Dynamic content and expressions
1. Dynamic content and expressions
Many flows need values that change at runtime, like today's date, the sender of an email, or the name of a new client. Dynamic content and expressions are how you put those live values into a flow, instead of typing them in by hand.2. What is dynamic content?
Every trigger and action in a flow produces outputs, called tokens. When you click into any field, the Dynamic Content panel appears and shows the tokens you can drop in. Inserting a token takes a single click, with no formula or syntax to write. The token always carries the live value from that step. If your trigger is "When a new email arrives," there's a token for the sender, the subject, and the body, all available downstream.3. Ways to open the panel
The picker has a few openers you'll meet across the course. Click the fx pill beside any field, type a forward slash for an inline picker, or click the lightning-bolt icon on the right of the field. All three open the same picker.4. And the gear icon route
The gear icon next to a field label is a fourth way in. It opens a small menu with a Use dynamic content option that takes you to the same picker. Every route lands on the same two tabs, Dynamic content for tokens and Function for expressions.5. What are expressions?
Dynamic content gets you values as they are. When you need to transform, combine, or format those values, you write an expression. The fx button next to any field opens the Expression Editor. Two rules are worth remembering. Function names are not case-sensitive, so utcNow with a capital N and utcnow all in lowercase both work. And always click Add to save the expression, since Power Automate doesn't autosave, so if you click away without saving, your expression is gone.6. Dynamic content or expression?
Use this rule to decide. If you just need the value as the flow received it, like the sender's email dropped into a reply field, use Dynamic Content. Click the token and you're done. If you need to format, combine, or transform it, reach for an expression. For example, you might format today's date or lowercase a string. Many flows use both, with a dynamic token wrapped inside an expression.7. Function categories
The Expression Editor has more than ten categories, but four cover most of what you'll need. String functions handle text, with concat, toLower, and trim as the main ones. Date and Time functions work with timestamps, where utcNow gives the current UTC time and formatDateTime shapes a date into the format you want. Logical functions compare values and return true or false, with if, equals, and greater being common. And Manipulation functions help with missing data, where coalesce gives you a fallback when a value is empty.8. See it in action
Let's see how dynamic content and expressions work together. Priya is onboarding a Meridian Retail client and needs a polished welcome email from one button click. The flow starts with a manual trigger and two inputs, Client Name and Client Company. The first Compose opens the expression editor, picks toUpper, switches to Dynamic Content, and grabs the Client Name token. Concat wraps Dear around it. The second Compose trims extra spaces, then replaces remaining spaces with a dash. Both Compose actions now hold values ready to drop into a welcome email as dynamic tokens.9. Building step by step with Compose
One practical habit is worth building. When you have a complex expression to build, don't write the whole thing in one go. Build it piece by piece. Drop in a Compose action, test one function, run the flow, and check the output. Once that piece works, add another Compose for the next function and test that too. When every piece works on its own, combine them into the final expression and remove the test Composes.10. Let's practice!
Now it's time to classify dynamic content versus expressions, then upgrade the connector flow with real dynamic dates.Create Your Free Account
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