Create A Custom Mobile Experience with Microsoft PowerApps

I recently dabbled with Microsoft PowerApps, creating a custom mobile experience for my own data collection process. PowerApps comes packaged with our Office 365 tenant so there was no additional cost. Overall it was fairly straightforward and easy to get up and running quickly.

Like so many things, the actual interface was quick to construct, most of it pulling from templates. Where most people will struggle is in the construction of the data management tools behind the app. I already had a working Excel spreadsheet for collecting data so that part was already done.

PowerApps quickly pulled together a mobile experience where I could sort, filter and search through spreadsheet data. I can also create additional lines in the spreadsheet using mobile form fields. I liked being able to make two separate apps for different sheets in the same workbook, helping to keep my data organized.

Now I already had the same Excel spreadsheet pinned to the home screen of my Android phone. So the PowerApp did not provide any additional functionality, but the form based fields are much easier to use on a phone than the native spreadsheet mechanisms in the mobile Excel app.

If you have access to Microsoft PowerApps and use your mobile device frequently, I highly recommend exploring the possibilities of streamlining data collection and documentation through custom apps. To learn more or to get started, check out Microsoft's Introduction to PowerApps tutorial.