Your first flow
1. Your first flow
There are two main ways to build a flow. You build from scratch, picking each piece yourself, or you use Copilot to describe what you want. We'll cover both, then how to verify your flow actually ran.2. Open the Create page
To start a flow, open the Create page in the left navigation. It lists every flow type. Pick the one that matches how your flow should start.3. Pick a flow type and trigger
After picking a flow type, a dialog opens. Give the flow a name, then pick a trigger from the list. For an Instant flow, the usual trigger is Manually trigger a flow.4. Pick a flow type and trigger
Then click Create to open the flow editor.5. Click + to add an action
To add the next step, click the plus icon below the trigger. The action picker opens.6. Add an action
In the action picker, use the search bar at the top to find what you want.7. Add an action
For example, the Compose action under Data Operation simply outputs whatever text you give it.8. Open and review cards
To review the trigger or any action, click its card to open it. The chevron at the top of the open card collapses it back to the canvas.9. Open and review cards
Don't confuse that chevron with the Back arrow in the top-left, which leaves the flow entirely.10. Save
You don't need to Save between actions, Power Automate keeps your in-progress flow until you hit Save at the end. Once every action is wired up, click Save in the top bar.11. Test
Then click Test to run the flow on demand.12. Test and verify
After clicking Test, choose Manually, then Run flow. Wait for the green Your flow ran successfully banner.13. Test and verify
Each action card on the canvas gets a check mark when it ran successfully.14. Test and verify
Once every card has its check, the whole flow ran end to end.15. Reading run history
Every time a flow runs, Power Automate creates a record. Open run history and you'll see a green checkmark next to every step that succeeded, or a red X next to one that failed. When a flow misbehaves, this is the first place you look, because the Outputs of a failing step almost always tell you why.16. Finding the Flow Runs Page
After a successful run, Power Automate shows a Run flow panel with a Flow Runs Page link. Click it to open the run's detail view.17. Inspecting a run's Inputs and Outputs
In the run detail view, click any step to expand it and see its Inputs, what the step received.18. Inspecting a run's Inputs and Outputs
Below that, Outputs show what it produced. Click Show raw outputs to see the exact text it generated.19. Where Copilot lives
Copilot has two entry points in the portal. The Home page has a Copilot prompt at the top labeled Create your automation with Copilot. The Create page has the same thing under a different name, Describe it to design it. Both routes open the exact same experience, so pick whichever you happen to be on.20. Writing a good Copilot prompt
Copilot only knows what you tell it, so a vague prompt produces a vague flow. Look at these two examples. The first, Make a flow about emails, tells Copilot almost nothing, so you'll get a draft back but probably not what you wanted. The second, When a new email arrives with the word invoice in the subject, save the attachment to a SharePoint folder named Incoming Invoices, tells Copilot the trigger, the condition, and the action all in one go.21. Copilot produces a draft, not a finished flow
Copilot produces a draft, not a finished flow. Always review what it built before you save. Check the trigger, walk through each action, and make sure connectors and dynamic content match what you asked for. Copilot also produces a plain-English summary in the chat panel; read it through to confirm it matches your intent. Treat every draft as a suggestion, not the final answer.22. Let's practice!
Now it's time to build your first flow from scratch, and then we'll let Copilot take a shot.Create Your Free Account
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