Version control in Power Automate for desktop (preview)

[This topic is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]

Version control in Power Automate for desktop introduces a structured way to manage changes to your desktop flows throughout their lifecycle. Instead of relying on manual backups or duplicate flows, you can now save drafts, publish stable versions, and restore previous versions, all backed by Microsoft Dataverse. This feature helps improve governance, collaboration, and risk mitigation for enterprise automation projects. When version control is enabled, every draft and published version of a flow is stored in Dataverse. You can access these versions through the version history pane in the designer, making it easy to track changes and revert when necessary.

Important

• This is a preview feature.
• Preview features aren't meant for production use and might have restricted functionality.
• The rollout of this feature will be gradual and may take several weeks to complete across all environments. Availability might vary depending on your region and tenant.

Prerequisites

• The environment and flow use the v2 schema
• Optional: ComponentChangesetVersion read and write permissions (included by default for Environment Maker role)

Configuration

To configure version control:

1. Open the Power Platform admin center.

2. Select Manage.

3. Select Environments and select the environment.

4. Select Settings, expand Product, and select Features.

5. Locate the Desktop flow version control section and configure the following options :

   • Enable version control of desktop flows: Determines if version control is enabled for this environment.
   • Desktop flows version control enabled by default: Controls participation in rollout before global availability. If enabled, the environment automatically switches "Enable version control of desktop flows" to "True" when the feature becomes available.

Use version control

Version control offers the following key features:

1. Save draft: Save your latest changes without releasing them as the official version. This action:
   • Creates the latest version of the flow
   • Saves incremental changes without making them official
   • Encourages iterative development and experimentation without disrupting production
2. Publish: Set a version as official so it runs from the console or cloud. This action:
   • Creates the published version of the flow
   • Ensures only validated, stable flows are deployed, reducing operational risk
3. Version history pane: View all saved and published versions of your flow. This feature:
   • Shows timestamps and user details for each version
   • Provides transparency and auditing capabilities
   • Allows you to track changes over time

Note

The Publish option is disabled until you add and enable at least one action in the workspace. When you add an enabled action, the Publish option becomes available.

Version history pane

The version history pane displays all available versions of a specific desktop flow. The following information is included:

• Date and timestamp: When the version was created
• User: The user who performed the action
• Version flags:
  • Latest version: The most recent draft
  • Published: The current official version
  • Previously published: Older published versions that are no longer current

Context menu options

When you open the context menu for one of the versions in the version history pane, you see the following options:

• View
  • Opens the version in read-only mode (no edits allowed).
• Restore
  • Saves the selected version as draft and flags it as the latest version.

Note

Designer in view mode is read-only. You can't add, remove, or edit actions, UI elements, or images.

Best practices

• Save drafts frequently during development: Capture incremental changes as you build your flow. This practice ensures you have a clear record of progress and can easily revert if something goes wrong.
• Publish only tested and stable versions: Before publishing, validate the flow thoroughly to avoid introducing errors into production environments. Publishing marks a version as ready for execution.
• Leverage version history for rollback: Use the restore option and don't recreate flows, which wastes time and increases risk.
• Coordinate with team members: When multiple developers work on the same flow, communicate changes and avoid overlapping edits to maintain version integrity.

Known issues

When a desktop flow with version control has its latest version saved as a draft, self-healing can't repair UI elements during each run.