Need to set up a workflow between applications or services but don’t know where to start? Check out this post about Microsoft Flow from Premier Developer consultant Daisy Chaussee to learn how to make services talk to each other without even writing one line of code!
Microsoft Flow creates automated workflows between apps and services. You can get notifications when you receive an email from your boss or save email attachments to OneDrive. Even more exciting, a flow can be integrated into a PowerApps application or SharePoint site. All of this is immensely powerful, but what really caught my attention was the ability to incorporate almost any connector into a flow.
After logging into the Flow portal, you can get started with your first flow. I decided to create mine by searching for various connectors. Since I’m a photographer and Instagram lover, I searched ‘Instagram’ and found numerous preexisting templates that incorporate Instagram, from ‘Pin my new Instagram posts to Pinterest’ to ‘Save photos from Instagram to OneDrive.’ While these templates are useful, I wanted the satisfaction of making my first flow from scratch. So, I clicked on the ‘My flows’ tab followed by ‘Create from blank.’
Of course, I already knew I wanted to use Instagram, but there are hundreds of connectors to choose from – you can sync with Twitter, a blog RSS feed, Dropbox, Gmail, Medium, Slack, or SurveyMonkey. I settled on the ‘When I upload a new media’ Instagram trigger to incite the action of sending emails from my personal email account whenever I post to Instagram. In a matter of minutes, I was thus able to configure a flow to send emails to the people who really care (a.k.a. my mom and two grandmothers) every time I upload a photo or video to Instagram.
There’s nothing more gratifying than receiving a response to one of these emails from my grandma: “Love all the recent pictures. I think you like ice cream as much as I do. Hugs.” My photos and the email alerts that get sent out with them are making an impact, and I have Microsoft Flow to thank. Get excited, then get started with your own Flow!
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