Power Automate 101: Understanding Actions

What happens after the trigger?

Last week we looked at Power Automate triggers. This week we will be diving into what happens after a trigger, actions.

What Is an Action in Power Automate?

In Power Automate, once your trigger has fired and your flow has started, actions are what tell your flow what to do next.

Think of it this way:
Trigger = When something happens
Action = What to do about it

A flow can have one action or dozens. You can string actions together to build multistep automations that handle everything from sending notifications to processing data across different systems.

Anatomy of an Action

An action is a single task that your flow performs. It can:

• Send an email
• Create or update a file
• Post a message in Teams
• Start an approval
• Add a row to Excel
• … and so much more!

Each action comes from a connector — a link to an app or service like SharePoint, Outlook, Excel, or Microsoft Teams.

For example, this mock flow would be triggered by a form submission and then perform three steps:

Trigger: When a new response is submitted (Forms)

Actions:

• Get response details
• Post a message in Teams
• Create a task in Planner

Each of those three steps is an action.

Types of Actions You’ll Use Most

Let’s take a look at some actions that are most common for beginners:

1. 📩 Send a Notification or Email

Whether you want to alert a teammate or yourself, Power Automate makes it easy.

Examples:

• Send an Outlook email
• Post a message in Teams
• Push a notification to your phone

2. 📁 Create, Move, or Update Files

Actions allow you to manage documents automatically.

Examples:

• Create a PDF in OneDrive
• Save email attachments to SharePoint
• Move files between folders based on status

3. 📊 Work with Data

You can insert, update, or search data across various sources like Excel, SharePoint, or Dataverse.

Examples:

• Add a row to an Excel sheet
• Update or create a SharePoint list item
• Filter records by a specific field

4. ✅ Start an Approval

Power Automate has built-in support for approval processes.

Examples:

• Start and wait for an approval
• Send a follow-up email after approval
• Log approval decision in SharePoint

5. 🧮 Logic and Control Actions

These actions help your flow make decisions, loop through items, and branch paths.

Common Control Actions:

• Condition — If this, then that
• Switch — Like a multi-choice condition
• Apply to each — Loop through multiple items
• Do until — Repeat until a condition is met

Real-Life Flow Example Using Actions

Scenario: You want to automate leave requests.

Flow Steps:

• Trigger: When a new Microsoft Form is submitted
• Actions:
  1. Get response details
  2. Start approval (to the manager)
  3. If approved:
     • Create calendar event in Outlook
     • Send confirmation email to the employee
  4. If rejected:
     • Send a “Request Denied” email

This example uses:

• Data retrieval
• Conditional logic
• Email notifications
• Calendar actions

All powered by actions.

Tips for Using Actions Effectively

✅ Name your actions clearly
Rename actions like “Send an email (V2)” to “Send confirmation email” — this makes flows easier to read later.

🔗 Use dynamic content wisely
Actions can pull in dynamic data from earlier steps (like form responses or file names). This makes your flows flexible.

🪢 Test step-by-step
Use the Test feature and look at the Run History to troubleshoot individual actions.

🧱 Build in pieces
Start with one or two actions and test before adding more.

Common Action Connectors You’ll Use

Here are some popular connectors and what they let you do:

Wrapping It Up

Actions are the heart of your flow — they’re what carry out your automation goals after your trigger fires.

You can:

• Send info
• Create items
• Update records
• Make decisions
• Loop through data
• Build full business processes

Once you get the hang of combining actions with smart logic and dynamic content, Power Automate becomes a superpower.

Up Next in Power Automate 101:

In the next post, we’ll cover Conditions and Branching — how to make your flows dynamic and responsive based on different inputs or decisions.