisor?

Process Advisor allows you to gain a better understanding of your business processes so you can optimize them. It can also help you improve how you work by finding opportunities for automation. Process advisor offers task mining and process mining capabilities to do this.

28. What is the difference between task mining and process mining?

Task mining enables you to understand how your company performs its process tasks through monitoring recorded user actions. You’ll gain insights from this data that will let you know how processes are performed and identify tasks that can be automated.

Process mining allows you to take the event data from your system of records and visualize the processes happening in your organization. Process mining provides novel insights that can help you identify automation opportunities, and address performance and compliance opportunities.

Power Automate Interview Questions on AI-Enabled Features

29. What is AI Builder?

AI Builder is a Microsoft Power Platform capability that provides AI models that are designed to optimize your business processes. AI Builder enables your business to use intelligence to automate processes and glean insights from your data in Power Apps and Power Automate. With AI Builder, you don’t need coding or data science skills to access the power of AI. You can build custom models tailored to your needs, or choose a prebuilt model that is ready to use for many common business scenarios.

Check out our video on using the AI Builder for invoice processing

30. What are some of the prebuilt AI models that is available in Power Automate?

Some of the prebuilt AI models include business card reader model, category classification model, entity extraction model, ID reader model, key phrase extraction model, language detection model, receipt processing model, sentiment analysis model, text recognition model and text translation model.

More resources for your Power Automate interview preparation

Besides preparing to answer Power Automate interview questions, you should also sharpen your technical hands-on skills. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and check out our various blog posts, where we post tutorials on Microsoft Power Automate, including basics like Variables and Text Manipulation Actions in Microsoft Power Automate for desktop, as well as more advanced topics like Dynamic Selectors, Web Scraping, and Extracting PDF invoices and much more.

All the best for your Microsoft Power Automate interview!

So, there we are! We’ve covered the top 30 frequently asked Power Automate interview questions and answers for Microsoft Power Automate developers.

Are there any questions you think might be asked during your Power Automate interview that you don’t know the answer to? Post it in the comments below and we might be able to help.

Otherwise, you might want to brush up on your technical hands-on Power Automate skills by revising with the help of the tutorial videos on our YouTube Channel and tutorial articles on our blog.

We hope these top Power Automate developer interview questions (and answers!) have helped you, and all the best for your interview! 💪

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Power Automate Tips & Tricks - Part 1

30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 1)

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Power Automate Tips & Tricks - Part 1

We know that navigating Microsoft Power Automate can get quite confusing, hence we have compiled a list of tips to make it easier and more convenient!

By the way, Part 2 is already out! Do check out 30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 2).

For those of you who prefer to watch the video, you can have a look at the video below. If you prefer to read, just scroll down further for the article.

Power Automate Tip #1: Declare a Data Table Data Type 

Unfortunately, we are unable to create data table data types by searching the “Actions” tab in Microsoft Power Automate. Thus, we will be using the “set variable” action to do so instead.

Firstly, in the “set variable” dialogue box, declare the table name. After that, set your column names using %{^[‘ColumnName’, ‘ColumnName’, ‘ColumnName’]}% .

After running the flow and clicking on “flow variables” in the variable pane, you will be able to view the data table. We have now successfully created a data table data type!

Power Automate Tip #2: Adding Data Rows 

We can add data rows using the set variable action. To do so, add the table name and set the data row as %Table + [“insert value of column names”]. In this case it will be %Table + [‘Earphone’, ‘NA’, ‘20 USD’]% .

 

After running the flow, we have created a row with the Product Name as “Earphones” at a Product Price of “20 USD”.

Power Automate Tip #3: Retrieve specific item from data table

To retrieve specific items from data tables, set a new variable and declare %Table[0][‘Product Price’]%, where the [0] is the row index. The row index of a table always starts with 0. Here, we want the first item, so we indicate the index as 0. “Product Price” is the name of the column where the item is located.

