Understanding the 3 Power Automate Triggers is the foundation of building efficient, scalable, and error-free workflows in Power Automate. Whether you’re automating daily reports or reacting to live business events, knowing when and how your flows are triggered makes all the difference.
In this tutorial, we’ll explore the 3 Power Automate Triggers: automated, instant, and scheduled cloud flows-with beginner-friendly examples for each.
🚀 What Are Power Automate Triggers?
All flows in Power Automate begin with a trigger. A trigger is what starts your workflow. Microsoft provides 3 Power Automate Trigger types that allow you to build flows that:
- React to events (automated)
- Run manually when needed (instant)
- Execute on a time-based schedule (scheduled)
Choosing the right trigger type ensures your flow runs only when needed-saving time, cost, and computing resources.
🔁 Automated Cloud Flow – Event-Based Trigger
This flow type starts automatically when a specific event occurs. No manual action is required.
✅ Common Trigger Events:
- When a new response is submitted – Microsoft Forms
- This trigger starts your flow as soon as someone submits a response to your Microsoft form.
- When an item is created – SharePoint
- Runs the flow whenever a new item is added to a SharePoint list
- When an item is created or modified – SharePoint
- Triggers the flow when an item is either added or updated in a SharePoint list
- When a file is created – OneDrive for Business
- Activates your flow when a new file is uploaded to OneDrive
- When a task is assigned to me – Planner
- Starts the flow when a Planner task is assigned to you
💡 Use Case Example:
Send a Teams message whenever a client submits a Microsoft Form (When a new response is submitted).
🛠 Best For:
- Real-time monitoring
- Auto-responses
- Data synchronization
🔘 Instant Cloud Flow – Manually Triggered
The instant cloud flow starts when a user clicks a button in the Power Automate mobile app, desktop, or Teams. This gives full control over when the flow runs.
✅ Trigger Points:
- Manually trigger a flow – Manually trigger a flow
- This is the most basic manual trigger. It allows you to run the flow with a single click and optionally pass in input fields like text or dates.
- When Power Apps calls a flow (V2) – Power Apps
- This trigger lets Power Apps start your flow and pass in user input or data. Great for advanced app interactions like submitting forms or performing lookups.
- For a selected message (V2) – Microsoft Teams
- Enables users to run a flow by right-clicking a Teams message and selecting the flow name. If it’s not visible in the menu, check under More actions.
- For a selected row – Excel Online for Business
- Allows users to manually trigger a flow from a specific row in an Excel table stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. To run the flow, select the row, click the Automate Work tab in the Excel file, open the right pane, click the three dots (…), and select Run.
- For a selected file – OneDrive for Business
- Run a flow manually from a specific file in OneDrive via right-click or file menu.
- For a selected file – SharePoint
- This trigger enables flows to run on a specific file in SharePoint via right-click or file menu.
- For a selected item – SharePoint
- Lets users run a flow on a selected list item in SharePoint via right-click.
💡 Use Case Example:
Select a file in OneDrive and trigger a flow to send it as an email attachment to a manager for approval.
🛠 Best For:
- One-time tasks
- User-driven flows
- Flows requiring input fields
🕒 Scheduled Cloud Flow – Time-Based Trigger
The scheduled flow runs on a time-based schedule that you define. This could be hourly, daily, weekly, or even custom cron expressions.
✅ Common Scenarios:
- Email reports at 8 AM daily
- Weekly SharePoint cleanup
- Nightly database backup
💡 Use Case Example:
Send a summary of weekly sales data to management every Friday at 5 PM.
🛠 Best For:
- Recurring processes
- Maintenance tasks
- Periodic data checks
📌 Comparison Table: 3 Power Automate Triggers
| Trigger Type | Initiated By | Best For | Example Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated Flow | Event | Real-time reactions | New form submission triggers alert |
| Instant Flow | Manual Action | On-demand actions | Tap to send project status email |
| Scheduled Flow | Time-based | Recurring tasks | Daily summary emails |
🧠 When to Use Which Power Automate Trigger?
Choosing the right trigger depends on the nature of your task:
- Use automated flows when your process should react instantly to events.
- Use instant flows when the user should control when the flow runs.
- Use scheduled flows for anything repetitive that should happen at a regular time.
Understanding these 3 Power Automate Triggers ensures you build the right solution from the start.
🏁 Wrapping Up
Mastering the 3 Power Automate Triggers is the key to building smart, efficient workflows. Each trigger type-automated, instant, and scheduled-serves a unique purpose in solving real business problems.
Start with simple flows using each trigger to see how they behave. As your confidence grows, you’ll be able to combine them into more advanced automation strategies.