Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

hi team,

trying to create a flow on Power automate desktop to process a excel file. i noticed there are couple of variants around, power automate desktop, power automate web, work flows on TEAM. first question is whether i picked the right plate for the work?

if yes, is there a place i could get 'template' type flow for a reference as a good start?

Best

Categories:

Building flows

Hi,

Since you're working with Excel files, the answer depends on where the Excel file is stored and what kind of automation you want:

Scenario	Best Tool
Excel file is on your local machine or network drive	Power Automate Desktop is the right choice. It can interact with files directly on your computer.
Excel file is on OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams (cloud)	Power Automate (Cloud/Online) is better for this. It has direct connectors to work with Excel stored online.

So if your Excel file is on your local machine, you're using the right platform (Power Automate Desktop). If it's in the cloud, consider switching to Power Automate Web.

Templates for Flows

For Power Automate Desktop:

Open the Power Automate Desktop app
On the start screen, click “Templates” or “Examples” (varies by version)
You can also check documentation and community examples:
- Power Automate Desktop Tutorials (Microsoft)

For Power Automate (Web):

Go to https://make.powerautomate.com
Click on “Templates” in the left sidebar
Search for keywords like “Excel”, “Email when Excel row updated”, “Process Excel file”, etc.

Thanks!

Inogic