After running the flow, we can check the variable. Clicking on the variable name on the variable pane, we can see that we have retrieved the value that we wanted.

Power Automate Tip #4: Reassign a value of existing table row within for each loop 

To replace the value of a microphone from $10 USD to $5 USD, we will first name a set variable as RowIndex. We will start with 0.

Next, we add a “for each loop” action into the workspace. We will select %Table% from the variable drop down menu (click the {x} button) in the for each dialogue box. We will be setting an if condition for each item in the table.

Insert an “if” action to the workspace. Set the first operand to the current item of the column name. In this case, we are looking for “microphone” in the column “Product Name”.

For cases where the above if condition is fulfilled, we will then manipulate the product price column of that table row to contain the new reassigned value of 5 USD.

We then need to use the “increase variable action” to increase the row index.

Running the flow will show us that we have successfully updated the microphone price!

Power Automate Tip #5: Declare dictionary data type

In Power Automate, it is not called Dictionary, instead it is called Custom Object Data Type.

First, we will need to declare a Custom Object using the Set Variable action. To do this, give your variable a name (in this case we’re calling it NewCustomObject) and type %{{}}% into the “To:” field.

Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated

Next, we will use Set Variable to indicate the property name/key. In this case we will set the key as “Name” and the value as “Jack”.

We have now created a dictionary type with a Name and Value!

 

Power Automate Tip #6: Downloading files from the web 

To download files from the internet, we will be using the action “Download from web”. This is a convenient alternative way to the usual way of downloading using a mouse click of the UI element.

To indicate the URL, go to your web browser with the web page open. Right click the download button/link and select “copy link address” from the dropdown menu of the file you wish to download.

To download the file from Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, paste the URL of the file you want to download into the URL field, setting the “Method” as “GET’, choose “Save to disk” for the save response, and adding the full path to the destination folder.

Run the flow, and when you check your folder, you’ll see that you have now downloaded the file from the internet!

Want to know more about downloading files from web browsers? Check out this video that’s all about downloading files from the web!

 

Power Automate Tip #7: Getting file path part

Assuming we have the following file path:

In order to get the root directory or subfolder, use the “Get file part path” action. Click the {x} button and select FilePath. After running the flow, you can see in the variable pane that this allows you to obtain the FileName, File Extension, as well as the RootPath.

 

Power Automate Tip #8: Clear temp with DOS command 

In order to run DOS command for clearing local temp files through Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, you need to  add  ’%’% to both sides of %TEMP% in your original command.

This is because the format of 2 % signs before and after (e.g. %Example%) represents a variable in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, and it will recognise it as a variable data type. Without the additional ’%’% there will be an error that says “Variable ‘TEMP’ doesn’t exist”.

The resulting DOS command or application should read:

del /q/f/s %’%’%TEMP%’%’%\*

Running the flow will show that all local temp files have been deleted!

 

Power Automate Tip #9: Export your flows as stacks

Instead of you exporting the flow from the web portal, you can copy the chunk of texts and actions on the flow, and paste them on a notepad.

You can then save them as stacks! You can retrieve them later, or send it to someone else, who can then copy them from the notepad and paste them into Microsoft Power Automate Desktop to use the flow.

If you’d like to learn more about sharing your desktop flows, have a look at this article, which shares 3 ways you can share your desktop flows.

Power Automate Tip #10: View desktop flow logs

To view the desktop flow logs, we will need to navigate to the web portal and look under the “monitor” tab on the left hand-side sidebar.

Under “desktop flow runs”, there will be a list of desktop flows that have been run successfully. Take note that only flows run from the “my flows” page will be recorded.

Clicking on any of the desktop flows in the list will indicate the list of runs. Under “Run History”, you can also click on a run date/time, and it will show you at which stage a failed status was obtained.

More Power Automate Tips & Tricks are coming your way!

We hope these 10 Power Automate Tips & Tricks are useful to you. We have many more tips to share—30 to be exact— and we’re working on bringing them to you really soon.

