Create a model-driven app with the app designer

In this article, you learn the basics of how to create a model-driven app that can be shared and distributed to other environments.

Prerequisites

Verify the availability of the following prerequisites before you start to create a model-driven app:

• A Power Platform environment used for app development.
• An environment maker, system administrator, or system customizer security role.

For more information, go to the following articles:

• Create an environment.
• Environment strategy for ALM.
• About predefined security roles.

Create an app

1. On the Power Apps Home page, select Solutions from the left navigation pane. If the item isn’t in the left navigation pane, select …More and then select the item you want.

2. Open an unmanaged solution or create a new solution

   Note

   Unmanaged solutions can be recognized by the open lock in the Managed Externally? column. Although the Default Solution is an unmanaged solution, it is in most circumstances not recommended to create or edit customizations in the default solution.

3. Select New > App > Model-driven app.

4. On the New model-driven app dialog box, enter a Name and optionally, a Description, and then select Create.

5. On the left navigation pane, select Navigation to display the navigation tree.

   

   Tip

   Use the menu toggle to show or hide the names of the menu options.

6. Notice that a basic navigation structure is already created for you. Expand Area1, and then expand Group1.

7. Select Group1 and change the title in the property pane to, for example, Accounts and Contacts.

8. Select Subarea1, and make changes such as the following:

   • Content type: Table
   • Table: Account
   • Title: Accounts

   Note

   • A subarea won't appear in the app preview until you add a content type to it.
   • By default, all forms and views are included for a table that's added to a page. To remove one or more components, see Create, add, and remove forms, views, or dashboards.

9. On the command bar, select New page, select Table based view and form, and then select Next.

10. On the New table view and form pages dialog box, select Contact, leave the Show in navigation option selected, and then select Add. Note the following:

    • Notice the preview pane displays your app. Selecting a component, such as a table, affects what's displayed in the preview. If your environment includes data that you have access to view, that also appears in the preview.

11. Select Save, and then select Publish.

To see how the app runs in a full browser window, on the command bar, select Play.

Next steps

• Add areas, groups, and subareas for app navigation
• Create, add and remove forms, views or dashboards
• Create and remove pages
• Configure app properties (Preview)
• Configure app properties