How to Import a PowerApp Package

Colin Maitland, 28 May 2019

PowerApps can be exported as a package from one environment and then imported into another environment. In this article, I will demonstrate how to import a PowerApp package. This demonstration uses a simple ‘Leave Requests’ PowerApp that connects to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

A Plan 1 or Plan 2 licence is required for exporting and importing PowerApp packages.

Step-by-Step

Sign into PowerApps.

Select the environment you want to import the PowerApp package into. I have selected the ‘Training (february2019online)’ environment. This environment is connected to a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Organisation.

This Dynamics 365 Organisation has a custom ‘Leave Request’ solution installed. The Leave Requests PowerApp uses the Leave Request entity in the Dynamics 365 Solution.

The Dynamics 365 Solution also includes a ‘Leave Requests’ Model Driven App.

The ‘Training (default)’ environment is not connected to a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Organisation database or any other database. Navigating to Data, Entities in PowerApps would display a ‘Create database’ prompt rather than a list of Dynamics 365 Organisation entities.

After selecting the correct environment, i.e. in this example the one connected to a Dynamics 365 Organisation with the ‘Leave Requests’ solution installed, navigate to Apps.

Then click ‘Import package’ on the toolbar.

And then click the ‘Upload’ button, browse to and select the PowerApp Package zipped file from the file location to which it was previously saved.

After the PowerApp Package is uploaded, information about the PowerApp will be displayed for you to review. This information includes the Created by, Created on, Name, Environment and Description of the PowerApp. In this example, you will notice that this PowerApp was created in a different Dynamics 365 Organisation environment to the one that is it about to be imported into; i.e. it was created in an environment named ‘january2019powerapps’.

In the ‘Review Package Content’ area, there is an option to change the Name and the Import Setup settings for the package. These settings were configured when the package was exported. However, you can change these before importing the package by clicking the Action icon.

After clicking the Action icon, an ‘Import setup’ dialogue will be displayed. From here you can change the ‘Setup’ option and the ‘Resource name’. The ‘Update’ option for Setup allows you to update an existing PowerApp rather than creating a new one when importing the package.

After reviewing the details of the package and making any change to the Setup options and Resource name, click ‘Import’ to import the package.

When the import has completed a dialogue will be displayed to let you know if the import was successful or not. From here you can then open and test the app and share the app.

When you first open the PowerApp, you will be prompted to choose your Region and to Allow the permissions requested by the PowerApp.

In this example, the PowerApp requested Read, Create, Update and Delete permissions.

Here is the first screen of the Leave Requests PowerApp in the environment into which is was imported.

In conclusion, it is a simple process to package, export and import PowerApps from one environment to another. The packages are zipped and version controlled. The packages may then be imported as either a new app or an update to an existing app. Finally, you will need to have at least a Plan 1 licence, and the package should be imported into an environment that has the correct underlying database for it to connect to.