Understand Power Apps Studio
You can use Power Apps Studio to design, build, and manage your canvas app.
Overview of Power Apps Studio
Power Apps Studio modern command bar: Dynamic command bar that shows a different set of commands based on the control selected.
App actions: Options to rename, share, run the app checker, add comments, preview, save, or publish the app.
Properties list: List of properties for the selected object.
Formula bar: Compose or edit a formula for the selected property with one or more functions.
App authoring menu: Selection pane to switch between data sources and insert options.
App authoring options: Details pane with options relevant to the selected menu item for authoring the app.
Canvas/screen: Primary canvas for composing the app structure.
Properties pane - properties list for the selected object in UI format.
Settings and virtual agent: Go to the settings or get help building your app from a virtual agent.
Screen selector: Switch between different screens in an app.
Change canvas screen size: Change the size of the canvas during an authoring experience in Power Apps Studio.
Let's understand each option in Power Apps Studio in detail.
1 – Power Apps Studio modern command bar
Power Apps Studio options are available on the command bar. The options are relevant to the current session and app-related settings.
Modern command bar
The modern command bar displays the relevant set of commands depending on the control that is selected.
The command bar changes when one of the following controls or objects is selected:
- App object
- Screen
- Button
- Shape
- Icon
- Blank form
- Form with data
- Blank gallery
- Gallery with data
- Label
- Text input
- Date picker
When more than one type of control is selected, the command bar shows the common commands between the selected controls.
Back
Takes you back to the build hub, closing the current Power Apps Studio session.
Undo and redo
- Undo: Undo the last action.
- Redo: Repeat the last action.
Cut, copy, and paste
- Cut: Cut the selection, and store it in the clipboard.
- Copy: Copy the selection, and store it in the clipboard.
- Paste: Paste the last cut or copied selection from the clipboard.
Insert
The Insert menu is available from the command bar and from the app authoring menu.
Insert shows all the popular objects or controls that you can add on the selected screen in your canvas app. You can also expand other choices or use the components option to insert controls from a component library.
To insert controls on the canvas, you can drag the control to the canvas or select the control.
Popular controls
Name | Description |
---|---|
Text label | A box that shows data such as text, numbers, dates, or currency. |
Edit form | Display, edit, or create a record in a data source. |
Text input | A box that shows text. |
Vertical gallery | A control that contains other controls and shows a set of data. |
Rectangle | A rectangular shape to configure the canvas appearance. |
Date picker | A control that the user can select to specify a date. |
Button | A control that the user can select to interact with the app. |
For more information about the controls you can insert, including their properties and definitions, go to Controls and properties in canvas apps.
Add data
From the Add data menu, you can:
- Select any other existing tables from the current environment.
- Search and select a connector, such as SharePoint or SQL Server.
New screen layouts
Select from the list of available screen layouts.
Templates
You can use a template for a screen. Select Templates and choose Blank, Scrollable, List, Success, Tutorial, Email, People, Meeting, Calendar, Portrait print, or Landscape print.
Background color
Select a background color for a screen. You can select from the list of standard colors or select the Custom tab and choose your own color.
Background image
Select Upload to upload images to set as the background image.
Settings
Configure the app's settings from the General, Display, Upcoming features, or Support tab.
General
- Edit the app Name and Description.
- Add or update the App icon. Add a custom icon with + Add image.
- Select an Icon background fill or Icon fill color.
- Toggle Auto save to save every two minutes automatically.
- Configure offline use.
- Enable modern controls and themes to update automatically.
- Set your Data row limit.
- Include debug information when you publish.
- Enable autocreation of environment variables.
- Enable App.OnStart property.
For example, to edit the app Name, go to the General tab of Settings.
Display
- Select the Orientation and screen Size.
- Scale to fit: Scales the app to fit available space.
- Lock aspect ratio: Locks the height and width ratio.
- Lock orientation: Maintains app orientation when device rotates.
- Show mobile device notifications area: Displays notifications at the top of the screen.
For more information, see Change screen size and orientation.
Upcoming features
Allows you to configure advanced settings for the app that include features under preview, experimental or retired features.
For more information, see Understand experimental, preview, and retired features in Power Apps.
Support
Access current Power Apps Studio information such as environment, authoring version, session ID, and session details. This information is useful for Microsoft Support sessions.
Power Automate
Create a new flow with Power Automate, or select any available flow.
For more information, see Use Power Automate pane.
Collections
A collection is a group of items that are similar, such as products in a product list. This section lists the collections used by the current app. For more information, see Collections in canvas apps.
Variables
You can save data such as the result values from a data set into temporary storage by using variables. This section lists variables used by the current app. For more information, see Variables in canvas apps.
2 – App actions
To work with app-specific actions, use the options such as Share, App checker, Comments, Preview the app, Save, and Publish.
