Microsoft PowerApps is a business application platform that enables power users in line of business roles to easily build and deploy business apps. At the same time, PowerApps empowers IT organizations to catalyze business innovation by allowing business units to create apps, while maintaining control over data access and security.
The Common Data Service, included in PowerApps, is an out-of-the-box secure business database to improve operational efficiency offering a unified view of business data. Common Data Service provides App creators the flexibility to use standard business entities or custom entities to power their business apps.
To generate an app automatically, you just need to specify a data source. For step-by-step instructions, see Create an app to manage data in SharePoint. Even though the topic is designed for SharePoint, the same principles apply to other types of data sources.
Customize an App
If the generated app doesn't meet your needs by default, you can customize it. You might, for example, want to show data in a different kind of UI element (known as a control).
For ideas about how to improve your app further, you can open a sample app to get a sense of what you can invent with some creativity and a bit of experience.
You can also build an app from a template. Each template is based on fictitious data in a cloud account, such as Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive. Explore specific screens and controls to understand how they're configured, and experiment with customization to discover techniques that you can apply to your own apps.
Create an app from scratch
You can create an app from scratch. By working from the ground up, you gain flexibility in app design, flow, and controls, and you can incorporate a larger variety of data sources.
For detailed explanations of some concepts you'll need, see these topics:
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formulas
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galleries and forms
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tables and records
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controls and their properties
PowerApps is licensed on a per-user basis. Each user who accesses the service to create and run apps needs a license. Office 365 and Dynamics 365 customers can immediately benefit from the PowerApps and Microsoft Flow capabilities that these offerings include. Customers who want to build apps and flows that access data sources outside Office 365 and Dynamics 365, or need additional functionality, can purchase standalone subscriptions to PowerApps and Microsoft Flow. There are important differences in functionality between these groups of licenses.
For Office 365 and Dynamics 365
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For business users
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For app makers and admins
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PowerApps for Office 365 and Dynamics 365
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PowerApps
Plan 1
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PowerApps
Plan 2
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Create and run custom business apps
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Extend the capabilities of Office 365 and Dynamics 365
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Automate your workflows with Microsoft Flow
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Everything included with PowerApps for Office 365 and Dynamics 365
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Use apps that connect to an even wider range of data sources, with premium connectors
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Use apps built on the Common Data Service
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Everything included with Plan 1
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Model your data using the Common Data Service
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Create and manage instances of the Common Data Service
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Enterprise-grade administration of environments and user policies
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PowerApps for Office 365 and Dynamics 365
PowerApps capabilities for Office 365 and Dynamics 365 enable users to create and run apps within the context of these services. PowerApps licenses always include Microsoft Flow capabilities. In addition to being included in PowerApps licenses, Microsoft Flow is also available as a standalone service.
PowerApps will be added to existing and new Office 365 subscriptions starting later in November 2016.
These Office 365 plans include PowerApps for Office 365:
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Office 365 Business Essentials
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Office 365 Business Premium
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Office 365 Enterprise E1
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Office 365 Enterprise E3
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Office 365 Enterprise E5
Resources -
Introduction to PowerApps
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PowerApps Blog
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Choose the right plans for your team
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Licensing Overview
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Manage your connections
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Add a data connection in an app
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Microsoft Common Data Model preview available for PowerApps
Useful Ignite sessions …
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Review business application platform roadmap, strategy and packaging
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Dive into PowerApps, building apps that mean business without writing code
Microsoft Flow
Microsoft Flow is a preview, cloud-based, business-automation service with which you can build simple processes that make your business move more quickly and efficiently with less effort. You can connect to a broad range of services through easy-to-use templates and create your own processes that are tailored to your goals.
Templates are pre-built flows for popular and common scenarios. Using a template only requires you to have access to the services in the template and to fill out any required settings.
Data sources: Built-in data connectors to more than 50 services, including Office 365, Twitter, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Slack, MailChimp, Facebook, Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, Salesforce, and SQL.
Manage Connections
Connections in Microsoft Flow allow you to easily access your data while building flows. Flow includes commonly used connections, including SharePoint, SQL, Office 365, OneDrive for Business, Salesforce, Excel, Dropbox, Twitter, and more. Connections are shared with Microsoft PowerApps, so when you create a connection in PowerApps, it shows up in Microsoft Flow, and vice versa.
For example, you can use connections to:
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Update a list on a SharePoint site.
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Get Excel data from your OneDrive for Business or Dropbox account.
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Connect to Office 365 and send email.
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Create a Twitter connection to send a tweet.
You can create connections in Microsoft Flow in multiple scenarios, such as:
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Creating a flow from a template
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Creating a flow from blank or updating an existing flow
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Creating a connection in the Microsoft Flow portal
Flow and Logic Apps
Microsoft Flow is a stand-alone SaaS Service that is designed for broad usage, including business users that want to automate day-to-day tasks.
Logic Apps is an Azure service available through the Azure Portal. It is targeted at IT Professionals that need to tackle more complex integration problems, it includes the great features available in Microsoft Flow, plus additional capability like integration with Azure Resource Manager and the Azure Portal, PowerShell and the Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI), Visual Studio, more advanced connectors. Learn more about Logic apps.
Flow creation now available from mobile phones
You can now easily create a flow from your phone (available both on our iOS and Android apps) by just a few simple clicks. Browse our rich template gallery, navigate through our services list, or select a various template category to drill into.
Also, if you’re looking for a specific service or template, you can simply search the gallery by keyword, and get in no time a list of results focused to your needs.
Finally, after creating your flow, you can come back and edit or rename it directly from within the app, from the flow properties page.
View our app video, and check out our documentation that covers app concepts, from getting started to more advanced capabilities.
Features and Pricing
Premium plans give you more runs, more checks, and access to services like MailChimp, Salesforce and many more.
Flow Free
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Flow for Office 365 and Flow for Dynamics 365
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2,000 runs per month
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Unlimited flow creation
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5-minute checks
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99.9% SLA
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Flow Plan 1
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Flow Plan 2
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4,500 runs per month
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Unlimited flow creation
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3-minute checks
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Premium Services
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99.9% SLA
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15,000 runs per month
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Unlimited flow creation
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1-minute checks
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Premium Services
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Org policy settings
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99.9% SLA
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For more detailed information, refer to the Pricing page.
Resources -
Microsoft Flow Blog
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Flow in your organization Q&A
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Create a flow from a template in Microsoft Flow
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Create a flow in Microsoft Flow
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Manage connections in Microsoft Flow
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Manage an on-premises data gateway
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YouTube Playlist: Microsoft Flow
Useful Ignite sessions …
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Dive into the Microsoft Common Data Model
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Review business application platform roadmap, strategy and packaging
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Dive into Microsoft Flow, create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services
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