How to deploy a flow to a set of users?

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Posted on by ZealousAardvark

Hello,

I am new to Power Automate and trying to understand whether I can use it for a specific automation task.

I've built a flow that takes emails coming into a Microsoft 365 Outlook inbox, processes their contents and pipes them to an external system via a 3rd party connector.

What I'd like to learn is whether I, as an IT professional, can take this flow and deploy it to other employees in my organization so that:

A. The Microsoft 365 Outlook connector connects to their inboxes.

B. The API key embedded in the connection that is used by the 3rd party connector is kept secure and hidden from these employees.

Is this possible in Power Automate? If so, what is the process of provisioning the flow as a package and deploying it to the other employees?

Thanks in advance,

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VictorIvanidze 13,083 on at

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Did you try to export your flow as a zip file and then import it?
ZealousAardvark 8 on at

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Hi and thanks,

I've used import and export but only to solutions I own. Are you saying I should export to other people's solutions?

Cheers,
ZA
VictorIvanidze 13,083 on at

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I mean exporting/importing flows as is, no solutions:
ZealousAardvark 8 on at

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Hi,

I haven't tried it because what I gather from the documentation is that that exposes both my Office 365 connection and the credentials to the 3rd party connection to the person I'm exporting to.

Cheers,
Uri
VictorIvanidze 13,083 on at

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A person you're exporting to will see your primary email address. Is this a real problem?
ZealousAardvark 8 on at

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Thanks. My email address is not the problem. The problem is both friction in the deployment an the potential for exposing sensitive credentials.

In my scenario, there's an IT administrator that wants to deploy the flow to several dozen other users in the org. The users are not technically savvy and guiding them through the process of importing the flow package and setting up the connectors is not optimal. What's more, the users are not to be given access to the API key used in the 3rd party connector.

Hence my asking about a way to deploy the flow to the user with minimal intervention and with connectors setup for them, rather than by them.

Thanks again,
ZA
VictorIvanidze 13,083 on at

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Simplest way: an admin is logging as a user and sets the flow.
Better way: to redesign the flow so it will run under a singe application account and will handle all users.
ZealousAardvark 8 on at

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Thanks Victor, those are great ideas. Can a flow listen for incoming messages from multiple Outlook 365 connectors?
VictorIvanidze 13,083 on at

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>Can a flow listen for incoming messages from multiple Outlook 365 connectors?
If you mean "can a flow has several triggers?" then no,
If you mean "can a flow handle several mailboxes?" then yes, but ingoing messages will be handled not immediately after receiving but with some delay.
jerp_3131 2 on at

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Can you explain why "legacy" is in parenthesis after "import package" in your screen shot? I have tried to find the answer and I have had no luck. Is "import package" in "my flows" being deprecated soon? It would be nice to use this option but if it is planned for deprecation, then I will have to think again.