Power Apps Flows vs Power Automate

robin_c · ‎10-21-2020

Can anyone point out any good resources that highlight the differences between the following tools for administering Flows:

https://flow.microsoft.com/ - Power Automate
https://make.powerapps.com/ - Power Apps - select 'Flows' from the left hand menu.

I couldn't export a stand alone Flow when using Flows within 'Power Apps'. We eventually figured out that this functionality was only available within the PowerAutomate interface. I can edit the same Flow through either interface though. Comparing the two interfaces, I noticed the following differences:

Power Automate - able to export a Flow, lots more templates available.
Power Apps- unable to export a Flow, more aimed at Dynamics and Canvas/Model Driven Apps?

Logging on here, I also notice that there's two communities - one for Power Automate and one for Power Apps. Why the difference? Why different functionality through the two different interfaces for what is essentially the same tool? Are the two tools aimed at two different user bases? If so, who are the target users for each?

Pstork1 · ‎02-18-2022

Getting things in and out of solutions is a whole different issue. This was all about differences between Power Apps and Power Automate. Not sure what that has to do with solutions. It was my understanding that he was complaining that flows can't be exported when you look at the list in Power Apps and that is true. But the exact same list shows up in Power Automate and you can export from there. Its the same list of flows, no matter where you create them. (Other than in Solutions. Flows created inside Solutions tend to only show in Solutions and not in Power Apps > Flows or in Power Automate > My Flows.

One last comment that may clarify some of this discussion. The Flow tab in Power Apps is a recent addition to the interface. You've always been able to create a Power App triggered flow from inside a Power App itself. But the ability to create automated flows has only been available for a little while. They started as separate products, but are increasingly more integrated as time goes on. That doesn't mean they are the same thing with different UIs.

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amolPomaji · ‎02-20-2022

Hey @robin_c

Power Apps and Power Automate (formerly called Flow) are part of the Microsoft Power Platform along with Power BI and are being promoted by Microsoft as the new tools for the citizen developer. By citizen developers, they are referring to super users who are familiar with the data and the relationships between the different entities that are involved. This means that with a very little coding, apps and flows can be created.

Microsoft Power Automate is based on workflows and triggers, and there are many different types of triggers that can be used. A flow can be kicked off when a new entity is created or an existing entity is changed. Logic can be used to trigger another action such as sending a push notification, sending an email, doing an update in the database, or adding an item to a SharePoint list.

You can perform an action on pretty much anything that there is a connector for. There are many other types of triggers that can be used; timer triggers which kick off a process after a given amount of time has passed, or at a specific time of day or even every hour, depending on your needs. Another interesting type of trigger is buttons. A button is created on your phone and when pressed it will kick off a process. These types of on-demand flows can be used for many actions and are able to be kicked off whenever needed.

There are so many different ways that Power Automate can be used. To build on our previous example; let’s say you wanted to notify your sales team every time a new prospect is created. A push notification or email could be sent to your sales team to follow up on a new prospect. Additional logic could be added into the flow to get the desired results, for example, if the new prospect is located in the east; then the prospect is sent to the eastern sales team, and likewise if located in the west. This logic can be modified for whatever your specific requirements may be.

Thanks!

josefprosek · ‎05-27-2022

Lets say Iam user who wants to create a simple flow. What UI should I use and why should not I use the other one?

make.powerapps.com

or

emea.flow.microsoft.com

thanks

Pstork1 · ‎05-27-2022

The make.powerapps.com is designed to make it easy for people to create flows that are used in a Power App. But the functionality is the same as the My Flows tab in the flow.microsoft.com site. In the context of this post the flows need to be created inside a solution, whichever site you are in.

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aj0 · ‎03-10-2023

I find it annoying that they look so similar but each of them is missing features of the other. When you click on some features it will send you to the other domain, but they look so similar that I didn't even know I was on the other platform, I was just confused where some of the features went, and then I realised that the domain name was different and that I was on powerapps instead of powerautomate. Frustrating. Just merge the dang sites together.