As of now, Part 2 is already out. Do check out 30 Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Power Automate (Part 2)

Keep a look out for Top 30 Power Automate Tips & Tricks Part 3!

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How to share desktop flows created on Microsoft Power Automate Desktop

How to share your desktop flows in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop

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How to share desktop flows created on Microsoft Power Automate Desktop

With the announcement by Microsoft that they are making their Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software – Power Automate Desktop – free for all Windows 10 users, many have started using this versatile low-code/no-code RPA software to automate the mundane and menial tasks at work, freeing themselves up to focus on more interesting or important stuff (or perhaps to enjoy a cup of coffee 😊).

In fact, some have created bots that eliminate drudgery and tedium not only for themselves, but for their entire department! After all, sharing is caring!

This begs the important question – how does one share the desktop flows that he/she has created in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop? 

Today, we will cover 3 ways of sharing your desktop flows. The first 2 methods will require a paid subscription, namely the “per user with attended RPA” plan. While you can’t technically share desktop flows without a paid subscription, our third method is absolutely FREE.

Let’s check out the 3 methods! 

We’ve made a video that shows you all 3 methods. You can check it out below. Or if you prefer text instructions, scroll past the video, and you’ll see the step-by-step instructions.

Table of contents

  1. Using the sharing function in the Power Automate portal
  2. Exporting the solution as a ZIP file and importing it
  3. Copying and pasting the actions

Method 1: Using the sharing function in the Power Automate portal

You can share a desktop flow with other users in your organization, giving those users specific permissions to access your flows. In this scenario, we assume the users have access to the same Power Automate environment.

Select My flows from the navigation bar on the left, then select Desktop flows. Then, select the desktop flow that you want to share, and click on the share button.

Accessing the flow to share in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop

Under the Add people field, enter the name of the person in your organization you would like to share the desktop flow with. Select Give access, and choose the permission level that you want to assign to this person.

There are 2 different permission levels you can assign when sharing desktop flows:

  1. User: Editing, deleting or sharing the desktop flow is not possible with this access. The user can only use the desktop flow in a cloud flow.
  2. Co-Owner: This access level grants the user full permissions, including editing, sharing and deleting the desktop flow.

Click the Share button once you are done.

Entering who you want to share your desktop flow with and what access they get

If you wish to review details of a desktop flow, including the persons whom you have shared the flow with, click on More commands, then selecting the Details option.

Reviewing details of a flow, including whom you have shared the flow with

The section Shared with displays the list of users whom the desktop flow has been shared with. To make changes, click on Manage access.

How to make changes to the people you share the desktop flow with

Under Manage access, you have the ability to add people, modify the current permissions granted, or to remove their access to the desktop flow.

Managing access to your shared desktop flow

Now the user who has been granted access should be able to see the shared desktop flow under My flows >> Desktop flows.

How the user who share your desktop flow with will see the flow

Note that it is possible for the user to create a copy of that desktop flow by clicking on More commands, then selecting the Save as option.

Making a copy of the shared desktop flow

Next, rename the desktop flow (if you wish to), and click on the Save button. This will save a copy to your Desktop flows page.

Renaming the desktop flow

And if you login to Power Automate Desktop, you can find the saved desktop flow in the Console where you can make further edits to the flow.

Method 2: Exporting a solution

Alternatively, it is also possible for you to export a solution as a zip file. Then, another user can import this zip file into their own Power Automate environment.

But first, you need to create a solution. A solution is essentially a mechanism for managing the application lifecycle.  When you host your desktop flows in a solution, they become portable, i.e. you can migrate them from one environment to another easily.

Do note that in order to create solutions, you need Dataverse (which comes with a paid plan) and an environment with version 9.1.0.267 or later.

To create a solution, click on Solutions on the navigation bar on the left. Next click on New solution, and provide all the required information including Display Name, Name, Publisher and Version. Click on the Create button when you are done.

