Add existing flows to Solutions

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Under the 'Solutions' feature there is a button called 'Add Existing' yet no items appear there.

How can I add existing flows in my environment to a new solution? 

Sam

[Stacy-lvcva]

This is still an issue.

I am unable to add existing Flows to a solution.

[rjhale]

Likewise.  It would be helpful if someone from Microsoft would clarify what is currently supported.

[Anonymous]

Yup, pretty weird. I can create an "instant flow" inside a solution, but a) I can't add an existing "instant flow" from My Flows to a solution, and b) I can't copy an "instant flow" that's already in a solution and keep the copy inside the solution using the SAVE AS function.  So, if I want to have multiple "instant flows" that are only slightly different, inside the same solution, I have to create each one from scratch.

Ridiculousness.

[Anonymous]

New Sharepoint related Flows can be created within solutions, but existing Sharepoint Flows still cannot be added to them.  This is really unfortunate, since most of our existing flows have Sharepoint triggers or Sharepoint actions.

Also, I have several CDS triggered Flows that I have built within a solution, and they migrate just fine.  However, if I hit "Save As" on one of these Flows, the newly created Flow is no longer "solution aware", that is, it cannot be added to a solution.  My use case for this is that I have a Flow that updates items from a CoreHR CDS entity in a sandbox environment to Dynamics CE Contact in a different sandbox.  I now want to reproduce this Flow with a production to production connection. 

I don't want to totally recreate this Flow to make a couple minor changes like selecting new environments.  Because of this limitation, some of my Flows are in "My Flows", and others are inside the solution and not visible in "My Flows".  It is obnoxious trying to keep track of them in two places in the same environment.

[Jaystechtips]

Yeah me too.

All of my flows are have canvas trigger.

Solutions looks like a good way to organize my flows. BUT, i don't want to recreate all my flows.

This has to be fixed.

[fireflying]

Hi, @Anonymous (and everyone else). I keep running into this situation as well - I can't add a new manually-triggered flow into an existing solution. This is especially frustrating since child flows must be manually-triggered and therefore are difficult to copy. Here is the method I'm using to copy an existing manually-triggered flow and import it into my solution:

1. Open the details screen of the flow you wish to copy.
2. Click the Save As button.
3. Give it a new name, and click Save.
4. Go to your My Flows section, and the new flow should be there in a disabled state.​
5. Go into the details page, and click Edit.
6. Delete the Manually Trigger a Flow trigger.
1. Note: this will delete any variables which this trigger contained. This is why I always recommend not using trigger variables directly (see this YT video for more details).
7. ​Select the Power Virtual Agents > When Power Virtual Agents calls a flow trigger.
1. We use this as it requires no inputs to be defined.
8. ​Save the flow.
9. Go back to the Solutions section and select the solution into which you want to import the copied flow.
10. Click Add Existing > Flow > Outside Solutions.
11. Select your flow and click Add.​
12. Edit the flow and swap out the trigger with the Manually Trigger a Flow trigger.
13. Fix any trigger variables which were wiped out during the copy operation.

Hope this helps someone!

Best,
J.C.

[dmbadeo2]

@fireflying ,

Good thing I revisited this thread. Thank you for sharing. It worked for me.

Regards,

Daniel

[BashuBash]

Thanks @fireflying. It worked for me.

[michaelshparber]

Thanks, @fireflying !

Worked like a charm!

[varunbhat]

Thank you @Anonymous - this is the only option that worked to add my "on-demand" flow to a solution.

[ThePercio]

I was experiencing the same issue. I was unable to add "Instant" flows. Automations were no problem however. 
Changing the trigger temporarily to an automated trigger might solve some issues.

[JoshPayneSays]

Hi all, as a recent update to this post, please try some of the workarounds described on this Microsoft Docs page.

I had a similar issue, where existing Flows not created within the solution didn't show up on the "Add Existing" menu option.  I tried the following workaround and it worked for me.

Solutions overview > Known limitations

(extract from: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/power-apps/maker/data-platform/solutions-overview#known-limitations )

The following limitations apply to the use of canvas apps, flows, and custom connectors in solutions.

• Canvas app instant flows must be created from an app already in a solution since adding this type of flow from outside solutions is blocked.
  • Workaround for this limitation: Remove the trigger, replace with another trigger like recurrence, save the flow, add it into a solution, and then change the trigger as needed.

[SPONotification]

It was nice workaround @fireflying  but we need to suggest this as must be feature  for solution. 

[SPONotification]

I hope this issue is solved for you I just wanted to add some comments how to add flows to solution.

if the flow is in same environment you can go to solution --> Add Existing -> cloud flow. here you have two tabs 1 from Dataverse which mean the flows are exist in other solutions and 2nd  option is Outside Dataverse. out side Dataverse will show all the flows you have in that environment . Note once you add outside flow to solution it will be moved to Dataverse. so ensure you have connection environment variables and other environment variables to use in solution. 

[DuncanH]

As of today - 04/12/2023, I still don't see my flow in the Outside Dataverse category and need to resort to the trick.

[ARB_wcc]

Haha same issue here, the year is 2023 and Microsoft hasn't come out with a solution yet, looks like I will have no option but to create again some of my flows. Removing the trigger like it was proposed by @fireflying will work but the variables from the trigger are being used all over the place and plugging them back one by one will take about the same time as creating the flows from scratch 😅

@fireflying Thanks for the video tip!