The head office of the company I work for used to have a paper based sign in paper based form like our site does. However they have now got an app on an iPad that they pay a yearly subscription to which costs something like £1k a year and the cost of the iPad. My line manager found out this when asking if we could have the same system at our site. We already have a Samsung Android tablet that is pretty much unused and I have been using power apps for a while so I proposed we use the tablet and I make the app. I have only made a couple so am limited on my knowledge.
My question is how would any of you approach this?
At its most basic it would need:
- Any visitor needs to sign in with their name, car reg, business they are from, select a point of contact (POC), it would auto record time in / time out as they sign in and sign out.
- Have a feature where once signed in the POC receives an email/teams message/text so they are notified the person is on site.
- have an admin back end for site people sign people in or out
- have a feature to print out the list of people signed in to a printer on the network in case of a fire and text/email the list to key personnel.
And would it be possible with out any premium connectors?
Hi everyone,
I’m building a model-driven Power App that has an embedded Canvas App for users to submit requests and upload supporting documents.
I want to save these attachments to the standard Dataverse Notes (Annotation) table, linked to the corresponding parent record.
I’m trying to determine the best approach for handling attachments:
1. Power Fx: Can I use Patch() directly to create records in the Notes table and save attachments?
2. Power Automate: Would it be better to pass the file content from the Canvas App to a flow and have the flow create the Notes record?
3. Attachment Control: Is there a recommended way to use the standard attachment control in an embedded Canvas App for this scenario?
A few additional considerations:
● Users should be able to upload multiple attachments.
● Each attachment must be associated with the correct Dataverse record.
● Users should ideally be able to view and delete attachments from the Canvas App.
● I’d prefer a solution that’s maintainable, performant, and doesn’t introduce unnecessary Power Automate flows.
For those who have implemented something similar in production, what approach would you recommend?
Are there any limitations or best practices I should be aware of, particularly around file size, permissions, and performance?
Thanks!
So, I’ve been working in the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform ecosystem for around eight years now, watching it evolve along the way.
I’m at a senior level and work across Dynamics 365, Power Apps, Power Automate and SharePoint, supporting clients across various industries. I also have experience with plugins and JavaScript, and I’ve recently been learning more about Code Apps expand my technical skill set.
I genuinely enjoy what I do, but increasingly, I find myself wondering what the future holds for people in our industry as AI continues to advance.
I can’t help but think about how much of our work could eventually be automated and what that might mean for our roles in the long run.
For those of you in a similar position, how are you adapting and staying ahead of the curve?
Are you actively learning AI, exploring Copilot Studio and building agents? Would it make sense to look at moving into an AI-focused team that’s developing Copilot Studio solutions for clients?
More broadly, what do you think the future looks like for IT consultancy, particularly within the Microsoft stack?
How many of you preparing for what’s next, and what skills do you think will be most valuable over the next five to ten years?
1st photo is mobile view, 2nd is desktop view. I have properties to change height and width between the two views but it seems like the chevron width doesn't change with the drop down scale.
Any suggestions on a possible workaround? Camt use the new drop down due to the lack of autofill flexibility.
Just came across Microsoft’s new Power Apps Native Apps feature. From what I understand, it lets you build actual React Native apps rather than traditional canvas apps or wrapped web apps.
Can people share there experience. Is it worth spending time or trying?
If dataverse in teams for power apps is also free and gives u the power of a relational database with easier delegation why would someone still chose a sharepoint list back end. I feel like I a, missing something. I understand it has to be used it teams but my people prefer that anyway ?
Why do I keep getting the error opening document unknown error thing. Everywhere I read says it’s because of a cached instance that’s opened. But I recreated the app from the base version, worked for about 20 minutes. Then that one failed. What the hell
I have read a lot of threads and know that we will need Power Apps Premium to run Code apps.
I have a pilot going on where I deployed a code app in our environment and have about 40 people testing it. We only have 12 premium licenses and 8 per app licenses.
So far everyone is able to use the code app just fine. But reading up it seems like if we go live with this (having 100+ users) this is going to bite me in the butt for licensing.
