In this first ever “How To” on the community, I share a quick walkthrough of some of the most useful templates available in the Power Platform ecosystem. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for inspiration to streamline your automation projects, these templates can save you time and help you build robust solutions with minimal effort.
Watch the video below, or read on 😉
Power Automate Templates: Your Starting Point
There are hundreds of templates available in Power Automate (make.powerautomate.com), covering a wide range of scenarios - from approvals to notifications and integrations. If you’re unsure where to begin, browsing these templates is a great way to discover what’s possible.
- Tip: You can filter templates by category and open them in edit mode to see all the actions involved. This is perfect for learning how different services interact and for copying actions into your own flows.
- Practical Use: If you need an approval workflow, simply find a template, edit it, and adapt it to your needs. Templates are especially helpful for understanding available actions and getting started quickly.
Power Apps: Rapid App Creation with Page Design
Next, I demonstrated how to use Power Apps (make.powerapps.com) to create functional apps in minutes. By starting with a page design, you can connect to data sources like Microsoft Lists and instantly generate a working app - no coding required.
- Example: I connected a demo travel request list from Microsoft Lists and created an app that allowed me to view, edit, and delete items. While the default setup isn’t production-ready, it’s a fantastic way to prototype and iterate.
- Customisation: For client-facing or internal apps, you’ll want to tweak dropdowns and data displays (e.g., showing display names or email addresses instead of raw list values).
AI Hub: Building and Testing AI Models
I also introduced the AI Hub, a space for experimenting with pre-built AI models. For example, you can use sentiment analysis models to classify text as positive, negative, or neutral.
- Demo: Analysing the sentence “My device stopped working after only two months” returned a negative sentiment with 99% confidence. Adding “but the price was excellent” shifted the sentiment to positive.
- Note: These models are a great starting point but may require further training for more nuanced analysis.
Power Automate Desktop: Robotic Process Automation Made Easy
Finally, I touched on Power Automate Desktop, which enables robotic process automation (RPA) on your desktop. With nearly 400 actions available, getting started can be daunting, but the examples section provides step-by-step guides for common tasks like PDF automation.
- Advice: Use the example flows as inspiration or a foundation for your own automations. You can edit and extend them to suit your needs.
Conclusion
Templates across Power Platform, whether in Power Automate, Power Apps, AI Hub, or Power Automate Desktop, offer a powerful way to accelerate your automation journey. They provide inspiration, practical starting points, and hands-on learning opportunities. Don’t hesitate to explore, experiment, and adapt these resources to fit your unique requirements.
Thank you for reading, and happy automating!