Next, select the solution that you have just created by clicking on it. Click on Add existing, and then select Desktop flow.

Adding the desktop flow you want to share to the solution

Select the desktop flow that you want to add into the solution, and click on the Add button. Note that it is also possible to create a desktop flow directly in a solution, in which case they are known as solution-aware flows. Also, you can add multiple flows in a single solution, including non-desktop flows.

Adding the desktop flow you want to share to the solution

Now, select Export. The Before you export pane will appear on the right. Click on the Run button under Check for issues. This will run the solution checker to detect for performance or stability issues, so make sure that no issues are reported. Then, click on the Run button under Publish all changes. You will need to publish all components that needs to be exported later on. Once these 2 steps are completed successfully, click on the Next button.

Checking for issues before exporting your solution

The Export this solution pane appears on the right. Update the Version number if required, and select the Unmanaged option under Export as. Click the Export button when you are done. 

Note: a solution can be either managed or unmanaged. As a simple rule of thumb, developers work in development environments using unmanaged solutions, then import them to other downstream environments—such as test—as managed solutions.

Exporting your solution

This export can take several minutes to complete. Once finished, the solution will be exported as a zip file which you can find in the default download folder specified by your web browser.

Indications of a successful export

After you’ve sent or shared the zip file with your friend of colleague, they can import the solution to use it. To import a solution, select Import. The Import a solution pane will appear on the right. Select the zip file which you have exported in the previous step, the click the Next button.

Importing a solution

Next, click on the Import button to begin the import. Note that this import can take several minutes to complete. Also, you are not able to import a solution that already exists in that environment.

Importing a solution part 2

When the import is completed successfully, the imported solution will be displayed under Solutions.

Indications of a successful import

Now, if you navigate to My flows >> Desktop flows, you will be able to find the desktop flow there.

Method 3: Sharing desktop flows by copying and pasting the actions

This third method that I’m going to share with you does not require any paid subscription plans at all — it is a really simple and neat solution. Let’s get started.

What you see here is this flow I have created, called “RPA challenge”. You can see that there are actually a number of different actions, and if you look at the UI elements pane on the right, there are actually some UI elements created as well. Likewise, in the variables pane there are also some variables created.

Microsoft Power Automate Desktop workspace with the RPA Challenge flow

What I’m going to do here to start sharing is this: I’m going to go to my workspace, select all of the actions by using the hotkey Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C to copy them.

Pasting the actions copied from Microsoft Power Automate Desktop to Notepad

Next, I will open a text editor, like Notepad, and I will paste the actions which I’ve copied into my Notepad. You can send these actions that have been copied to Notepad to the friends or colleagues you want to share the desktop flow with.

Creating a new flow in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop

When they receive your Notepad file, they can go to their Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, create a new flow, then go to their main workspace and paste all the actions you have copied into Notepad. To paste, go to Edit >> Paste, or use the hotkey Ctrl+V.

Going to the main workspace to paste the actions copied from Notepad

Voila! You’ll notice something really special: not only does it copy all the actions, but if you go to the variables pane, you’ll see that it has all the variables and UI elements, including the screenshots of the UI elements.

Microsoft Power Automate Desktop workspace with actions pasted from Notepad, showing the variables pane

That’s it! We have successfully copied one desktop flow to another. If I were to run this flow, it should work just like my original desktop flow.

Conclusion

Congratulations! In this article, you have learnt how to share a desktop flow between users in the same environment by using the Share feature, as well as through exporting and importing a solution for users across different environments. We also shared a method of sharing flows without any paid subscription.

Feel free to share this article if you think it might benefit someone else.

Happy  automating and start sharing!

