How to create automated workflows in Power Automate
Quick Answer: Microsoft Power Automate creates automated workflows (called flows) using a trigger-action model. Choose a template or start from blank, add a trigger (such as a new email or form submission), configure actions (send notification, create record, approve request), and save. Available in Microsoft 365 and as a standalone subscription.
How to Create Automated Workflows in Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based automation platform included in Microsoft 365 E3/E5 subscriptions and available as a standalone product (Premium at $15/user/month as of April 2026). It connects to over 1,000 services with pre-built connectors and supports custom API calls.
Step 1: Choose a Starting Point
Navigate to flow.microsoft.com and click "Create." Select from:
- Automated cloud flow — Trigger-based (event from a connected service starts the flow)
- Instant cloud flow — Manual trigger (button press, mobile app, or Power Apps)
- Scheduled cloud flow — Time-based (runs at specified intervals)
- Start from a template — 10,000+ pre-built templates for common scenarios
Templates are the fastest starting point. Search for the scenario (for example, "save email attachments to OneDrive") and customize the pre-built flow.
Step 2: Add a Trigger
Every flow starts with exactly one trigger. Common triggers include:
- When a new email arrives (Outlook connector)
- When an item is created (SharePoint connector)
- When a form is submitted (Microsoft Forms connector)
- When a row is added (Excel Online, Dataverse)
- When an HTTP request is received (custom webhook)
Configure the trigger by selecting the specific mailbox, SharePoint list, or form, and optionally set conditions to filter which events initiate the flow.
Step 3: Configure Actions
Click "New step" to add actions. Each action connects to a service and performs an operation:
- Send an email (Outlook, Gmail)
- Create item (SharePoint, Dataverse)
- Post message (Teams, Slack)
- Start an approval (Power Automate Approvals)
- Update a row (Excel, SQL Server)
- HTTP (call any REST API)
Use dynamic content tokens from the trigger and previous steps to populate action fields.
Step 4: Add Conditions and Branching
Insert a "Condition" control to create if/else branching. For example, if the email subject contains "urgent," route to a manager for approval; otherwise, file it in a standard folder. Conditions support AND/OR logic with comparisons (equals, contains, greater than).
Step 5: Save and Test
Click "Save" in the top toolbar. Then click "Test" and choose "Manually" to trigger the flow with sample data. Review the run history to verify each step executed correctly. Green checkmarks indicate success; red exclamation marks show errors with detailed messages.
Practical Example: Purchase Approval Workflow
- Trigger: When a new Microsoft Forms response is submitted
- Action 1: Parse the form response (requester name, item, cost, justification)
- Condition: If cost is greater than $500
- Yes: Start approval with VP and Finance Manager
- No: Start approval with direct manager only
- Action 2: If approved, send confirmation email and create a row in the Purchases Excel sheet
- Action 3: If rejected, send rejection notification with comments
Licensing Notes (April 2026)
- Microsoft 365 E3/E5: Includes standard connectors (Office 365, SharePoint, Teams)
- Power Automate Premium ($15/user/month): Adds premium connectors (Salesforce, SAP, SQL Server) and desktop flows (RPA)
- Power Automate Process ($150/month per bot): Unattended desktop automation
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Workflow AutomationRelated Rankings
Best Human-in-the-Loop Automation Platforms 2026
Eight platforms are ranked here on a single mechanism: how a person enters an automated path, and what the system can prove afterward about the decision they made. Moxo scores 7.7 and ranks first; Camunda 8 scores 7.2, Microsoft Power Automate 7.1, Pega 6.9, n8n 6.7, Zapier 5.9, Kissflow 5.8 and ServiceNow 4.8, scored 22 September 2026 on the five weighted criteria. Those criteria cover the step type, the approver's account or licence, the routes available on a rejection, the audit record, and the meter that charges for the decision, and none of them can tell a review from a rubber stamp, so the methodology adds a check readers can run on any product in a few minutes: whether the decision record tells a considered approval from an instant one. Every figure was read from a vendor-owned surface and carries its own date.
Best Automation Platforms for AI Orchestration 2026
This ranking answers one question: how many real business applications can an AI agent act on out of the box? It evaluates nine platforms as of August 2026 on the reach they give an agent, not on the workflow logic they can express. That boundary is deliberate, because two neighbouring pages on this site answer different questions. Best Process Orchestration Platforms 2026 scores multi-step process control, error handling and state management. Best AI Agent Platforms 2026 scores building and hosting the agent itself. This page scores the layer between them: the connective tissue that lets an agent already built elsewhere reach the applications a business actually runs on. A platform that leads one of those pages can place low here, and two of them do. Scores derive from application and action catalogue counts, the exposure model each platform uses to publish those catalogues to an agent, setup effort, failure handling and cost per agent action. Every figure was retrieved from a vendor-owned surface on 11 August 2026 unless an earlier date is stated against it.
Dive Deeper
Moxo vs Gumloop in 2026: Texting the Client, or Building the Agent
Gumloop (founded 2023) builds AI agents a company's own staff run; Moxo, whose predecessor Moxtra was co-founded in 2012, runs processes that wait on people outside the company. Gumloop wins three rounds to two: the way in, per-tool gating and a priced overage. Moxo wins on texting a client a step and on what that client can be asked to do. Vendor pages and docs were read on 28 September 2026.
Moxo vs Relay.app in 2026: Where Relay's Approval Workflows Can Go Next
Relay.app, founded in 2021, shut down in September 2026 and deleted every account, workflow and run history; Moxo, whose predecessor Moxtra was co-founded in 2012, is one destination for its human-in-the-loop users. Relay.app takes two rounds, Moxo one, and vendor risk is a draw. The page maps which Relay steps Moxo replaces, on which plan, and what the shutdown teaches about exports, from sources read 28 September 2026.
Moxo vs Workato in 2026: The Integration Estate, or the Approval Inside It
Workato, founded in 2013, is an enterprise integration platform whose Workflow apps add human tasks to recipes; Moxo, whose predecessor Moxtra was co-founded in 2012, ships the human step itself. Workato wins three rounds to two: connector reach, change control and the way in. Moxo wins the human step and retries. Vendor pages and docs were read on 28 September 2026.