Navigating Power Apps Studio

Introduction to Power Apps

Luise Freese

Azure & Power Platform Architect

The maker portal

Sign in at make.powerapps.com with your work account
Left navigation: Home, + Create, Apps, Tables, Flows
Everything you build in this course lives here

Power Apps maker portal home page at make.powerapps.com, showing the left navigation and welcome screen with Start-with tiles

Creating a blank canvas app

In the left nav, click + Create
Under Start from design, choose Create from blank
Pick Tablet or Phone; you name it when you save

Power Apps Create page at make.powerapps.com showing Start from design options including Create from blank, Split-screen, Sidebar, and Header layouts

Turn modern controls on

App-level setting
Off by default
Already on if a teammate enabled it first

The three-dot menu open in the Power Apps Studio command bar, with Settings highlighted below Insert, Add data, New screen, Theme, and the background options

The Power Apps Settings dialog on the Updates tab, New sub-tab selected, with the Modern controls and themes toggle switched On

Inside the studio editor

1. Tree View (left): every screen and control; click to select, double-click to rename

2. Canvas (center): arrange controls visually

3. Properties panel (right): settings for the selected control

4. Formula bar (top): write Power Fx expressions

Power Apps Studio with four numbered callouts: 1 marks the Tree view on the left, 2 the canvas in the center, 3 the Properties panel on the right, and 4 the formula bar across the top

Adding controls

Click + Insert to open the catalog
Drop in a Text label, Text input, Button
Each control has properties: Text, Fill, Size, more

Power Apps Studio Insert panel open from the toolbar, listing control categories such as Text label, Button, and Gallery

Preview your app

Power Apps Studio preview mode with the app running

Click the ▷ play button (top-right) to run the app
Click buttons, type into inputs, it behaves like the real app
Click ✕ to return to the editor

Save versus publish

Save, preserves your work
Publish, makes the version live to anyone you share with
We'll publish properly in Chapter 4

Power Apps Studio toolbar with Save and Publish icons highlighted in the upper-right, alongside Editing, Properties, Comments, App Checker, Share, and Preview buttons

Containers come later

Two phone-app screens side by side. The left, labeled "Now: blank screen", shows a single button floating on an empty canvas. The right, labeled "Chapter 4: layouts", shows the same button inside a horizontal container with other controls aligned around it.

Up next: a blank screen so you can see each control
Chapter 4: layout containers so the app stays responsive
Don't worry about alignment yet

What you'll build

Create a blank canvas app
Add two screens and your first controls
Preview everything with the ▷ play button

Real screenshot of Power Apps Studio showing the Library Sign-in app with Tree View on the left listing Screen1 (with Label, Button, TextInput controls) and Screen2, the canvas displaying the sign-in screen with teal header, Welcome text, name input, Sign in button, and Thanks Priya message, and the Properties panel on the right

Let's practice!

Introduction to Power Apps