@WonderLaura

Microsoft has started rolling out what is currently called “Project Oakdale”.  What is it?

• It is a Power Apps (canvas app) creation experience in a Team inside of Microsoft Teams
• It has its own database / data source type.  It is not the common data service (CDS), it is a light version of it, though.  It doesn’t have that extra cost associated with CDS.
• Each app you create lives inside of the Team where it has been created.
• The experience of creating tables and columns is very simple, and should be easy for anyone familiar with spreadsheets or MS Access.
• This data source is not SharePoint, but you can use SharePoint as a data source if you’d like to.

How can you try it out?  Check out my 8 minute video to get started, and here are the easy steps below:

1.  Go to teams.microsoft.com, or open the desktop app.

2.  Click the ellipsis on the far left, and choose Power Apps.  You may have to search for it in the little search box above the list of apps.

3.  If you’ve never done this, it will prompt you to add the app.  Click Add.

4.  You have the option on this screen to pick from one of their existing templates, such as Employee ideas, Inspection, or Issue reporting.  To create one from scratch, click the big purple Create an app button.

5.  Each app has to be created *in* a Team.  Pick a team from the drop-down and click Create.  You may be prompted to pick your country if this is your first time creating a Power App.

6.  Your new Power App will just be called “App” by default.  You can click the word App next to the Save button at the top right, and change the name of your app.

7.  On the left side, in the data panel, click the button Create new table.

8.  Give your new table a name, and go through this simple interface of creating columns and typing in data.

Check out my quick video above, to go though these steps and a few other things to know as you’re building your apps.  Happy Power App’ing, and if you’re interested in training, read the details of my basic and advanced Power Apps courses at iwmentor.com.