Need ideas for launching instant cloud flows for non-technical end users

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Posted on by AlexMB

I'm wondering how you all set up triggers for your flows, for non-technical end users.

For instance I have a two-workflow setup.

With one workflow, all PDF's placed in a certain SharePoint folder are automatically translated to lines in a table in an Excel sheet.

With the second workflow, launched manually from within Power Automate, the data in the excel sheet is copied to our ERP and the table is reset.

For some of our users, going to Power Automate and launching a flow is a daunting task verging on the impossible. Some people are just not very technical.

What I'd really like is something like a SharePoint site with buttons to launch various flows. Sort of like a command central for dummies. A place where nothing can go wrong.

I'd love to hear some of the solution you all have come up with, for launching Instant Cloud Flows.

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Using flows

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Expiscornovus 33,855 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @AlexMB,

One approach could be to provision buttons in the list or library. You can use column formatting for this.

Laura Rogers has a nice blog post (older blog post, but still valid approach) about this:

https://wonderlaura.com/2018/07/18/button-in-sharepoint-list-to-trigger-microsoft-flow/

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RobElliott 10,505 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@AlexMB I agree with @Expiscornovus that adding buttons to your SharePoint list is the route to take. I do it regularly, nit only for my own benefit but to make it easier for users and to keep them away from carefully-built flows.

So for example a flow sends out a safety briefing and populates another column with the date it was sent. The administrator (non-technical) just clicks the button, a confirmation panel opens to confirm that she wants to send it and the flow does the rest. The column in the list is a single line of text column formatted in advanced mode with the following JSON. You would change the ID to you flow's ID, change the button text and add any styling you want.

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json", "elmType": "button", "txtContent": "Send", "customRowAction": { "action": "executeFlow", "actionParams": "='{\"id\":\"28c87bb7-822d-4317-8c54-bbfcfc783035\", \"headerText\":\"Send ' + [$Template] + '\",\"runFlowButtonText\":\"Send now\"}'" }, "style": { "background-color": "#f7f36f" } }

Rob
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AlexMB 80 on at

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Thanks @Expiscornovus and @RobElliott for your great suggestion.

I certainly agree that buttons in SharePoint lists is a cool option. However I think you must have misread, since I don't actually have a SharePoint list. 🙂

What I want is the equivalent of a big red button somewhere, that launches a flow, which requires no input. If the button could forward the name of the user, that would be awesome. Not a requirement, though.

But also I'm thinking in more general terms. Buttons in SharePoint lists is a great example of making flows accessible.
Same goes for hot folders.
I'd like to hear other examples of how end users could potentially interact with flows.

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Expiscornovus 33,855 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi @AlexMB,

A separate button would also be possible. In that case you could use the When a HTTP request is received trigger action (premium connector though). You can configure that action to be able to receive GET requests.

Below is an example which uses a Button web part.

1. Create a flow with that trigger action.

2. Use that Url as a hyperlink in a button.

Note: be aware that in this example anyone with that hyperlink can trigger the flow 😁

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