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Confused about how to share Desktop Flows Using Power Automate Cloud Premium Account

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Posted on by Steve48

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I have an existing Power Automate Desktop (PAD) account with multiple flows. I understand that I needed to create a Power Automate Premium Account to be able to share desktop flows with people in different locations. I opened my Power Automte cloud account and don't understand how to access my existing Desktop flows that are in different account so that I can import them to the cloud. Can someone point me in the right direction? TIA

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trice602 15,404 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Steve48 ,

You have a handful of options.

One is to login as the account owner of the flows and export them as a legacy export (zip file). From there, you can import them under your "other" account.

Another one is to log in as the account owner of the flows and add your other account as a co-owner. From there, you will see them in the cloud desktop flows.

One more option is to open up the flows in the account owner account, and simply copy/paste them into a new flow in your other account. A popular technique is to paste into a notepad file, then switch accounts, then copy/paste into Desktop.

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Steve48 431 on at

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Hi @trice. Thanks for your response
I'll respond to your last suggestion first. Copy into notepad and then pasting hasn't worked for me for large flows because the UI elements aren't preserved. Actually, for large flows I can't even paste, - nothing happens.

Re this suggestion: One is to login as the account owner of the flows and export them as a legacy export (zip file). From there, you can import them under your "other" account. I don't understand. My flows are in my desktop account. How can I login as the owner of the desktop flows. I can only login to my cloud account which is different than my desktop account. Please explain.

Re this suggestion: Another one is to log in as the account owner of the flows and add your other account as a co-owner. From there, you will see them in the cloud desktop flows. Again, I don't understand the login process. When I login to the cloud I don't think I can access my desktop flows. Please explain.
I apologize for my lack of understanding.

I understand that there is something called a Solution. Would that help in my situation?

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trice602 15,404 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Steve48 ,

One the copy/paste process: I recognize it seems like it can take forever but large desktop flows do copy, in their entirety. I have several with more than 300 actions and subflows, they will copy over, with one exception that I am aware of:

If the flow you are trying to copy has some legacy elements that won't go into a newer version, true, it seems like nothing happens. I'll provide an example: there was a mistake by Microsoft a few versions back where they seemly allowed spaces in subflow names. Well, those flows won't copy/paste because it is essentially an illegal character for the schema. There are lots of other examples. But that said, you can ALWAYS paste into notepad regardless.

One the login issue. Open Power Automate Desktop and click on your name in the top right. Sign-out and then sign in as the account where the flows are built. This is in Desktop directly, not at make.powerautomate.com.

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Steveg48 28 on at

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@trice602 .That’s very useful information about the copy/paste. My flow names did have spaces and they wouldn’t paste. I will rename and try again.
i still don’t understand what you are saying about the login issue.

you say: Open Power Automate Desktop and click on your name in the top right. Sign-out and then sign in as the account where the flows are built. This is in Desktop directly, not at make.powerautomate.com. ——- I started out with the Power Automate Desktop that comes with Windows 11. Until today, that was the only account I had. All of my flows were created on it. So I don’t understand your suggestion. I’m confused.

Steve

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trice602 15,404 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Steve48 ,

I recommend you share some screen shots in your posts; because I don't understand.

In Power Automate Desktop, click on your name in the top right. Sign out if needed and sign in as the account where the flows were created (if needed). If you accidently/purposely created addition environments, verify you are in the desired environment.

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Steve48 431 on at

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Hi @trice602
This is what my PAD looks like. There is no "Environments" I'm guessing that might be there if PAD was installed from the cloud. Mine was part of Windows 11. - Steve

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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The reason you don't get "Environments" is because this is a free account. You only get those with Premium. There is no other way to get your flows from the free account apart from copying the actions out to a text editor and then pasting them all again into a flow in the other account. See here for reference: https://www.wiseowl.co.uk/blog/s2989/copy-flow.htm

All other sharing and importing/exporting options are available in Premium and are not available under the free license.

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Steveg48 28 on at

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Hi @Agnius
I previously had problems with pasting from a text file but @trice602 pointed out it was likely because my subflow titles had spaces. Once I migrate my desktop flows to my cloud account, what will my workflow be when I want to create a new desktop flow? My understanding is I would log into my existing PAD with my cloud account, create a new flow and paste into it. If I do this I assume the new flows automatically show up in the cloud. Is this right?

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Steveg48 28 on at

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Hi @Agnius @trice602 With your help I solved my problem. I logged into my desktop with my cloud account, created a new flow and pasted into it with subflow text from my free account. When done the new desktop flow was visible in my cloud platform. I then wanted to share it with someone who is not a user in my account. It seems to do this you have to create a deployment package and then add flows to it. This can then be downloaded as a zip file which the recipient can import. Thanks for your help.

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trice602 15,404 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Steve48 @Steveg48 ,

That's so great to hear!!! Please mark one or more replies as a solution to help others find this post. This is a common issue and hopefully our discussion here also helps someone else too!

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