Still, there is a critical limitation to the free version of Power Automate Desktop described below. Microsoft made Power Automate Desktop available to all Windows 10/11 users at no additional cost back in 2021. Extract data from a website and store that data in an Excel spreadsheet.You could use Power Automate desktop to automate the following processes with just a click of a button: Power Automate Desktop uses robotic process automation (RPA) to automate repetitive desktop processes. You want to use Power Automate Desktop and the flows it creates when you are working with legacy desktop applications, applications without an API, or when building an API for the application wouldn’t be cost-effective. We’ll look at cloud flows in more depth in just a minute. A good example might be setting up an automated flow that is triggered when you get an email from a specific person. Power Automate cloud flows should be used if the thing you are automating can all happen within a web browser (or within your Outlook Desktop app). It might be easiest to understand the difference between cloud flows and desktop flows by looking at when to use which. Microsoft often uses the umbrella term ‘Power Automate’ when talking about two different things: Power Automate cloud flows and Power Automate Desktop.

Before we look at how that works, let’s clarify a common confusion point. Technically, there is no Microsoft Power Automate free license, but many users get a Power Automate license at no additional cost because they already pay for another Microsoft product (such as Dynamics 365 Sales). That post also gives some concrete examples of how Power Automate can “level up” various processes - making your team even more efficient. In my recent article outlining what Power Automate is (and why your Sales team needs it to stay competitive), I show how it connects seamlessly to your Dynamics 365 Sales environment. It allows business users without developer expertise to create “flows” that automate time-consuming, routine tasks using a drag-and-drop designer. Power Automate is Microsoft’s no-code/low-code automation platform and one of the five applications included in the Power Platform. In this post I clearly break down the user and subscription models, explain who qualifies for a Power Automate free license, and summarize the current Power Automate license costs.

Understanding the Power Automate license model can be confusing, even for veteran Microsoft users.

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