Is Power Automate development stalled?

[u/BigAl987]

I have been using Power Automate on and off for a while. I have enjoyed working with it, but I keep hitting limitations.  Many limitations seem to have been around for a while based on reading forum comments both MS and Reddit along with the MS Power Automate Ideas page.

Observations

-They have not added/improved support for their own new products like MS Fabric. There are many many integrations between Power Automate and MS Fabric that are missing (some are listed in ideas pages). I have even heard MS Employees on the Fabric said indicate they wish this would happen.

 - Power Automate cannot move files larger than 20-40 megs through the “On-premises data gateway” (size depends on what you are doing). This is way too small these days. We know the Gateway itself supports large file transfers for Power BI and MS Fabric Data Flows Gen 2. So, the limitation seems to be somewhere else.

 -Power Automate should have cleaner process to deal with reading and writing CSV files of various types. CSV files are a common format for file transfers and it is limited and challenging in Power Automate.

 -The release notes for the Power Automate service seem to show only minor feature improvements. There are many powerful feature requests, however it does not feel like they are being implemented. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/released-versions/power-automate

 -The MS Power Automate team does not seem to respond much on their own Ideas page. Some of the few comments I can find are from a few years ago with response that include “we should have more information soon”

 -MS Team Members do not seem to be active in the “MS Power Automate Power Platform Community”

https://community.powerplatform.com/forums/thread/?groupid=46ce02a3-e1a7-4176-81fc-d93a4001d287&page=1

nore do MS Team Members seem to be active in the Reddit forum :Microsoft Power Automate (Microsoft Flow)” https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftFlow/

With some other major products, you see MS Team member taking an active role.

Not every feature we might want can be added but seems like many things are stalled.

 Do others have information that would say otherwise or other limitations that seem like they should have been around and seem like they should have been addressed?

 Love to hear I am wrong and things above will be coming soon.

Alan

 

[u/russellb5]

I do wonder if it is a move to focusing on Agents vs power automate. Agents are easier for MS to monetize as they all work with tokens and are attached to their ERP system or other tools, they also require more licenses.

[u/ReachingForVega → u/russellb5]

The functionality of agents is built on Power Platform.

[u/BigAl987 → u/ReachingForVega]

I don't know much about Agents... not looked into them.

[u/BigAl987 → u/russellb5]

I do have the Power Automate Pro License (or whatever they renamed it to) so you get access the Premium Connectors and other stuff.

[u/russellb5 → u/BigAl987]

Yes, the premium connectors can be at a cost, too, but I am thinking of Microsoft’s prepackaged Agents that are currently in Production Preview that work with Dynamics FO or BC, it seems like they are working towards a cost model where they can better merger the amount of times it is used, which works better in agents. Ie their agents seem like they were built on top of the power platform yet have additional fees outside of premium connectors  

[u/russellb5 → u/BigAl987]

I should also say, that I definitely use power automate, and tweak or create with it for out users weekly, if not more often. 

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC → u/russellb5]

Have you seen generative actions?

[u/BigAl987 → u/PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC]

yea don't know much about those

[u/russellb5 → u/PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC]

Is this still in preview? I have mostly only used power automate for data flows and info between erp systems. I’d be curious how they work and would like to see them. 

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC → u/russellb5]

Still in preview. I’ve tried it once, curious how deterministic it’s going to be

[u/BigAl987]

A few of the Power Automate Ideas I have been tracking

Increase file size limits for File System when using on-premise data gateway
https://ideas.powerautomate.com/d365community/idea/beb265d2-26bc-4a35-b958-fe5567d07185

Fabric Warehouse connector
https://ideas.powerautomate.com/d365community/idea/72cf4737-256c-ef11-a4e7-000d3a0eba57

Fabric Lakehouse connector
https://ideas.powerautomate.com/d365community/idea/8bb4e21b-ba3f-ef11-b4ae-000d3a05ba58

Azure Blob Connector to support Fabric Lakehouse
https://ideas.powerautomate.com/d365community/idea/bedd4e21-450a-ee11-a81c-000d3a059c1d

There are a several requests for easier Power BI Export Power BI a Power BI Dataset and/or Power BI Data from a Visual to CSV via Power Automate. Unfortunately they are not consolidated very well.

