Welcome! In PowerApps, you can generate an app automatically, customize it, create an app from scratch, and share and run apps that you create or that others create and share with you.

Note:

If you've automatically generated an app from a SharePoint list, you can customize the app to better suit your needs.

Generate an app automatically

To generate an app automatically, you just need to specify one of a variety of data sources, as this video demonstrates in five minutes:

The video is based on a custom SharePoint list, but you can also generate apps from other types of data sources, such as these:

  • the Common Data Service
  • a SQL Server database
  • Salesforce
  • Dynamics 365
  • Excel workbook (in a cloud-storage account)

For step-by-step instructions, see Create an app to manage data in SharePoint. The topic is designed for SharePoint, but the same principles apply to other types of data sources.

Customize an app

If the generated app doesn't meet your needs by default, you can customize it. You might, for example, want to show different data or the same data in a different UI element (known as a control).

For ideas about how to improve your app further, you can open a sample app to get a sense of what you can invent with some creativity and a bit of experience.

Sample apps

You can also build an app from a template. Each template is based on fictitious data in a cloud account, such as Dropbox. Explore specific screens and controls to understand how they're configured, and experiment with customization to discover techniques that you can apply to your own apps.

Create an app from scratch

After you've generated an app or two automatically and gained some experience with customization, you can create an app from scratch. By working from the ground up, you gain flexibility in app design, flow, and controls, and you can incorporate a larger variety of data sources.

For detailed explanations of some concepts you'll need, see these topics:

Share and run an app

When you finish your app, you can share it with others in your organization, and run either your own apps or shared apps in a browser or on a mobile device.

Questions? Ideas? We're here to help

We're excited to see what you can do with PowerApps, and we want to make sure that you have a great experience. Check out the detailed tutorials on this site for more help, and join our community to ask questions and share your ideas. Contact support if you run into any issues.