Learning Resources

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/manage#share-desktop-flows

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/export-flow-solution

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/import-flow-solution

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Solved: Get first free column/row from Excel worksheet is not returning the correct values

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One of the most common actions you will use in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop is the Read from Excel worksheet action. To read all the data from a particular worksheet in Excel, we will usually make use of the Get first free column/row from Excel worksheet action. However, at times, we have encountered cases where the first free row and first free column variables obtained are not correct. 

In this post, we will go through an example case that returns incorrect first free row and first free column values, and provide you with a solution to overcome the problem.

The following examples will be based on the Excel spreadsheet shown in the image down below:

In the Excel spreadsheet example, it contains 7 columns and a total of 10 rows of data.  So in this case we assume that we know the number of columns which are fixed but we are not quite sure how many rows of data it has.

Watch the video below, or scroll past the video for step-by-step text instructions.

Table of contents

  1. Reading the data from Excel
  2. The Problem: incorrect first free column and first free row values
  3. Solving the issue
  4. Conclusion

Reading the data from Excel

  1. The first action we will deploy on our flow designer would be the Launch Excel action. From here, we will open the Excel file which contains the data we want to read.

2.  Usually we will use the action Get first free column/row from Excel worksheet to find out the number of rows in the data. This will store the first free column inside the variable called %FirstFreeColumn% and store the first free row inside the variable called %FirstFreeRow%.

  •  If we look back at the Excel file data, we expect that the first free column is actually column 8 and the first free row is actually row 12

3.  Next, deploy the Read from Excel worksheet action. Here we will specify to read the values from a range of cells. The Start column and row will be 1. The End column will be the variable %FirstFreeColumn-1%  and the End row will be the variable %FirstFreeRow-1%.

Note: Remember to put “-1” at the end of FirstFreeRow/Column as we want to read the last filled row/column only.

Note: An additional thing to know is that because in this case we have a header row, we need to select this option First line of range contains the column name.

The Problem: incorrect first free column and first free row values

After we run the flow, we see in the variables pane that the first free column value is 9 instead of 8 and the first free row returns a value of 1001 instead of 12.

You may be wondering why this happens. If we were to look at the Excel data in *csv format (shown in image down below), the reason why it is reading the wrong values is because the Excel file is not sanitized. You can see all the additional rows of data we have below row 11. That’s the reason why Power Automate Desktop is actually returning these values for the first free column and the first free row.  

Solving the issue

To overcome this issue, especially when you know that you have a dirty Excel file, an option you can do is to deploy the Get first free row on column from Excel worksheet action instead of Get first free row/column from Excel worksheet. (at step 2)

In this example we will use the first column, so type “1”  in column.

Next, when you look at the Read from Excel worksheet action (step 3), choose the %FirstFreeRowOnColumn% variable. Do remember to add “-1” at the end like this %FirstFreeRowOnColumn-1% because we want to read the last filled data. In this case, we assume that we know how many columns there are so we will just put it as column 7.

When you run this new flow, you can see that now it reads the correct number of rows which is 12.

Conclusion

You may run into certain issues when developing your flows when dealing with an Excel file on Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, as the way you view the data and the way the application views and reads the data may be different. In this situation where the Get first free column/row from Excel worksheet action is not giving you the correct values, replace that with the Get first free row on column action instead.

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Is Power Automate Free? 8 Things You Need to Know

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You may have heard some good things about Microsoft Power Automate, and you may be wondering—Is Power Automate free? We’ll get to the answer in a while. In addition, we will also be covering 8 things you need to know about Microsoft Power Automate licensing and pricing.

Is Power Automate free?

Well, yes and no. Here’s the short answer: only part of the Power Automate platform is free. Specifically, Power Automate Desktop is available to all Windows 10 users for free, as recently announced by Microsoft on 2 March 2021. But the full-fledged Power Automate platform is not free.

And although Power Automate Desktop is free, it does have some restrictions, which we will explain later on. We will also discuss everything about licensing and pricing that you’ll need to know as you contemplate whether to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Check out how you can make the most use of the free Microsoft Power Automate Desktop with our free Microsoft Power Automate Desktop tutorials and blog posts.