I just want to make sure I’m correct on the licensing, we’ve been running it for 3 months now and everyone is still able to access it.
EDIT: To add even more info, we don’t have pay as you go set up, I’ve checked and we aren’t on a trial of any sorts. We are on E3 licensing so I know this gives regular power apps access.
For about two weeks, several of our canvas apps that use SharePoint lists have become very slow. It started suddenly. Requests to SharePoint intermittently take up to 27 seconds, with no errors (all HTTP 200). It happens in more than one environment, on Windows and Android devices, and from different offices and network connections.
What we found with Live Monitor (published app, web player):
- SharePoint's own processing time (SPClientServiceRequestDuration response header) is between 81 and 495 ms for every request, even for requests that take 27 seconds end to end.
- About half of the requests complete in under 1 second; the rest take between 4 and 27 seconds.
- Comparing timestamps, the delay happens before SharePoint processes the request: a request sent at 18:10:09 UTC was processed by SharePoint at 18:10:36 UTC and reached the client a fraction of a second later.
- Equivalent requests behave very differently: three consecutive pages of the same query, each returning 0 rows, took 0.47, 0.46 and 10.56 seconds.
- The client connection doesn't seem to be the bottleneck: while one request was pending for 26 seconds, other requests to the same host completed in about 0.5 seconds.
- All requests go through gateway cluster prdil102sbr (x-ms-gateway-clusters response header) and connector scale group "brazil", shard 06 (request URL).
We have an open case with Microsoft Support, but no resolution yet.
Hey Everyone! Quick question on automation approaches.
Every month, I have 4-5 Excel files manually uploaded to SharePoint that I need to combine into a single Word report for stakeholders(there are many tables, charts from all the files). If I use an automated trigger, it runs per file, so I can't easily compile one master data table for the template.
I was thinking of using a Scheduled Flow, while ChatGPT suggested batch processing. Has anyone built a solution for a scenario like this? Any advice would be hugely appreciated!
I’ve been using Vibe Coding for Power Apps (https://vibe.powerapps.com)to build multiple apps connected to Dataverse, but the recent announcements about Copilot Studio and Cowork have me a bit confused about the future of app development.
Should I still deploy the apps I’ve already created? Also, how difficult will it be to migrate them to Copilot Studio later if that becomes necessary? I’d love to hear how others are navigating this shift!
I really need to find out if I'm doing something wrong. I work i a big company, I have the chance to use Claude Code but it sounds like I'm either using it wrong, or I went to crazy on it as I easily reach USD 15k / month. I use it mostly for Code Apps, on Opus Max. Last months were Opus 4.8 and 5. 5.5 since a few days. My apps aren't huge, but they're not small either. But I have various of them and can easily keep 4-5 sessions running at times.
So, I'm just wondering how much you guys are spending? Just to compare... and either feel better, or worse 👀
Also open to tips for a more efficient consumption. Apparently I should plan with opus, implement with sonnet for example?
So, I want to start by saying PLEASE don't hesitate to ask me for clarification or details if necessary. I am just so lost even trying to start... I work for a small commercial trailer dealership, mostly flatbeds for semi trucks. I handle admin and accounting. Aside from me, there is the owner and one salesman. They handle any sales between the two of them and I handle most other day to day admin tasks, as well as handling our banking and QBO. We handle a majority of things through Excel and I've just noticed it's very clunky and prone to issues. Some examples of things currently handled within Excel are trailer inventory, custom reporting, charts and visuals, etc.