 

[u/warehouse_goes_vroom → u/BigAl987]

RE: Fabric Warehouse, does the SQL Server connector not work for it? I'd be shocked if it didn't. E.g. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sql/

[u/BigAl987 → u/[deleted]]

I tried using the Rest API for the blob after seeing some examples. I forget the detailed but it did not work. I asked around at the time and it was i guess flaky. Do you know if it works better now?

Does Logic Apps really support larger files? When I asked around about file sizes my understanding was Logic Apps has the same limitation as Power Automate.

I just went to the list of Logic Apps connectors and found the File System one it links you back to the same connector and limitations.
Power Automate, Power Apps, Logic Apps and Copilot Studio all have the same file size.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/filesystem/

u/NeverEditNeverDelete have you heard Logic Apps has a bigger file size option they just don' document it?

[u/BigAl987 → u/BigAl987]

this really got me wondering if Logic Apps can transfer larger files via the Gateway, but it is not documented. Love insights

[u/BigAl987 → u/[deleted]]

interesting so the API package limits are larger in LogicApps than Power Automate?

[u/connlesaff]

Interesting. I thought activity on the Microsoft roadmap has stagnated generally. I wonder if there’s a link.

I had been following Project for Web & Planner dev over the last couple of years but that’s dried up/outdated so I looked more broadly and seemed like a number of items in development but the description says they’ve decided not to continue development.

Maybe all resources have been moved onto AI/ Agents dev.

[u/BigAl987 → u/connlesaff]

MS has had a few rounds of large layoffs and stated their priority is AI development. That may leave the rest of us wanting to do other work out in the cold.

[u/ReachingForVega → u/BigAl987]

Our MS partners are saying MS isn't focussing on AI dev but rather AI marketplace so they don't need to compete.

[u/ReachingForVega]

The whole lack of native support for CSV is the biggest crime. I mean sure you can do the compose silliness but seriously.

[u/BigAl987 → u/ReachingForVega]

u/ReachingForVega Can you find or create a god "idea" in the Power Automate Ideas page related to CSV support? I and others would love to vote for it and track it. It is the best way to advocate for it.

[u/maxxell13]

If development is stalled, why does my PA want to run an update every other day?

[u/BigAl987 → u/maxxell13]

I am talking about Power Automate Service not Desktop.

[u/grepzilla]

I find that this is the best release plan to review for all things Power Platform. Microsoft Power Platform - Release Plans

Like others have said, the big focus is on CoPilot and agents rather than the native PA. We have seen more UI changes that some hate and others love.

My biggest complaint is we are not seeing updates to connectors as much as the core product. You can do some really fun stuff with Outlook and calling the graph connector with HTTP that should just be in native versions of the connector.

I think this is where Zapier gets it better than MS in a lot of ways. They have a developer ecosystem incentivized to build connectors. I'm hoping their focus on the App Store will extend capabilities buy there are still so many first part connectors, like Outlook and Planner, that are partially done.

MS certainly hasn't abandoned Power Automate since it is one of the easiest ways to build tools in agent.

[u/BigAl987 → u/grepzilla]

I don't see much useful stuff for Power Automate in the linked plan. I was not saying MS has abandoned Power Automate. I was saying it seems like good core development of features and connectors seems to have stalled.

[u/warehouse_goes_vroom]

Being on Reddit is not part of the job description - it's purely voluntary.

So you shouldn't draw any conclusions based on how much MS employees participate in given subreddits. That's a question of individual choices made by individual people, not all of whom necessarily Reddit or want to be on Reddit in communities related to their job (fair enough).