Share
When you select the Share app action, you see a new tab or window open where you can share the app. You can share with other users or add them as co-owners of your app.
Tip
You must save the app before you can share it.
App checker
Select App checker to run a check.
For more information, see PowerApps checker now includes App checker results for Canvas apps in solutions.
Comments
Comments are notes associated with items in your app. Use comments to help your team review the app and provide feedback, or provide additional information on implementation details in your app.
Preview
Select Preview the app to go into preview mode. Here you can view and interact with the current version of the app.
Save
You can save your app in different ways, such as Save, Save with version notes, Save as, or Download a copy. The save options dropdown is located next to the Save app action.
Save options include:
- Save: Saves recent and unsaved changes you made to the app. Each time you save changes, a new version is created.
- Save with version notes: Save and add notes about your updates.
- Save as: Duplicate the app by saving it with a different name.
- Download a copy: Download a local copy of the app.
Publish
Select Publish to publish the app’s current version. For more information, see Save and publish canvas apps.
3 – Properties list
When you select an object in your canvas, you can choose one of the object's properties from its properties list. For a complete list of all possible properties, see All properties.
4 – Formula bar
The formula bar lets you add, edit, or remove functions of a property from your selected object. For example, select the app screen to update the background color by using the RGBA function.
The formula bar is IntelliSense-enabled. When you start entering text that matches one or more functions, the formula bar shows a list of functions.
When you select a function, the formula bar shows inline function help and highlights help text relevant to the cursor position.
If a formula returns an error, you can view the error details in App checker.
Similarly, you find help when working with complex functions, nested functions, or when correcting a formula syntax.
For a complete list of all canvas app functions, see Formula reference - Power Apps.
5 – App authoring menu
Switch between various authoring options while working with the app.
Tip
You can select the tree view icon to collapse or expand the list to either include icons only or full names with icons.
- Tree view: Shows a tree view of all screens and controls in the current app.
- Insert: Allows you to add different controls to the screen.
- Data: Add or remove data such as tables that the app connects to.
- Media: Insert or remove media from the app.
- Power Automate: Add a flow using the Power Automate pane.
- Variables(preview): Work with variables and collections while editing your app.
- Advanced tools: Allows you to access the Monitor and Test tools to debug and test your app.
- Search: Select to search for media, formulas, text, and more in your app. You can also do a search and replace.
6 – App authoring options
The options for working with canvas apps change depending on the selection on the authoring menu.
Tree view
Select the tree view to show the screens available in the app.
Tip
Select App in the tree view to work with app-specific controls. You can change app behavior, such as adding a formula for the OnStart event of the app.
Switch to the Components tab of Tree view to work with component library features. You can add new components or reuse ones from the published component libraries. For more information, see Component library.
For more information on adding components, see the Insert section.
Data
Add, refresh, or remove data sources from your canvas app. You can add one or more connections by using data sources.
In addition to data stored within tables, there are many connectors available to interact with data in popular software as a service (SaaS), services, and systems.
To choose other connectors such as SharePoint, OneDrive, or SQL Server, you can enter text in the data source search box or select from the list of connectors.
For more information, see List of all Power Apps connectors.
Media
Select Media to add images, video, or audio files to your app. Adding media directly to your app uploads the files to the app and uses the app storage.
Tip
- Each file uploaded to the app as media must be 64 MB or smaller.
- The size of all media files uploaded to an app can't exceed 200 MB.
If you want to reference more media, consider using audio and video controls with URLs, media from Azure Media Services, or from Microsoft Stream.
For more information, see Using multimedia files in Power Apps.
7 – Canvas/screen
The canvas shows the currently selected screen from the authoring menu.
Use inline actions when you're editing a canvas app. For more information, see Use inline actions in Power Apps Studio.
8 – Properties pane
The properties pane shows properties and options available for the currently selected object on the canvas.
- The Properties tab shows generic options such as the name, color, size, or position.
- The Advanced tab shows options for advanced customization. The advanced properties might sometimes be locked for editing, such as when working with data cards. You can select Unlock to change properties in such situations.
9 – Virtual agent
Real-time, in-product help is available from the documentation using the Power Platform virtual agent. The virtual agent can help answer questions about common scenarios.
For more information, see Get help building your app from a virtual agent.
10 – Screen selector
Use the screen selector to switch between screens when your canvas app has multiple screens. You can also select a screen from the authoring menu by selecting the tree view. If the current selection is inside a container, or inside an individual cell in a gallery, the selector shows the breadcrumbs for the parent elements at each level.
11 – Change canvas screen size
You can zoom in or out while authoring the canvas app. Select Ctrl+0 Fit to window to fit the screen size based on the current authoring window size.
Note
The zoom percentage or screen size used in authoring a canvas app has no effect on the aspect ratio configured for the app. When you preview your app or play a published app, your screen size is temporary.