The ask, combine PowerPoint slide Transitions and sequenced Animations to create a follow-along focus effect. Simply, the asking trainer wants something unique added to their presentation. So, for today's steps, darken the slide with a transparent rectangle, introduce an oval, then combine the two shapes into a freeform shape and animate that shape along several … Continue reading PowerPoint: Animations + Transitions | Map Highlighting
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PowerPoint: Animations + Animations | Gear Shifting
The ask, help a trainer add some animations to their presentation. Following the Power Platform Community Conference, the keynote's main takeaway was that "Low-code (as we know it) is dead," highlighting that low-code is shifting into another gear. Taking that as inspiration, the trainer wants to animate an element shifting between gears: Figure 1 - … Continue reading PowerPoint: Animations + Animations | Gear Shifting
Power Fx: Date Picker | Calculate Day of the Year
The ask, take a date value as input and output its calculated day of the year using Power Fx. Not a fancy request, but it is an ask. E.g., November 1, 2025, is the 305th day of the year. Figure 1 - Power Apps canvas app with date picker and label elements. Breaking down the … Continue reading Power Fx: Date Picker | Calculate Day of the Year
Power Automate + SharePoint Online: Get Items | Lookup Column Threshold Error
The ask, correct a failing Power Automate cloud flow. For months, this flow ran daily, without issue, querying a growing SharePoint Online list, but now, the Get Items action is failing and throwing an error: "The query cannot be completed because the number of lookup columns it contains exceeds the lookup column threshold." Figure 1 … Continue reading Power Automate + SharePoint Online: Get Items | Lookup Column Threshold Error
SharePoint Online: Modern Architecture | The Case for “Folder-Less”
The ask, propose a reimagined folder restructure for a group migrating to SharePoint Online (SPO) later this year. Pushing back a bit and flipping the ask, why not simply do away with folders? Especially considering Knowledge Agents, agents built in SharePoint, will soon be able to reason over metadata. Microsoft has actually encouraged flatter SharePoint … Continue reading SharePoint Online: Modern Architecture | The Case for “Folder-Less”
Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)
The ask this time, pitch Power Apps as a low-code consideration for a few pro-code initiatives stuck in the perpetual, project backlog. Although sentiments are changing, there are still pro-dev teams skeptical of the Power Platform. A common concern, driven by much of the community skepticism, is the idea that low-code is limiting and restrictive, … Continue reading Power Apps: Canvas Apps | Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)
Power Platform: Canvas App + Cloud Flow | SPO List Config.
The ask, propose an alternative configuration option for a Power Platform solution. The maker created a Power Apps canvas app and a Power Automate cloud flow. When items are submitted, others are prompted via email, sent by the cloud flow, to open the canvas app and complete an action. Following best practice, the maker created … Continue reading Power Platform: Canvas App + Cloud Flow | SPO List Config.
Power Platform: SPO Data Sources + Error Emails
The ask, rethink error email recipients of a Power Platform solution. The original maker needs to transfer ongoing support to the help desk and presently, if there's an issue, the cloud flows are designed to email the maker directly. Fortunately, the solution's data source is a series of SharePoint Online (SPO) lists, so there's at … Continue reading Power Platform: SPO Data Sources + Error Emails
PowerPoint: Morph + Highlight
The ask, figure out a way to "highlight" PowerPoint slide elements. A technical trainer, in their more content-heavy sessions, would like to "highlight" lines of code. The suggestion today, use the Morph transition in PowerPoint, but instead of using morph to zoom, add transparent rectangles to "highlight" code snippets. Figure 1 - PowerPoint presentation with … Continue reading PowerPoint: Morph + Highlight
PowerPoint: Morph + Transitions
The ask, add some animation to a technical trainer's PowerPoint deck. Their content is solid, but they're looking for help drawing attendee attention to specific elements of their presentation. The recommendation, add morph transitions to a few of their slides: Figure 1 - PowerPoint slides with morph transitions. An often-overlooked feature of PowerPoint, Morph is … Continue reading PowerPoint: Morph + Transitions
Power Automate: Cloud Flows | Terminate Unnecessary Runs
The ask, address a Power Automate cloud flow that needlessly continues to run even when there's no data to process. This particular flow is an Automated cloud flow, and it runs daily, emailing a dynamic list of people a digest report of SharePoint Online list items created the day prior. The flow is triggered, then … Continue reading Power Automate: Cloud Flows | Terminate Unnecessary Runs
Power Automate: Cloud Flow + Better Readability (Scope Controls)
The ask, suggest some structural changes for a few Power Automate cloud flows to improve readability. The flow makers are already adding comments and notes to their controls, but their flows still come across as unstructured. The proposed solution, add and nest flow actions into Scope controls: Figure 1 - Power Automate cloud flow with … Continue reading Power Automate: Cloud Flow + Better Readability (Scope Controls)
Power Automate: Cloud Flows | Is the Array Empty?
The ask, suggest some alternative Power Automate logic for a group of non-dev cloud flow makers. Arrays and functions are new concepts to them, but they understand variables. So, instead of using the length() function to determine whether or not an array is empty, they would like some "more intuitive" logic for their Condition blocks: … Continue reading Power Automate: Cloud Flows | Is the Array Empty?
Power Automate: Cloud Flows + Better(er) Error Reporting
The ask, build on the better error reporting and share the actual error message when a cloud flow action fails. Earlier, the cloud flows were generating way too many error messages, one for each failed action, which was resolved using an array variable to store custom messages specified by the maker, then generating a single … Continue reading Power Automate: Cloud Flows + Better(er) Error Reporting
Power Automate: Cloud Flows + Better Error Reporting
The ask, introduce some better error reporting for a troublesome production cloud flow. The maker just recently deployed their solution to PROD, with some pretty good error handling, but this flow is experiencing some quirks not seen in DEV or QAT, so there are more errors than expected. And unfortunately, each error handled action sends … Continue reading Power Automate: Cloud Flows + Better Error Reporting
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