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What is Power Automate?

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With its automation capabilities, Power Automate helps you streamline your business processes and automate repetitive tasks. Its intuitive interface and many connectors allow you to create workflows with little to no knowledge of coding. You can drag and drop components and set up workflows to save time and improve efficiency. Power Automate can handle simple tasks like sending notifications as well as more complex processes across multiple apps and services. It's flexible and scalable, making it useful for various automation needs in a modern workplace.

Types of flows

With Power Automate you can create cloud flows, desktop flows, or business process flows.

Check out this video to learn more about the different types of flows.

Cloud flows

Create a cloud flow when you want your automation to be triggered either automatically, instantly, or via a schedule.

Flow type Use case Automation target
Automated flows Create an automation that is triggered by an event such as arrival of an email from a specific person, or a mention of your company in social media. Connectors for cloud or on-premises services connect your accounts and enable them to talk to each other.
Instant flows Start an automation by selecting a button. You can automate repetitive tasks from your desktop or mobile devices. For example, instantly send a reminder to the team with a push of a button from your mobile device. Wide range of tasks such as requesting an approval, an action in Teams or SharePoint.
Scheduled flows Schedule an automation such as daily data upload to SharePoint or a database. Tasks that need to be automated on a schedule.

Desktop flows

Use 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. They provide a streamlined user experience that leads people through the processes their organization defined for interactions that need to be advanced to a conclusion of some kind. This user experience can be tailored so that people with different security roles can have an experience that best suits the work they do.

Create and manage flows in Power Apps

Your Power Automate license also gives you rights to create and manage flows in Power Apps. For example, after you sign in to Power Apps, you can select Flows in the left navigation pane. You can also create and manage flows through the Power Automate pane within Power Apps Studio.