Video summary

Power Automate Tutorial ⚡ Beginner To Pro [Full Course]

Main summary

Key takeaways

Technology

Summary of the Technology Concepts + Course Features (Power Automate “Beginner to Pro”)

Learning / workshop structure

The course uses a hackathon-style approach to make learning practical and engaging:

  • Planning session: identify a small-to-medium business need for a prototype
  • 1-day training, followed by a 2–3 day build session with the team
  • Outcome: new skills + a working prototype

Platform positioning and what’s covered in the tutorial

The instructor explains how Power Automate fits into Microsoft Power Platform:

  • Power Automate sits at the core because it connects to:
    • Power BI
    • Power Apps
    • Copilot Studio
    • Power Pages
    • and more

The focus of the tutorial is Power Automate in the cloud:

  • Browser-based: powerautomate.com
  • Cloud flows built using connectors + APIs

Contrast: Cloud flows vs Power Automate Desktop

  • Desktop flows use RPA (browser recording/navigation + desktop apps)
  • Desktop automation does not rely on API-style connector access the same way cloud flows do

Core agenda / topics (the “course map”)

  1. Overview of Power Automate
  2. Flow triggers (how flows start)
  3. Conditional logic (IF / THEN / ELSE control)
  4. Approvals (approval flows + accept/reject branching)
  5. Advanced feature: HTML table inside a flow (sent via email)
  6. Administrative/best practices for Power Platform (environments, organizational setup)

Flow creation foundations: triggers, actions, designer structure

The tutorial emphasizes the flow designer model:

  • Trigger at the top
  • Followed by actions/steps

Three trigger types for cloud flows

  1. Automated (event trigger) Starts when something happens externally (e.g., new email, new OneDrive file, Teams message/tag).

  2. Instant (manual trigger) Runs when a user clicks a button (can be triggered from Power Apps, mobile app, Teams, SharePoint, etc.).

  3. Scheduled (recurrence trigger) Runs on a schedule (hourly/daily/weekly, with time zone support).

Templates as a learning tool

The course recommends starting with templates to learn quickly by example.

Templates and AI-assisted flow generation (“Describe it to design it”)

Template gallery

  • Templates are pre-built flows created by Microsoft/community.
  • Users can filter by category/task (e.g., Teams notifications).
  • Templates show:
    • required connectors/data sources
    • trigger type (automated/instant/scheduled)
    • number of downloads

AI feature: “Describe it to design it”

  • A Copilot-style experience:
    • User writes a natural-language prompt describing the automation
    • Power Automate suggests a trigger + actions
    • User reviews/edits connections and steps
    • Then saves/runs the flow
Example use-case
  • When a Microsoft Form is submitted, Power Automate sends an email receipt to the respondent.

Microsoft Forms receipt tutorial (dynamic content + testing)

Key implementation details

  • Uses a required Forms pattern:
    • Trigger: When a new response is submitted
    • Action: Get response details (noted as always paired/needed)

Dynamic content

  • Outputs from one step feed later steps (using dynamic fields surfaced in the designer).

Email building

  • Uses Outlook (Office 365) → Send an email
  • Fields include:
    • To address from the respondent email captured by the form
    • subject/body using dynamic fields
  • Demonstrates “fill-in-the-blank” email composition with dynamic content.

Formatting improvements

  • Date formatting via Expression Builder → formatDateTime()
  • Number/currency formatting via Expression Builder → formatNumber()
    • uses locale-aware currency behavior

Testing workflow

  • Emphasizes test after save
  • Uses “recently used trigger” to avoid re-triggering the whole process repeatedly

Custom flow tutorial #1: SharePoint “device request” + conditional approvals

This build creates a complete workflow: request → email → conditional approval → update record.

Data source setup

  • Creates/imports a SharePoint List from a CSV (“device request” list) including columns such as:
    • title, description
    • requester (people picker)
    • request date
    • priority (choice)
    • estimated cost (number)
    • approved (yes/no)
    • comments

Flow design: “Automated cloud flow”

  • Trigger: SharePoint → When an item is created
  • Step 1: Send email receipt to the requestor
  • Step 2: Condition control
    • checks if Estimated cost is greater than a threshold (example: $200)

Approval path (expensive requests)

  • If over threshold:
    • Step 3: approval via email with options
      • Office 365 Outlook: Send email with options
      • approver clicks Approve / Reject
  • Step 4: evaluate the approval outcome
    • If Approved → Update SharePoint item (approved = true)
    • If Rejected → Update SharePoint item (approved = false) and can send a rejection notice

Non-approval path (not expensive)

  • If under threshold:
    • automatic approval path
    • updates the SharePoint item directly

Operational tips

  • Encourages renaming controls/conditions (e.g., “check if over $200”) for readability
  • Highlights productivity features such as copy/paste actions in the updated designer

Manager lookup capability (internal vs external)

  • Internal manager lookup:
    • Office 365 Users → Get manager (requires org hierarchy to be set up)
  • External approval:
    • prefers email with options because internal approvals connectors may not be appropriate

Demonstrated approvals results

  • Shows the approval email UI (buttons)
  • After approval, Power Automate updates SharePoint and the flow ends

Custom flow tutorial #2: Weekly summary email with styled HTML table

A scheduled flow that avoids sending many emails (e.g., “for each item → many emails”).

  • Trigger: Scheduled cloud flow (weekly recurrence)

Workflow:

  • Step 1: Get items from the SharePoint list
  • Step 2: Build one email containing all rows
    • uses Create HTML table from list items
  • Step 3: Style the table for readability
    • uses Compose to embed CSS
    • injects the course-provided CSS around the generated HTML table

Result:

  • A single responsive/styled HTML table embedded in the email
  • Intended for weekly status/reminders (e.g., approved vs outstanding requests)

Reviews / guides / tutorial callouts (explicitly presented)

The course repeatedly reinforces these guided elements:

  • Template gallery: a guided starting point
  • “Describe it to design it”: AI-driven alternative to templates
  • Detailed walkthroughs for:
    • Microsoft Forms → email receipt
    • SharePoint item creation → conditional approvals → update record
    • Scheduled weekly reporting → single email with styled HTML table

Testing guidance

  • Save before test
  • Use manual test and/or recently used triggers

Formatting guidelets

  • Date formatting via formatDateTime()
  • Currency formatting via formatNumber() using currency/locale behavior

Main speakers / sources

  • Jonathan Silva (Pragmatic Works) — main instructor for the Power Automate tutorial
  • Pragmatic Works team (including Devon Knight and others)
    • provides examples/references (e.g., email “send on behalf” video, chat monitoring)
  • Microsoft Power Automate / Copilot features
    • “Describe it to design it”
    • connector templates
    • cloud flow designer and trigger/action framework

Original video