Microsoft Flow UWP brings business workflows to life

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For the super connected business professional, automation services like If This Then That and (here) Microsoft Flow are becoming popular. And now there's a first party UWP application letting you trigger a particular Cloud file copy when that other service is updated, or to notify you when someone adds you to an Asana project - that sort of thing. It's a hard application and service to describe, so see the screenshots below and then wait until a genuine use case in your own professional life presents itself?

It's worth noting that this UWP app is so far not available per-se on the Desktop, though this is surely imminent. Still, it's a full UWP and works well with larger displays when hooked up via Continuum. Also of note is that this is something of a heavyweight application, even though it 'merely' ties in with a Cloud service, and that there's a 2GB RAM minimum. This may come down in time, but at the moment this isn't for the Lumia 640s of this world.

From the Store description:

This easy-to-use business app helps you create, monitor, and manage automated workflows between your web services, files, and cloud-based data. Create a flow to automatically capture, track, and follow up with new sales leads, or automate notifications telling your team when a work item is updated - create the flows that work for you!

  • Create new flows when you need them - from anywhere!
  • Trigger flows to run at the tap of a button
  • Manage your flows from anywhere
  • Monitor flow success
  • Review detailed run history reports
  • View and filter runs by notification type

Coming soon:

  1. Team flows: View your team flows straight from your Flow mobile app
  2. Button sharing: Share your buttons with others to run.

Here's Microsoft Flow in action:

Screenshot, Microsoft Flow UWPScreenshot, Microsoft Flow UWP

Getting started with Flow - it's vital to bear in mind that this is a Cloud service, hosted on Microsoft's servers - so you can control your 'flows' from any signed in device or client - this isn't some kind of 'macro' automation on a phone - everything here happens via Internet services via official APIs...

Screenshot, Microsoft Flow UWPScreenshot, Microsoft Flow UWP

Dozens of services and templates mean that it's easy to get going, though be prepared for a lot of service authentication in terms of email addresses and passwords! But then that comes with the territory, eh?

Screenshot, Microsoft Flow UWPScreenshot, Microsoft Flow UWP

The range of Microsoft Flow-connected services is surprisingly large. If you've ever wanted to connect an event in Cloud service A with an action in Cloud service B then Microsoft Flow is for you. Note that the small 'i' button on the right of each service trigger pops up more information about the event.

Screenshot, Microsoft Flow UWP

Hooked up to a secondary Continuum display on my Lumia 950 - this is a full UWP (even though the 'Desktop/PC' version isn't public yet) and adapts its UI very easily and efficiently.

You can grab this in the Store if you're keen to get going - though note that this has some way to go before it's fully optimised and functional. It's currently a little laggy and it's far too easy to get confused in the UI. Plus - WHERE IS THE DARK THEME?!

Comments welcome if you get up and running with this free service for real.

Source / Credit: Store