Microsoft Teams and Power Apps

  • 3 minutes

Microsoft Teams is becoming a key collaboration app that is the focus of a user's daily work. To prevent the need for users to switch between applications when accessing their data, it is possible to embed existing Power Apps in Microsoft Teams channels.

Microsoft Teams includes a Power Apps application that, after it's been added, will enable canvas apps to be created with a team. This action creates an environment and Dataverse for Teams database. The maker can create an app within a team that all members of the team can access.

Create Power Apps in Microsoft Teams

Dataverse for Teams is a built-in, low-code data platform for Teams. The Power Apps application in Teams provides an integrated experience for app makers to create and edit apps within Teams and quickly publish and share them for anyone on the team to use, without having to switch between multiple apps and services. With Power Apps Studio embedded in the Power Apps application in Teams, and the built-in data platform providing a user-friendly, editable data table, you can quickly build apps based on custom data tables that are Teams-specific and scenario-specific.

Dataverse for Teams, which is built on Microsoft Dataverse, provides relational data storage, rich data types, enterprise-grade governance, and one-click solution deployment to the Teams app store. This version of Dataverse does not include all functionality of Dataverse.

The advantage of creating canvas apps inside of Teams is that no other license is required to use the app and data. If you have access to Microsoft Teams through a Microsoft 365 license, then you can use this feature.

Using Dataverse for Teams might seem attractive initially, but as a solution architect, you need to be aware of the limitations, particularly around integration, such as:

  • No API access
  • Some controls are not supported
  • Canvas apps only
  • AI Builder is not supported

For more information, see known issues and limitations.