Hi everyone, Kevin here. Today, I want to show you how you can get started using Microsoft Power
Apps. With Power Apps, you can build your own apps and you don't even have to know how to code. Now,
I'm not a developer, but yet I was able to pull together my own app. You could pull together
things like a vacation tracker, a help desk app, you can do all of that with Power Apps.
First, we're going to build our very own app. And then second, we're going to look at how we
can distribute that throughout our organization. All right, well, why don't we jump on the PC and
let's build our own app. To get started with Power Apps, head to the website powerapps.com.
I've also included a link in the description. Once you land on the site, click on the button that
says start free. To be able to use Power Apps, you need either a work or school Microsoft 365
accounts. Alternatively, you can also log into office.com. And once you land on office.com,
in the bottom left-hand corner, there's a button here for all apps. When you click on that, here
too, you can also launch into Power Apps. Now that we've clicked into Power Apps, we are just about
ready to start building our very first app. Right here, we can start from data. We can choose the
data source for our app. We can use a SharePoint list or an Excel spreadsheet. Chances are,
if you have data stored somewhere, you'll be able to use it with Power Apps. There's a wide variety
of different data sources available. Down below, I can also start from blank. For simplicity,
I'm going to create my app using a very simple SharePoint list. If you'd like to follow along,
it's extremely easy to create a SharePoint list. Here I am on a SharePoint website,
and right over here, there's a new menu. When I click on this, I can create a new list. You
can do this just to test out how Power Apps works. Here, for example, I just clicked into an existing
list that I have. I just have a few columns with a little bit of data populated so nothing fancy. You
can feel free to create something from scratch, or you can even just copy my list here if you
want to see exactly what I see as we're walking through this. Back now on the Power Apps homepage,
I'm going to select SharePoint as my data source. Now that I've selected SharePoint,
I can paste in a SharePoint site right up here, but I see the site that I want to use right here
on the recent sites list, so I'll select this option. After I click on the option, I can choose
the list that I want to use, and I want to use this marketing ideas list, so I'll click on this.
Once I click on the list, I'll go down and click on Connect. This drops us into Power Apps Studio,
and here, our app is already taking shape. Here, Power Apps has pulled together a very simple app
using our data source. And in a moment, we're going to walk through what all you can do in here,
but first, let's take a look at what Power Apps pulled together. Up here in the top right-hand
corner, we can click on this Play icon to preview the app. Alternatively, and here, you'll see the
shortcut key, you can also press the F5 key. Let's try that out. When I click on Play, this shows me
what the app looks like. Here, I see the title. I have a few different controls, I could search, and
I see a list of all of my different items. Here, for example, I can search for things. So, if I
search for newspaper, here, it'll filter the list just down to that item. Here, too, I could also
sort my list in ascending or descending order. If I want to add new items to my marketing ideas, I
can click on this plus icon, and here, I can enter in a new record. If I go back to the main screen,
I can also click into these different items to see additional details. So, so far, it's a really
basic app, but it gives us something to build off of. Once we're all done, let's go over in the top
right-hand corner and click on the X icon. Back on the main screen, if I want to jump through the app
similar to how I was able to navigate through the app in the preview, I can press the Alt
key on my keyboard, and then I could click on different items on the app. Here, for example,
if I want to go back to the form where I can add a new record, I'll press the Alt key and then click
on the plus icon, and that jumps me or helps me navigate to the form. Here, again, I'll press Alt
on the X, and that'll bring me back to the main screen. Otherwise, if I just clicked on it, it
would select the item, so the Alt key will be your friend as you navigate through the app in the edit
experience. Now that we've looked at the basic functions of the app and we know how to navigate
throughout the app experience, let's shift our focus over to the left-hand side where we see the
tree view, and this shows us all of the different screens and components that make up our app. Now,
as you remember, as we played the app, there were three different screens. Right up here, we have
the browse screen, and that's the main view that we landed on when we played the app. Down below,
we can also jump into the detail screen, and then we also have the edit screen. Right up here,
currently, the browse screen is expanded, and we can see all of the different components that make
up the browse screen. So here, for example, if I click on the browse gallery, you'll see
this component on the screen highlight. Right over here, too, I could click through the different
elements. So, this is a rectangle. This is the search icon up here. This is a search text box.
So, all of these different items tie to one of these components that's shown on the screen. Here,
too, I could simply click on an item, and here, too, you'll also see it over in the tree view.
So if I want to click on the plus icon, here I see the plus icon highlighted over in the tree view.