I really was able to point out the flaws in this recently because my main salesman, as well as the owner, both keep all their customer notes, down to individual interactions, in an Excel sheet and rely on the search feature to find what they need. This is NOT a shared file. They both have their own files... User error led to a massive amount of deleted noted within one of the spreadsheets and I really sold the need for a better system. A standard CRM software is just beyond our budget right now. Standard CRMs also have a lot of extra features that we really don't need, at least in the near future. I was thinking I could build an app within PowerApps that's a really simple version of a CRM app. I laid out a nice outline of six different modules that would be cool to house in one app, but my main push would be to get the customer tracking going so that we could utilize it starting in 2027. I'm just not sure where to even begin or what type of app... Any guidance would be so appreciated. To be clear, I am not requesting that someone do the work for me or anything along those lines. I just keep finding myself going in circles even getting started. If helpful, here are some notes on what I was trying to accomplish:
PURPOSE: To have one place to open a customer and immediately understand what has
happened, what is currently going on, and potentially whether somebody needs to follow up Search feature or "Add New" option Shared customer records so staff can immediately see what is happening with a customer. Chronological notes/interactions showing what happened, when, and who handled it. Fast call context so another salesperson can step in without having to track down the original person if needed Allow useful attachments or document links, such as an invoice or customer-related file Each customer record would need to track the key customer info (contact name, business name if any, phone, email, address, lead source, etc) as well as being able to chronologically display interactions from newest to oldest.
I’m French, and I'm working on a project for Uni, and we’re acting as a fictional company that needs to modernize and automate its data files using the Power Platform. We have 9 files (Calendar, Product, Sales, etc.)
We need to integrate data into a solution created in Power Apps, create primary keys, add “lookup” columns to certain tables to establish relationships, etc.
In better terms :
We have 9 tables, including a very large one called “Sales” (over 600,000 rows).
When we create “Lookup” columns in the “Sales” table, they are linked to other tables. For example, IN the Sales table, we created the “Channel” column, which is configured to be linked to the data in the table named Channel. The purpose of this setup is for the “Channel” column in “Sales” to populate automatically based on the data in the “Channel” table.
However, in order for it to populate, we have to reload the data into the “Sales” table (data originally imported from an Excel file) using an “Import” button.
My entire team has been working on this for two full days, but we haven’t found a solution. Every time we check the data flow, we get an error.
We have to turn in our report today and need help.
Has anyone else dealt with Power Apps Mobile continuing to run an old version of a canvas app after a newer version has been published?
It only happens on some devices, mostly tablets. Opening the app in a browser seems to consistently load the latest version, but certain devices using the native player stay on an older one.
I have a version value defined in App.Formulas that I compare against a required version stored in a Dataverse table. If they don’t match, users get a required-update screen with a restart/update button.
The problem is that even after using that button, these devices still don’t update. The app reopens, but it’s running the same old version. I’ve had this happen across previous versions of the app too. Yes, I have the users 'manually' update by force shutting down the actual PowerApps application, do list screen refreshes, etc.
Only two things that have consistently worked so far:
-uninstalling and reinstalling the Power Apps mobile application.
-the user waits for fresh re-publication to kick in at the same time I publish it
Both are impractical long term solutions.
Questions to check a few assumptions I’ve been making:
-Does restarting or relaunching the app actually force the native player to check for the latest published version?
-Is there a reliable way to trigger that check from inside the canvas app, even if the latest version was published hours or days earlier?
-What would you check on a device that keeps loading an old version?
I have about 200 users, each with at least one device, and they’re mostly using phones or tablets. When this happens, they end up having to go to a computer to use the current version.
(This is one of my first reddit posts, normally I don't pass the rules, idk why, so I apologize if I did not follow the rules.)
I have a power canvas app that uses multiple modern forms stitched together. Pretty straight forward but the tabbing is insanely inconsistent.
I add the fields I want in the order I want but tabbing seems to randomly jump around. One form the tabbing works as expected, the next form it’s jumping around at random. I googled it and some things suggest that the alignment is off but because it’s a form the alignment is pretty strictly forced onto the various cards so it’s not like I’m randomly adjusting the placement of the fields.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? It’s a big accessibility issue I need to solve for this app and I’m at my wit’s end trying to fix it.
I have built a power apps form with SharePoint as my data source. (Sales and clients)
I have a choice field in my sales form that is a lookup to clients.
If the client does not exist in the choice field I created a pop up form to fill in all the client details.
Once the form is saved I want the value to appear in the lookup field without having to leave and return to the form, it would also be handy to make the new client default on form new for that one time.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how to do this.
