Your first flow

Introduction to Power Automate

Anushika Agarwal

Cloud Data Engineer

Open the Create page

The Create page lists every flow type
Pick the one that matches your trigger
e.g. Instant cloud flow for a manual button

Power Automate Create page with the Instant cloud flow tile highlighted in red and labelled as the example flow type

Pick a flow type and trigger

Name the flow
Pick a trigger from the list

Power Automate Build an instant cloud flow dialog with the Pick a trigger area highlighted in red

Pick a flow type and trigger

Name the flow
Pick a trigger from the list
Click Create to open the editor

Power Automate Build an instant cloud flow dialog with the Pick a trigger area highlighted and the Create button highlighted in red

Click + to add an action

The + below any card adds the next action
Click it to open the action picker

Power Automate flow canvas with the + icon below the Manually trigger a flow card highlighted in red and labelled Click + to add

Add an action

The + below any card adds the next action
Click it to open the action picker
Use the search bar at the top to find an action

Power Automate Add an action picker open with the search bar at the top highlighted in red

Add an action

The + below any card adds the next action
Click it to open the action picker
Use the search bar at the top to find an action
e.g. Compose under Data Operation

Power Automate Add an action picker with the search bar and the Data Operation Compose result both highlighted in red

Open and review cards

Click any card to open it
« at the top of an open card collapses it

Power Automate open trigger card with the « Collapse chevron highlighted in red

Open and review cards

Click any card to open it
« at the top of an open card collapses it
← Back (top-left) leaves the flow entirely

Power Automate open trigger card with the « Collapse chevron in red and the ← Back arrow in yellow as a warning

Save

You don't need to Save between actions
Save when every action is wired up

Power Automate flow editor toolbar with the Save button highlighted in red =

Test

You don't need to Save between actions
Save when every action is wired up
Test runs the flow on demand

Power Automate flow editor toolbar with Save and Test both highlighted in red

Test and verify

Test → Manually → Run flow
Wait for the "Your flow ran successfully" banner

Successful test run state in Power Automate with the Your flow ran successfully banner highlighted in red

Test and verify

Test → Manually → Run flow
Wait for the "Your flow ran successfully" banner
Each action card gets a check when it ran

Successful test run with the success banner and a green check on the trigger card both highlighted

Test and verify

Test → Manually → Run flow
Wait for the "Your flow ran successfully" banner
Each action card gets a check when it ran

Successful test run with the success banner and a green check on both the trigger and Compose action cards highlighted

Reading run history

Run history flow view showing a sequence of steps with green check indicators and elapsed times: Manually trigger a flow, Create an approval (highlighted as the expanded step), Wait for an approval, and a Condition with two cases

Every run creates a receipt in run history
✓ green = step succeeded
✕ red = step failed
A failing step's Outputs almost always tell you why

Finding the Flow Runs Page

After a successful test, a panel appears
It includes a Flow Runs Page link
Click it to open the run's detail view

Power Automate Run flow panel with a green check, the message Your flow run successfully started, and the Flow Runs Page link highlighted in red

Inspecting a run's Inputs and Outputs

Click any step to expand it
Inputs show what the step received

Compose run detail view with the Show raw inputs link highlighted in yellow

Inspecting a run's Inputs and Outputs

Click any step to expand it
Inputs show what the step received
Outputs show what it produced
Show raw outputs reveals the exact text

Compose run detail view with the Show raw inputs link in yellow and the Show raw outputs link highlighted in red

Where Copilot lives

Copilot prompt box on the Power Automate Home page with a natural language prompt and sparkle AI icon

Home → "Create your automation with Copilot" | Create → "Describe it to design it"

Writing a good Copilot prompt

✕ Bad

Make a flow about emails.

✓ Good

When a new email arrives 
with the word "invoice" 
in the subject, save the 
attachment to a SharePoint
folder named 
"Incoming Invoices".

Copilot produces a draft, not a finished flow

Copilot generates a starting point: always review before saving
Read what it built. Does it match what you described?
Treat every Copilot draft as a suggestion, not a final answer

Draft versus review concept: on the left, a sparkly AI icon emits a rough sketched flow with dashed lines and a wobbly node; on the right, a magnifying glass over a crisp three-step flow with a pencil-edit badge

Let's practice!

Introduction to Power Automate