Microsoft's announcement on making part of Power Automate free, i.e. Power Automate Desktop

What’s the difference between Power Automate Desktop and Power Automate?

Power Automate Desktop is part of the Power Automate platform.

Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Microsoft Flow) is a cloud-native, low-code automation platform that brings together UI- and API-based automation with AI. Enterprises can use Power Automate to automate workflows and business processes to enhance operational efficiencies.

With Power Automate, you can automate mundane, menial tasks, and free yourself up to focus on higher value and more interesting work. There are 3 types of flows that you can create:

  • Cloud flows are a series of actions that can be triggered by an event, via a schedule or on-demand. Power Automate enables you to interact with the various services through the use of more than 200+ data connectors. Cloud flows are API-based automation.
  • Desktop flows are used to automate tasks involving desktop and/or web applications. You would use desktop flows (UI-based automation) instead of cloud flows if there are no existing connectors available to connect and interact with the required web applications. This is where Power Automate Desktop comes in. Do note that you will need to download and install Power Automate Desktop in order to create desktop flows.
  • Business process flows consist of a series of stages and steps that guide users to get work done in a consistent and streamlined manner.

Now, let’s address some of the burning questions that you might have regarding Power Automate pricing and licensing.

Table of contents

  1. Free Microsoft Power Automate Desktop restrictions
  2. Overview of Power Automate Licensing and Pricing
  3. So how do you decide which plan to purchase?
  4. Not all plans come with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) functionalities
  5. Both the “per user” and “per flow” plans come with service limits
  6. Not all types of flows need to be licensed
  7. What can you use the AI builder for?
  8. Limited Power Automate capabilities are also included within Power Apps, Office 365, Dynamics and Windows licenses
  9. Conclusion

1. Free Microsoft Power Automate Desktop restrictions

The free version of Power Automate Desktop is meant for individual users to make their work more productive at a personal level. This means that many capabilities that make it easier to coordinate automation at an enterprise level are not available for free.

Some examples of the restrictions on the free Power Automate Desktop include:

  • You can only access your flows from your desktop. This means no access from the Power Automate platform—Microsoft’s online portal for flows. Being able to access the flows online is handy because it allows you to start your flows on the go—from any web browser and even your mobile device.
  • You can’t collaborate on desktop flows with your colleagues
  • You can’t combine desktop flows with cloud flows. Combining with cloud flows is useful because it allows you to use API integrations where they are available, and APIs are a more robust and efficient way of passing data from one app to another.
  • You can’t use AI builder to extract data from documents. If you deal with a lot of semi-structured or unstructured documents in your daily work, you would probably want to be able to extract data intelligently and automatically from your documents.
  • You can’t schedule your flows, i.e. no unattended RPA functionality. This means you have to be present to trigger your flow manually. Want to run a report every day at midnight while you’re sleeping at home? You’ll have to pay extra for that.

Now that you have some idea of the kind of features that you may have to pay for, let’s have a look at Power Automate licensing and pricing.

2. Overview of Power Automate Licensing and Pricing

 

 

Per user

Per user with attended RPA

Per flow

Licensing scheme

Unlimited flows per user

Unlimited flows per users

Unlimited users per flow

Cloud flows and business process flows

Included

Included

Included

Attended desktop flows (including Power Automate Desktop)

Not included

Included

Not included

Unattended desktop flows

Not included

Not included

Not included

AI Builder

Not included

5,000 service credits per month

Not included

Usage limit

5,000 daily API requests per user

5,000 daily API requests per user

15,000 daily API requests per licensed flow

Typical use case

To support the adoption of automation across the entire organization

Similar to per user case, but with additional RPA capabilities

To support the implementation of flows that are used by a large number of users

Price

US$15 per user per month

US$40 per user per month

US$100 per flow per month

Minimum purchase

N/A

N/A

5 flows

The table above refers to full-fledged, general purpose Power Automate capabilities. Licensing is supported on both a “per user” basis as well as a “per flow” basis.

