Power Platform Connectors: A Complete Overview

What Are Power Platform Connectors?

Connectors are the bridges that connect Microsoft Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI) to external services, data sources, and APIs. They abstract away the complexity of API authentication, pagination, and data formatting — letting you integrate with hundreds of services without writing code.

Types of Connectors

Standard Connectors

Included with all Power Platform licenses. Examples:

• SharePoint
• Outlook / Office 365
• Microsoft Teams
• OneDrive
• Excel Online
• Approvals

Premium Connectors

Require Power Platform Premium or per-app licensing:

• SQL Server
• Dataverse
• HTTP (custom API calls)
• Azure services
• Salesforce
• SAP

Custom Connectors

Build your own connectors for any REST API:

• Connect to proprietary internal APIs
• Wrap third-party services not yet available
• Share across your organization
• Publish to the connector ecosystem

Building a Custom Connector

Step 1: Define Your API

You need an API that supports REST with JSON. Gather:

• Base URL
• Authentication method (API Key, OAuth 2.0, Basic Auth)
• Available endpoints and methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
• Request/response schemas

Step 2: Create the Connector

1. Go to make.powerapps.com
2. Navigate to Data → Custom connectors
3. Click New custom connector → Create from blank
4. Configure the host, base URL, and authentication
5. Define actions (one per API endpoint)
6. Specify request parameters and response schemas
7. Test the connector
8. Save and publish

Step 3: Use in Your Flows and Apps

Once created, your custom connector appears alongside standard connectors in Power Automate and Power Apps.

Best Practices

1. Use environment variables for API keys and base URLs
2. Implement pagination for endpoints that return large datasets
3. Add throttling policies to respect API rate limits
4. Document your connector with clear descriptions for each action
5. Use DLP policies to control which connectors can be used together
6. Version your connector when making breaking changes

Common Connector Patterns

Trigger-Based Integration

Use polling triggers or webhooks to start flows when data changes in external systems.

Data Synchronization

Keep data in sync between Microsoft 365 and external systems using scheduled flows with connector actions.

Composite Operations

Chain multiple connector actions to create complex integrations — e.g., get data from Salesforce, process with AI, update SharePoint.

Governance with DLP Policies

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies control which connectors can be used together:

• Business group — connectors that handle sensitive data
• Non-business group — connectors for general use
• Blocked group — connectors not allowed in your environment

Connectors in different groups cannot be used in the same flow or app, preventing accidental data leakage.

Need help building custom connectors or governing your Power Platform environment? Contact our Power Platform team.