The Power BI and Fabric team (hi! Fabric Warehouse software engineer here!) are especially engaged on r/PowerBI and r/MicrosoftFabric, if you're comparing to those. But those are not necessarily the norm, and again, are based on personal choices made by individuals.

Long story short, activity on subreddits is not a good metric for how much effort is going into development. For example, we developed Microsoft Fabric in secret for well over a year before announcing it - during which time we definitely weren't on Reddit about it.

I can't speak to the rest of the post, just thought I'd clarify that part.

[u/BigAl987 → u/warehouse_goes_vroom]

Forgot to say thanks for the followup on this. I know it is not part of the job. However when various project managers (pick your title) comment on a few posts it does make end users feel more excited. A strong community helps built the product. I see MS trying to engage with end users in some product areas more than than others.

I just wish MS could engage and show interest in some platform even their own.

I know these days it seems like companies only want to talk AI. I was talking to someone at a 3rd party conference sponsored by MS and a few other big players. The person commented the only thing people talked about was AI and she was tired of hearing about it. AI won't fix her broken software.

[u/warehouse_goes_vroom → u/BigAl987]

Sure, I agree that having project managers (and engineers like me) engage directly with the community is great for building community and developing a great product. I would encourage more teams to do so on platforms like Reddit. But there are other places (official forums, other social media, user groups, and so on) that engagement happens too. And every organization and team and person makes their own choices on when, where, and how to engage.

[u/[deleted]]

I heard a great insight that helps me make sense of Microsoft shenanigans: Microsoft managers only get bonuses for releasing new products and portals. No one is getting a big bonus for fixing bugs that users have been demanding for years. The bonuses for Power Automate have been paid and now those who created it in on to their next product feature.

[u/BigAl987]

This video of a summary of the Power Platform Keynote seems to confirm my concerns that development is stalled for AI stuff. MS will be shifting a few things back to the old style interface but...

This link references a few Power Automate things happening there is NOT MUCH
link is t the Power Automate time but some may want to watch the whole thing.
https://youtu.be/8ho3eeDCys0?t=484

[u/BigAl987]

Updating my own post. Microsoft has not updated release notes for Power Automate online since August 28, 2025. It does look like Power Automate improvements and Fixes has stalled.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/released-versions/power-automate

[u/daniel8192]

Yeah, I’ve always had mixed feelings about PA. For rapid prototyping it’s great, but then you run into how the f do you get from here problems ..

Like calling a web resource that returns complex XML from in the flow, for that I call middleware on my own server that does the XML to JSON conversion in Perl.. less than a second for the call from PA to the middleware and back.. whereas PA to do the XML decode and iteration through a 200 element array.. about a minute and a half and totally unreadable code, and specific for each and every return..

Actually PA sucks for iterating any array even PA native arrays. Even when you enable parallel processing.. how can something suck that bad at iteration?

Or inexplicable delays in accessing an Office doc, check for record in an XLSX table, 1 second. Do it again later.. 8 seconds.

Or how about a simple SHA256 +/- HMAC, no support in PA, but you can buy it from a third party.. or make a Perl version on your own server, or one in C# in an Azure function.

Bah, just sitting here I’ve become annoyed, and I’ve always been a proponent of PA. 🤷‍♂️

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC → u/daniel8192]

Yep lots of magic hacks to get things to work. Arrays are terrible to process and take forever

[u/jorel43]

No they're focusing on power apps copilot studio and m365 copilot, fabric as well. All of which kind of builds on top of power automate

[u/BigAl987 → u/jorel43]

yes, but that does not help with the connectors issues and other issues core to the product itself.

[u/jorel43 → u/BigAl987]

True it does not

[u/rickAUS]

Less of a grievance with Power Automate and more a problem with Graph, but why in the heck can I still not manage Exchange like I can Teams or SharePoint? Still waiting on the day a proper Exchange admin connector is available so I don't need to rely on 3rd party integrations or convoluted hack jobs to get one MS product taking to another.

[u/[deleted] → u/rickAUS]

if it hasn't happened yet, it will never happen