@WonderLaura – Laura Rogers

If you’re just getting started with Power Apps—or you’ve been tinkering for a while and want to solidify your foundation—this post is for you. I’m going to walk you through my top 10 tips for Power Apps beginners, complete with video demonstrations and best practices that will save you time and frustration down the road.

These tips come straight from last week’s Power Hour session (video at the bottom), where I dove into practical, hands-on guidance every week. Let’s get into it!

Tip #1: Build Your Data Source First

This might sound obvious, but it’s the most important tip to know right when you get started. Power Apps itself doesn’t hold any data—it’s just a user interface. Your data lives in SharePoint, Dataverse, SQL, or whatever data source you choose.

Before you even open Power Apps, be sure to get your data source completely set up. Create all your columns and define your column types. Power Apps is smart enough to automatically know what types of controls to create in the form control, based on the type:

• Text columns become text input cards
• Choice columns become combo boxes
• Person columns become combo boxes
• Date columns become date pickers
• Yes/No columns become toggles

If you go back and change your data source later, you’ll end up doing a lot of rework in your app. Trust me—take the time upfront to get your data structure right.

Tip #2: Explore the Templates

When you’re learning Power Apps, templates are your best friend for getting ideas and understanding how things work. Microsoft has built-in templates that show you different formulas, layouts, and best practices.

To find them, go to make.powerapps.com, click Create, and then look for “App from templates.” You’ll also find screen templates when you’re inside any app—just click to add a new screen and you’ll see options like calendars, welcome screens, galleries, and more.

I love the calendar screen template. It’s several complex formulas built in that show you how to build a functional calendar in Power Apps. The welcome screen template is another favorite—I use it for every single app I create because it looks modern and professional, right out of the box.

One important caveat: I don’t recommend using a template as your production app. Don’t try to morph a template into your final solution. In my experience, it actually takes longer to tweak an existing template to fit your requirements than to build from scratch. Use templates for learning and inspiration, then build your own app using what you’ve learned.

Tip #3: Use Meaningful Names from Day One

As you build your Power App, get into the habit of giving things good names. Power Apps will assign random names like “Button1” or “DataCardValue6” if you don’t rename things yourself, and that becomes a nightmare when you’re writing formulas later.

Here’s my naming convention:

• Screens: SCR prefix (e.g., SCRCalendar, SCRHome)
• Galleries: GAL prefix
• Forms: FRM prefix
• Buttons: BTN prefix (e.g., BTNSubmit, BTNCancel)
• Date pickers: DTE prefix

Now, here’s a pro tip about screen naming specifically: if you use the header control with App.ActiveScreen.Name, it will automatically display the name of your current screen. So instead of SCRCalendar, you might just name it Calendar Screen using natural language—that way your header displays a nice, readable title automatically.

You don’t need to rename every single control in your app. Focus on the important ones: buttons, key input fields, forms, and galleries. When you’re writing formulas that reference these controls, you’ll thank yourself for using meaningful names instead of trying to remember what DataCardValue71 is a reference to.

Tip #4: Master Variables

Variables are fundamental to building functional Power Apps, and there are a few types you need to understand.

Global Variables (Set function)

These carry information throughout your entire app, across all screens. A common use case is capturing the logged-in user when the app opens:

Set(varCurrentUser, User())

Local Variables (UpdateContext function)

These are contained to a single screen. Use them for things like showing/hiding a popup or toggling visibility of elements on that specific screen:

UpdateContext({varShowPopup: true})

Here’s a performance tip: if you have a large app with 20-30 screens and lots of global variables, it can slow things down. Global variables carry their information everywhere in the app, which gets cumbersome. If a variable only needs to be used on one screen, make it a local variable instead.

You can see all your variables by going to the Variables screen in Power Apps—it shows named formulas, global variables, context variables, and collections all in one place.

Tip #5: Your Gallery Is Your Best Friend

The gallery control is where you display a list of things—your SharePoint items, your Dataverse records, whatever data you’re working with. While there’s also a table control that’s simpler to use, galleries offer much more flexibility and functionality.

Here are the Power Apps tips you need to know about galleries:

• The Items property points to your data source (like your SharePoint list name)
• The first row is called the template—whatever you do there propagates to all rows
• Use ThisItem.FieldName to display field values from your data source

When you add a gallery, start by changing the layout to something useful like “Title, subtitle, and body.” Then customize from there—add labels, buttons, icons, whatever you need. You can even add conditional formatting to show different colors or icons based on your data.

To make a gallery item clickable and navigate to a form, use this pattern in the gallery’s OnSelect property:

Set(varRecord, ThisItem);
Navigate(SCRFormScreen);
EditForm(frmMyForm)

This sets a variable containing the clicked record, navigates to your form screen, and puts the form in edit mode. Then on your form, set the Item property to varRecord. This is the fundamental pattern for connecting a gallery to a form—I use it in every app I build.

Here’s another video I made, specifically about setting the variable of the record: Set Record Variable in Power Apps

Here’s my video about Power Apps Conditionally Formatting Galleries and blog post

Tip #6: Understand Form Modes

You don’t need separate screens or separate forms for viewing, editing, and creating records. It’s all about the command you send to your form control.