I now want to start making some edits to my app. And when I look up above, right now the title says
marketing ideas, and I would like to apply some proper casing to this. I can double click on this,
and I can edit the text directly in line. When I have this item selected, over on the right-hand
side, I see all of the properties associated with this item. Here, for example, I could go
into the text, and here I could update the I of ideas. Along with this, I could see the fonts,
the font size, and I have all sorts of different controls to modify and change the look and feel
of this component. Now, any single component that I select on the screen will also have its own set
of associated properties. As another example, let's say that I want to change what type of
information is shown within this gallery view. Here, I could go over to the left-hand side,
and I'll click on the browse gallery. This is now selected, and we can see that with this blue box.
Once again, over on the right-hand side, I can see all of the properties associated with it.
Right down here, I can choose the layout. So here, if I click on this, maybe instead of showing the
date and the confidence level, I'd rather just simplify this a little bit. I could also change
it just to show the titles. So here now you see a more simplified view of all of the different
marketing ideas. Here too, I could click into edit and I could decide what fields I want to show.
So maybe instead of showing the title, maybe I just want to show the confidence level.
I have all of that control here, and I could set that using the properties. Now that we've made a
few basic modifications and we've also looked at properties, I want to start adding some
additional navigation to this app. Over on the left-hand side, you'll see a plus icon, and we can
insert additional components. Right here at the top, you'll see some of the more popular options.
Along with inserting over here on the left-hand side, we can also go up to the top ribbon
and click on insert. And here too, we can insert a number of different items. Now, I mentioned I
want to add some additional navigation and I want to use an icon for that. So, I'll click
on icons and let me scroll most of the way down and I'm going to insert an emoji with a frown.
In a moment, you'll see what I'm doing here. Let's insert this emoji. This inserted my emoji directly
on my app and I can simply click on this, and I'll drag it to where I want to position it.
And I want it to be one of the main controls right here at the top, so I'll position it next to these
other three. Now, right now it's in black and I want it to match these other ones. So just like
we've been doing before, we'll use properties to modify what this looks like. And down below,
I see this section for color. If I click on this, I can change the color to white and so now it'll
match the other ones. I'll reduce the size just a little bit so it's closer to these other ones
and maybe I'll space it out just a little bit more. Now that I have my new navigation button,
I need it to navigate somewhere, and I need to add a new screen. So right over under the insert menu
here, there’s a section for new screen. Here, I'll click on this and there are many different types
of screens that I can insert. I want to simply go with a blank screen, so I'll select this. Now that
I've added my new screen, first off, I want to go back to the tree view over on the left-hand side.
Here now, you see that I have four screens as part of my app and currently this one is called screen
one. Now that's not that descriptive, so I'm going to click on the ellipsis here and I can rename it
and I'm going to call this one Be Happy. Now that I've given it a new name, I'm going to go back
over to the insert menu and I'm going to start inserting different items onto my screen. First,
I think I'm going to insert a text label. It is one of the most popular items, so that seems like
a good one to insert. I'll simply click on that and here I can go in and paste in some text now.
I'm going to say turn that frown upside down, eat a cookie. Now, when I select all of this,
I'll go to the home menu and let's center the text, so I'll just do some quick styling.
Also, I want to insert an image on this screen, so I'll go up to the insert menu this time and over
under media, I can insert an image. There are many other types of media that I can insert as well.
For now, let's click on image. This inserts an image into my app and over here under properties,
I can now select the image that I want to add. I've added an image from my desktop and it's a
picture of the Cookie Monster. This will put anyone who's in a bad mood in a good mood,
so I think this is a nice touch. Now here, if I want to modify items, here I'll drag it so it's a
little bit larger and I'll position it right here on my screen. Next, I want to insert a button, so
when someone lands on this screen, they can return back to the main view. Right up here, once again,
under the insert ribbon, I'm going to click on button and here I'll pull the button, so it's
centered right near the bottom. I can click on the button and just like I've been doing all along,
I can type in text, and I'll say go back. Just like with the button, I can click on the different
items and I'll simply reposition these so they all appear right in the center of my screen.
I don't just have to manually move items around, I can also go up to the home menu and here I can
reorder items so I can adjust the layers so I can move it to the front or to the back. Here too,
I could also use Power Apps to align my different items and if I have multiple items selected,
I could also group those items together. Now this new page of my app might be cute, but it
doesn't actually do anything yet. Here if I click on this button, it doesn't actually go anywhere.
Here now when I have the button selected, I can add an action to this button. Up on
the top ribbon, there's a tab for action. Let's click on that and let's add a navigation action.
