Excel OneDrive or SharepointList ?

[Dyxt]

Hi guys,

One easy question for experts of powerapps :

With Powerapps, what is the difference to work with SharepointList or Excel on One drive ?

How can i know which one i have to use ?

[Drrickryp]

Before you choose check out two articles about delegation in powerapps.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/delegation-overview and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/delegation-list

[Dyxt]

Hi and thank for your answer,

As i understood, delegation depends on the datasource you use. Its ok with that.

I also understood that datasource depends on your application you will create :

• If small app with small data = Sharepoint list is ok (<500 records)
• If more than 500 records, excel/one drive or data commun service is the good solution

Is it right ?

Thanks in advance

[Anonymous]

It's the opposite, Sharepoint supports some delegation whereas Excel and Onedrive do not support any (as of yet). With Excel/Onedrive you are limited to 500 records (2000 if you change the experimental settings)

Here is a link to see which datasources are delable and which operator are to which source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/delegation-list

[Dyxt]

Yeah its what i could notice.

So what is the best for applications with a lot of data ?

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[Anonymous]

I would say the best Datasource would be the one you understand best, which you have access to and which has the most delegation possibilities.

Basically the more delegated functions a Datasource has the more functions you can use on your data.

[ericonline]

2 cents

- Excel files can get "locked" while data is being read/written

- This can interrupt any Flows you have tied in

- Also if you leave the company, your OneDrive goes disappears too. Could cause problems.

- Sharepoint is a better choice if you do not have access to a real database

- SQL being preferred for production apps

I'd only use Excel for testing/tutorial apps, not for production. 

Good luck!

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @Dyxt,

I agree with @Anonymous's thought almost. If you want to create an app with a lot of data (more than 2000 records), I think the SP list is the better choice.

If you use the Excel table as data source within your app, you could only process 500 records locally in default. If change the Non-delegable limits to 2000 (maximum value), you could process 2000 records locally within your app.

In addition, the Excel table stored within OneDrive is inherently a slow data source, which would decrease your app's performance.

More details about the improving app performance, please check the following blog:

https://baizini-it.com/blog/index.php/2017/09/13/powerapps-improving-app-performance/

Although the SP list is a delegable data source, which would cause a delegation issue with the formula within your app, we could take a solution to get rid of this issue.

Best regards,

Kris

[Anonymous]

If I run an app based on an Excel and have a flow interacting with the same Excel, by launching the app the flow will not be able to write/read data from Excel?

If yes does this also prevent multiple instances of an app to write/read data in the Excel?

[Dyxt]

Hi ,

Thank you for your answer.

Is it possible also to create "Table" in powerapps while using SP list ?