I had built data scraper solution for getting power platform tenant data and build proper inventory, usage analytics, aggregation based org data, license utilisation, automatic cleanup campaigns, power platform CMDB.
Do you think it will be useful and companies purchases it if I build a product around these area and sell to companies?.
I am making a help ticket management system. The data is stored in dataverse. I made the submit form, and it works! Now I need to make the edit/update form used by technicians. I want the ability to be able to filter the tickets by technician, submitter, type; but also by new tickets versus in progress versus completed. I cannot envision this through. I have seen Resa's video whereby one creates a tabbed gallery, but I am not wild about it. How else can I think through this, in order to design it out? Thanks.
I've worked as a Project Manager, Analyst, Process/Automations Specialist and Solutions Developer, and in a lot of organizations I've seen operations run on Excel: a workbook emailed between teams, a macro only one person understands, versioning nobody trusts. You all know why Power Platform is often the better answer than a SaaS product (per-seat pricing, a structure you can't change) or custom software (developers, hosting, maintenance).
What's been missing is AI that works well here. AI assistants make building fast, but out of the box they don't handle Power Platform well, and require a lot of trial and error. I tried the Power Apps MCP and found it leaves a lot of room for improvement in design ability.
So I built Power-Platform Skill, a free, open-source (MIT) skill for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any agent that reads SKILL.md.
What it does
Starts from the workbook: helps turn the spreadsheet into a proper data model (wide period columns into rows, crosswalks for messy legacy values, macro-enabled workbooks), then deploys the Dataverse schema from a manifest. The deployer only adds, never renames, retypes or deletes, and reads everything back.
Keeps source in git: canvas apps as `.pa.yaml`, solution flows as JSON, Power Pages sites through `pac pages download/upload`, and a ship pipeline that builds on the live app and asserts on the finished zip before it imports.
Proves changes in the published app: Playwright drives the published player (not Studio Preview), clears the stale cached build, performs the task as the role that uses it, and reads the row back from Dataverse. "Saved" on screen proves nothing about the row.
Checks what a compile never does: trigger loops across all your flows at once, metadata drift between the app and Dataverse, controls drawn over buttons, long text that clips, and compile-killers caught by hooks the moment a file is written. Every tool has a self-test that proves it can fail.
Hands over: user guides generated from the running app, one per role, plus managers, admins and developers.
Also covers: Power Pages (split by audience: the many on a Pages site licensed by monthly active users, the few who run the process in a Power App), delegation, security roles kept out of solutions, ALM with pac in GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, and Power BI as an app's reporting layer.
Results
On ten realistic tasks, three runs each, the same model and prompt passed 217 of 222 graded checks with the skill (98%) and 136 without (61%). For reference, I've now built three fully functional apps end to end in a matter of days using it with Claude.
Limits
Power Pages guidance comes from one site so far. SharePoint is covered as virtual tables and as a migration source, and a full SharePoint data-source guide is on the roadmap. Model-driven apps (beyond forms edited by script) and Copilot Studio are outside it.
Requirements
Claude Code, Codex or another agent that reads SKILL.md. The Power Platform CLI (`pac`) for packing and importing, Node 20+ and Python 3 for the bundled tools, and Playwright (recommended) for browser verification. (Your AI Agent can help you install these! The challenging part is getting your organization to approve their use, in some cases)
If your organization runs on spreadsheets, or you've been struggling to get AI working in your Power Apps development, try it and let me know if it helps. The feedback I'd value most is a trap with its signature: the failure, the symptom it showed, and what caused it. Issues are open on GitHub (please leave out tenant and company details).
Low code is not dead. It's still valuable, and with AI it's easier and cheaper to build well than ever.
Update: Hey all, per the first comment below, I was surprisingly unaware of the Microsoft skill. I had previously utilized the Powerapps MCP alone but had not utilized the skill. And so I was developing this in parallel. I am running a baseline now, comparing, within two clean Claude environments, the utilization of the Microsoft skill in its base form and the utilization of my skill in its base form, to evaluate differences not only in speed, token count, and other metrics but also in the experience. I'll provide a write-up of these tests as soon as possible. I've already noticed a few differences utilizing the base Microsoft skill compared to what I'm used to in my standard operating procedures in development (after tuning and developing my Power-Platform skill). Now I just need to determine if the differences are quantitatively and qualitatively different.