Over on the left-hand side, I can click on this navigate dropdown menu. Here I could decide what
page I want this button to navigate to. Right at the top, if I click on this, I can browse through
all of the different screens in my app. Now I want it to go back to the main browse screen,
so I'll select browse screen one and then select that option. One thing you'll notice
is right over here, we have formulas or functions. This basically says what the action is when
someone clicks on this button. And right now it inserted a function for navigate. And there are
two different values. One of them is the screen that it navigates back to and also the associated
animation. So now that I have that in place, I can once again go back and use the alt key,
click on this button and look at that. It brings me back to the main browse screen. Now, currently
there's no way to get to that screen and I want to turn my frown into a navigation path there. So,
we'll do the exact same thing. I'll select this button and once again, let's go over to action,
click on the navigate menu, and here, instead of going to the detail screen or the edit screen,
we want to go to the be happy screen. So, I'll select that screen. Once again, you'll see that
the function automatically updates and now the value is be happy. So now we have that all set to
go. So, let's press the alt key. And now when someone clicks on this frown, look at that,
that's going to put anyone into a good mood. We just added our very first simple action
and you might start to wonder, well, hey, how does the plus icon work or how does sorting work
or how does refreshing work? All you have to do is click on that icon and you can see the associated
formula right up here. Now, if you're curious, it's actually very similar to Microsoft Excel.
If I click on this formula icon, this will show me the broad set of formulas that are available
to me. In fact, I could click on this dropdown and I could see all of the different categories for
all of the different formulas. Now you might be wondering, well, great, there are lots of
different formulas, but what do they actually do? How would I use them? It all feels a little bit
overwhelming. Well, luckily down at the bottom, there's the option to learn more. Let's click on
this. This drops us into a formula reference guide for Power Apps. And here we can see all
of the different formulas that are available to us. Now we just inserted a navigate function. So,
let's go ahead and type it in up here to see what type of information is available. Here,
I can read all about navigation. I could also see example transitions for navigate. And if I
go all the way down, I could see how to use the syntax and even step-by-step examples. Next,
I want to show some of the additional views that we have available to us. Over on the left-hand
side, there's the data view. And here again, we can confirm the data source that we're currently
using for our app. Underneath that, I could also see all associated media. And here again, we see
Cookie Monster. Right underneath that, there are some advanced tools that we can take advantage of.
Now that we've looked at the basic interface and we have a nice simple app in place,
let's go ahead and save it. Up in the top left-hand corner, let's click on the file menu
and then go down to the option that says save. You can either save it in the cloud or you could
save it to your PC. I'm going to save it to the cloud and up here, I'll type in a name. I typed
in the name marketing ideas and then down in the bottom right-hand corner, I can click on save.
Now that I've saved the app, I can start sharing it with others. And right here, I have a pretty
prominent share button. Let's click on this. This opens up a share pane over on the right-hand side.
And now I could type in names of people who I want to share this with. I'll type in a few names.
I've now entered a few different names and over on the right-hand side, I can set the permissions.
So, if I want these people to work on the app with me, I can make them co-owners. Now,
I think I've done enough for this app and I really want to hand the torch to Adele, Nestor and Patty
and let them take the app to the next level. Down below, I also need to ensure that they have
access to the underlying data. The last thing I'd want to do is share this fantastic app with them
only to disappoint them because they can't access any of the data. Once I'm all ready to share,
I'll go down and click on share. Back on the Power Apps homepage, if I want to distribute my app,
over on the left-hand side, let's click on apps. And here again, I see my marketing ideas app.
I can click here if I want to launch the app and see what it looks like,
but I want to distribute it now. Over here, I have an ellipsis. And when I click on this, there are
many different options for distribution. I could share with additional people. I could export the
package. I could even add it to Microsoft Teams. Down below, if I click on details,
here too, I see a web link to the app. One thing that's really neat is on the Office.com homepage,
when you give someone access to the app, down in the bottom left-hand corner, when you click on
all apps, if we scroll down just a little bit, or you could click on the business apps category,
you'll see all of the apps that you've created in Power Apps. Whoever has permission to the app
will also see it on their Office.com homepage. And lastly, you can also access your new app
in the Power App app. When you include app in the product name, you end up saying app a lot.
Here's my new marketing ideas. Let's click on this. And look at that. It launches our new app
on the phone. And unfortunately, we're getting close to the end of the video,
and I'm kind of sad about that. So why don't we once again click on this frown? Oh,
and look at that. No reason to be sad. Turn that frown upside down. Eat a cookie. All right. That's
how you can get started in Power Apps. If this video helped you, please give it a thumbs up. To
see more videos like this in the future, make sure to hit that subscribe button. If you want to see
me cover any other topics on this channel, leave a note down below. All right, well, that's all I
have for you today. I hope you enjoyed, and as always, I hope to see you next time. Bye.