☕ SharePoint Tip #13 — Power Apps: building custom apps on SharePoint Lists
Good morning! Here is your 15-minute SharePoint tip for today.
Day 13 | Week 3 — Integration, Automation & Migration
Power Apps and SharePoint Lists
Power Apps allows you to build custom business applications on top of SharePoint Lists — no coding required. This is one of the most powerful things a Product Owner can commission.
Why build a Power App on a SharePoint List?
The default SharePoint list interface is functional but generic. Power Apps lets you create a custom, branded, mobile-friendly interface on top of the same data — with business logic, validation rules, and role-based views built in.
Classic example: IT helpdesk
- The data lives in a SharePoint List (tickets, status, assignee, priority)
- Staff submit tickets via a clean Power App form on their phone
- IT team views and manages tickets in a different app screen with filters and bulk actions
- A Power Automate flow sends notifications at each status change
- Reports pull from the same SharePoint list into Power BI
Three tools, one SharePoint list as the data layer.
When to use Power Apps vs native SharePoint
| Use native SharePoint | Use Power Apps |
|---|---|
| Simple data entry with standard columns | Complex forms with conditional fields |
| Internal staff comfortable with SharePoint UI | External users or non-technical staff |
| No custom validation needed | Business rules (if X then require Y) |
| Desktop-only usage | Mobile-first experience needed |
What a Product Owner needs to know about Power Apps scoping
Power Apps can be Canvas apps (you design every screen) or Model-driven apps (data-driven, auto-generated UI). For SharePoint integration, Canvas apps are most common.
Licensing matters: basic Power Apps use is included in M365, but premium connectors (Salesforce, SQL, etc.) require a Power Apps Premium licence per user.
Try it today (5 minutes)
Go to any SharePoint List → click Integrate in the top toolbar → Power Apps → Create an app. SharePoint will generate a basic Canvas app automatically from your list columns. Open it in Power Apps Studio and explore what was generated. This gives you an immediate feel for what’s possible without building from scratch.
As a Product Owner
Think of SharePoint Lists as your database layer and Power Apps as the user experience layer. When users complain that "SharePoint is hard to use," the answer is often a Power App — not a SharePoint redesign. This is a powerful product option to have in your toolkit.
See you tomorrow at 6:00 AM with Tip #14 — The Microsoft Graph API and custom development!