You can download the detailed Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate Licensing Guide here.

3. So how do you decide which plan to purchase?

Generally speaking, you should purchase the “per user” plans if you need to support the adoption of automation across your entire organization. In this case, you just need to know the total number of users, and not have to bother with tracking how many flows are activated within your organization. 

On the other hand, if you have a (small) number of flows that are used by a large number of users within your organizations, it might be more cost-effective to purchase the “per flow” plan. In this way, you do not need to license each and every user who might trigger the flow knowingly or unknowingly.

4. Not all plans come with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) functionalities

RPA functionality (including Power Automate Desktop) is only available through the “per user with attended RPA” plan. This supports use cases whereby the user will manually trigger the attended desktop flows. This plan provides for desktop flow authoring, bot orchestration and management. 

If you require the desktop flow to run autonomously, i.e. without user intervention, you need to purchase additionally the “Power Automate unattended RPA add-on”. The number of add-ons required depends on the number of bots, which in turn depends on the number of concurrent flows that you need to run. Alternatively, if you can serialize your flows to run sequentially, then this add-on is not necessary. The “Power Automate unattended RPA add-on” is priced at US$150 per bot per month. 

Please also note that any services or applications the unattended bot accesses must be licensed separately. For instance, if the bot is accessing Windows or Office, the “Microsoft 365 – Unattended License” must also be purchased in addition to the “Power Automate unattended RPA add-on”.

5. Both the “per user” and “per flow” plans come with service limits

Specifically, there is a daily cap of 5,000 API requests for the “per user” and “per user with attended RPA” plans. Similarly, there is a daily cap of 15,000 API requests per licensed flow for the “per flow” plan. To increase the daily service limits, you will need to purchase the “Power Apps and Power Automate capacity add-on”. Don’t say we did not warn you!

6. Not all types of flows need to be licensed

Only top-level flows that are activated need to be license. “Child” flows that are triggered by another flow do not need to be additionally licensed. Yay!

7. What can you use the AI Builder for?

AI Builder is a Microsoft Power Platform capability that provides AI models that are designed to optimize your business processes. AI Builder enables your business to use AI to automate processes and glean insights from your data in Power Apps and Power Automate.

Have a look at how Power Automate’s AI Builder works in this invoice processing example. 

The AI Builder can support use cases like forms processing, text classification and recognition, sentiment analysis, object detection, language detection, key phrase extraction, receipt processing, and more. 

The “per user with attended RPA plan” comes with 5,000 service credits per month. Service credits are deducted when AI Builder services are used, and do note that different use cases burn down the service credits at different rates. 

Additional AI Builder capacity can be purchased for $500/month per 1,000,000 service credits. Do note that the AI Builder service credit capacity is pooled on the tenant level.

8. Limited Power Automate capabilities are also included within Power Apps, Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Windows licenses

Limited Power Automate use rights are included with select Windows licenses (namely Windows 10 Pro, Windows Enterprise E3 and Windows Enterprise E5) to create and execute personal desktop automation for attended RPA capabilities in Power Automate Desktop. 

Do note that usage is limited to non-production purpose and localized on the Windows machine only. Unlike the “per user with attended RPA” plan, you would not be able to manage or monitor your desktop flows from the Power Automate platform, or to trigger a desktop flow from another flow for example.

The free Microsoft Power Automate Desktop is Certainly Worth Trying

We have reviewed the key aspects of Microsoft Power Automate licensing and pricing. The Power Automate Desktop software that is “bundled” with the Windows 10 Pro license does appear to be rather attractive, allowing users, particularly citizen developers to start instantly, and at no cost. 

On the flip side, the licensing structure might be somewhat confusing to someone new to Microsoft, especially with regards to the various add-ons you might need to purchase in order to fulfil your use cases. As they always say, caveat emptor!

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