Category: Power Platform

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 8th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is create Power Automate flows in Excel.

Makers can quickly create useful flows from the Automate tab in Excel. Excel is one of the most popular data tools in the world, with hundreds of millions of people using it for work and personal purposes across various industries. It has advanced features for teamwork, simplicity, flexibility, and automation. Power Automate simplifies the automation of tasks and processes from Excel.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Jun 2024

Feature Details

This feature improves the Automate work button by adding ready-made templates to the ribbon that give access to prebuilt templates and let users make workflows easily and quickly. This feature helps users start quickly in Excel. The prebuilt templates allow users to make workflows by entering information into the parameters. Makers can also view and manage their flows from Excel.

My Opinion

On balance this is probably a good addition, but I think that organisations need to have a clear plan about by whom and how Power Automate flows will be built, and ensure they stick to best practice around ALM (Application Lifecycle Management).

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 9th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is view attended desktop flow runs using picture-in-picture execution mode.

The flow run does not interfere with the user’s work on the machine as makers can run attended desktop flows in a virtual window that replicates the main desktop.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Feb 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Apr 2024

Feature Details

Makers can trigger attended and local attended desktop flows within an isolated Windows session in picture-in-picture mode. You can trigger the picture-in-picture mode through the Power Automate console, or through the desktop flows connector.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 8th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is connect your own virtual network with hosted machine group.

Users can run desktop flows using a hosted machine group connected to their own virtual network (VNet) in order to execute RPA jobs that require access to on-premises networks.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Mar 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Apr 2024

Feature Details

Users can now seamlessly integrate a hosted machine group (HMG) with their own VNet. This integration enables users to run desktop flows and execute RPA jobs that require access to on-premises networks. By leveraging their own VNet, users can ensure secure and reliable connectivity between the hosted machines and the on-premises networks.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 8th of the new functionality in the Copilot for Power Automate
section is generate flow description using AI.

Users are able to generate a description of a flow without having to analyze the actions inside it.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Apr 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

You can now create a flow description by the press of a button without having to open the flow and read the actions inside it.

To do so from Power Automate for desktop, open the console, navigate to the My flows tab, and locate the flow that you want to create a description. Then, go to flow properties and under the general flow properties tab, press the Let Copilot create description button. Copilot will then analyze your flow and generate the flow description.

You can also generate a flow description from the portal. To do so, locate the desktop flow that you want to create the description for and press on the details item from the flow menu. Then, press on the edit button in the details section of the flow and finally select the Let Copilot create description button.

Geographic areas

This feature will be released into the following Microsoft Azure geographic area:

• United States

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 6th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use Azure Key Vault credentials in flow connections.

Users can leverage credentials from Azure Key Vault to connect to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines. This feature supports rotating passwords without the need to update the connection

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Oct 31, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: Jun 2024

Feature Details

With this feature, users can have their desktop flows run on Windows machines logged in with credentials from Azure Key Vault. The Windows machine retrieves the latest credentials at runtime. This enables desktop flows to keep running successfully even when the administrator changes the password.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 4th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use CyberArk credentials in desktop flow connections.

You can now use credentials stored in CyberArk Central Credential Provider when connecting to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Jun 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: To be announced

Feature Details

Users can leverage credentials stored in Cyberark Central Credential Provider to connect to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines. Credentials are not stored in Power Automate but retrieved during runtime. This feature supports rotating passwords without the need to update the connection.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 5th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is create desktop flows using natural language with copilot.

Introducing copilot in Power Automate for desktop – the new natural language feature that simplifies automation creation. Say goodbye to complex coding and hello to effortless desktop flows. Boost productivity and efficiency with copilot today. By leveraging natural language, users can easily create desktop flows without the need for complex coding. This allows for increased productivity and efficiency, freeing up valuable time and resources for other important tasks.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: May 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

The copilot functionality in Power Automate for desktop offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the automation creation process. With natural language capabilities, makers can create desktop flows by providing instructions in plain English, eliminating the need for algorithmic or pseudocode knowledge. This feature is especially useful in scenarios where loops and conditionals are required, as it streamlines the process and reduces the need for complex coding. With copilot, users can generate automations with ease, saving valuable time and resources.

My Opinion

More enhancements to add Copilot to a new area. In theory, this could be quite good, but I’ve not had much luck with Copilot in other areas of Power Automate, in terms of getting it to create a flow which meets requirements.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 7th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is Use your own encryption key for encrypting data at-rest for existing environments.

This capability allows you to meet your data and privacy policy according to your company’s or industry’s privacy guidelines.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

Use your own encryption key from your Azure Key Vault to encrypt an environment that already has running Power Automate flows. Previously, only environments without prior Power Automate usage were supported for customer-managed encryption keys.

My Opinion

Improvements to security are always welcome.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 6th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is Push cloud flow execution data into Application Insights.

Administrators can leverage their existing Application Insights instances in Microsoft Azure to monitor automations within an environment.

Enabled for: Users by admins, makers, or analysts
Public Preview:  Aug 22, 2023
Early Access: –
General Availability: May 2024

Feature Details

With the first click stop of this integration (or milestone in the continuous range of reference points in this integration), admins can push cloud flow execution data into Application Insights. This push can then be used for advanced monitoring and alerting scenarios for automations running in an environment.

My Opinion

It will be interesting to see how this functions, but at the moment, visibility of flows is not great, so hopefully this is a big improvement.

This article is part of the Working with Power Automate Child Flows series and of the larger Working with Power Automate series I am writing on my experiences working with the Power Automate, which is part of the Power Platform from Microsoft. I also have a related series of articles on Power Automate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC.

I did some work creating a number of Power Automate flows for a colleague to use in a demo to a client. Part way through creating the flows, I started having problems with one of the flows which called a child flow; the parent failed every time it tried to call the child:

Continue reading “Working with Power Automate Child Flows: Error Encountered With Surprise Extra Parameters for a Child Flow”