There are three main form modes:

• NewForm() – Opens a blank form for creating a new record
• EditForm() – Opens the form for editing an existing record
• ViewForm() – Opens the form in read-only mode

Take a look at the formula bar in each of these 3 examples:

You can build interesting logic around these modes. For example:

• If the status is “Approved,” show the view form
• If the current user is an admin, show the edit form
• If someone clicks “New Request,” trigger NewForm and navigate to the form screen

Each card within your form also has a DisplayMode property. By default, cards inherit from the parent form, but you can set individual cards to have different modes based on conditions—maybe certain fields should be read-only for certain users.

Tip #7: Use Power Apps with Power Automate

Understanding the difference between these two products is crucial:

• Power Apps = Your user interface, your front end
• Power Automate = Workflows and automations that happen behind the scenes

Use Power Apps for data entry, displaying information, and user interaction. Use Power Automate for complex logic, creating records in multiple lists, generating PDFs, sending emails based on conditions, and scheduled tasks.

You can send a simple email directly from Power Apps using a connector, but for anything complex—multiple conditions, different recipients, formatted templates—use Power Automate.

Quick note on licensing: there’s no special license needed just to connect Power Apps to Power Automate. However, if your flow uses premium connectors (the ones with the little diamond icon), then users of your app will need the appropriate license just to be able to open the app, even if they use the flow trigger or not.

Tip #8: Use Patch for Surgical Updates

Of the Power Apps tips, this teaches you that there are two main ways to save data in Power Apps:

SubmitForm() – Submits everything in a form control. Simple and easy.

Patch() – Manually updates specific fields without needing a form.

Patch is perfect for quick updates like changing a status with a button click. Here’s an example:

Patch(
    PurchaseRequests,
    ThisItem,
    {Status: {Value: "Approved"}}
)

This patches the PurchaseRequests list, targets the current item, and sets the Status to “Approved.” No form required—just one click and the data updates.

For choice columns (like Status), you need the extra {Value: "..."} syntax because of how SharePoint stores choice data. Text columns are simpler—just {Title: "New Title"}.

Most of your work will use form controls with SubmitForm, but Patch is a powerful tool to have in your toolkit for those quick, targeted updates.

Tip #9: Test with Different Users Early

Apps behave differently based on who is logged in. Don’t wait until you’re ready to go live to discover permission issues or logic problems.

Things to test:

• Data permissions – Users need at least Contribute access to your SharePoint list
• Filtered galleries – If you’re filtering based on the current user, test with multiple users
• Conditional buttons – If buttons show/hide based on user roles, verify that logic works
• Connectors – Some connectors behave differently based on user permissions

Best practices:

• Create test users with different permission levels
• Test as the submitter, not just as an admin with full control
• Use Preview mode in Power Apps
• Try your app on the Power Apps mobile app
• Share your app with colleagues for feedback before rolling it out

When sharing your app, go to make.powerapps.com, find your app, click Share, and add your users or groups. There’s a classic sharing screen that lets you turn off the automatic email notification if you don’t want to spam everyone during testing.

Tip #10: Keep Your First App Simple

Don’t build your dream app right away. Complexity can come later.

Think big, start small, keep growing.

Start with low-hanging fruit—a form that needs customization, or a basic data entry app. Get comfortable with the interface, learn how formulas work, and understand the these Power Apps Tips before tackling complex scenarios.

Power Apps is incredibly powerful. I honestly can’t think of anything you can’t accomplish with it. But it’s a big blank canvas, and jumping into a massive project without experience is like jumping off a cliff. Build your skills incrementally, and you’ll be creating sophisticated apps before you know it.

📚 Quick Reference: All 10 Power Apps Tips

1. Build your data source first – Get all columns and types set up before creating your app
2. Explore the templates – Use them for learning and inspiration, not as your production app
3. Use meaningful names – Name screens, forms, galleries, and buttons with clear prefixes
4. Master variables – Set for global, UpdateContext for local
5. Your gallery is your best friend – More flexible than tables, connects easily to forms
6. Understand form modes – New, Edit, and View are commands, not separate forms
7. Use Power Apps with Power Automate – UI vs. automation, know when to use each
8. Use Patch for surgical updates – Quick field updates without a form control
9. Test with different users early – Permissions and logic behave differently per user
10. Keep your first app simple – Start small and iterate

🚀 Continue Learning Beyond Power Apps Tips

If you want to dive deeper into any of these Power Apps tips and concepts, check out my self-paced courses at IWMentor.com. I have a free Power Apps Basics course that’s about an hour long—perfect for getting started. From there, you can move into Power Apps Advanced and even my Power Apps Approval Panel course for building complete business solutions.

And don't forget about Power Hour! Every Wednesday at 11 AM Central, I go live on my YouTube channel (Wonder Laura) for free demos and Q&A. Subscribe to the newsletter at IWMentor.com to vote on upcoming topics. There are links on the power hour page, to subscribe and join the chat.

Happy app building, and here is the associated video! 🎉