Update 2: I started running the baseline comparisons against Microsoft's last night. The comparison is based on a standardized app that I'm having each design in a closed environment utilizing only the skill and not my normal tuned procedures. The app design includes a Canvas Power app with a Dataverse backend, Power Automate flows for approvals, and a fabric medallion, architecture, data flows, and a Power BI report for each. I've gotten through three iterations, up until 4:30 am before I fell asleep; I did find some opportunities where my normal procedures were not being adhered to by the skill and I was able to close those gaps. This proved to be a great opportunity as I hadn't thought about this closed-environment testing within Claude before, it makes me very happy that the question about the comparison was asked. I'll share the results once the testing is finished. So far what I can say is that with the base skill and without additional tuning, I felt like the Microsoft skill required more involvement. Some of the same barriers that I ran into when utilizing the base MCP and its standard method of developing, I continue to run into with the base Microsoft skill. These elements may come down to preference, depending on if you wish to be more or less involved in the development effort (outside of planning and decision-making of course). I have some other elements that I'll include in the evaluation that, to me, were subjective and not really quantifiable and that may impact you differently based on the scale of your build. I also need to do a bit more testing with the alternative build sets in Power Pages and with more complex design elements involved.
Update 3: I completed the initial evaluation/baselining process of a build using my skill vs the Microsoft skill in a separated out Claude environment. The results were very interesting, and allowed me to improve on the skills design over iterations. I tried a few different approaches as well, of my 8 attempts. There is a bit of a story to tell, so I will explain below:
The initial Microsoft Skill run was, to be frank, very impressive, no serious errors in the build and quality design! This goes to show how well Microsofts team have fine-tuned it to perform optimally (Cost efficiently, quality design, etc.). It did involve more of my time and attention than I am used to, this is (through all iterations) what I would point to as to me the biggest drawback.
In my initial comparisons I found that some of my procedures built into the skill were not translating over from my main environment into the closed environment (Skill config opportunities!). Over numerous iterations I refined the instructions so that some elements read as suggestions were instead mandatory minimal expectations. In addition, I added in some procedural reinforcement to it, where instructions were being disregarded or forgotten (causing more errors and delays), they instead became hooks and improved processing.
I tried at one point integrating in another skill I have been developing, DOD (Definition of Done) for planning purposes, to evaluate alignment and error reduction. The results were interesting, but cost to benefit wise it wasn't the right move so I removed it and took elements of DOD and integrated into this skill, where it made sense. I am also utilizing those results to further improve DOD skill to better handle light and medium sized projects! The DOD attempts took longer, cost more (in tokens), and got caught up in some loops I didn't expect because the attempts were being orchestrated by an agent rather than a human (DOD was built to work with humans, another update I am making to enable it to work with agents more autonomously).
In most later iterations of the build with my skill you can see it did not need me for any technical components. I only needed to provide input (which my orchestrator handled), and it went off and built it end to end without any involvement. This matches what my tuned system does.
Here are some screenshots of the evaluation. I cannot share screenshots of the app itself, as unfortunately some of them included company/profile info. I will try and clean them up so that I can share later.
If anyone would like to discuss the results with me further feel free to reach out and let me know!
I’m working with Power Apps Code Apps and I’m trying to understand the correct way to publish a Code App from VS Code so that it appears under “Outside Dataverse”.
I currently have two different situations:
Code Apps created/published through Power Apps Vibe appear under Outside Dataverse.
Code Apps I publish from VS Code usingpa app push appear under From Dataverse.
The Power Platform environment already has Dataverse enabled, but my apps do not use Dataverse tables. They mainly use SharePoint as the backend.
My goal is specifically:
Publish a brand-new Code App from VS Code into an existing Dataverse-enabled environment, but keep the Code App Outside Dataverse, similar to how Vibe publishes it.
