Dataverse for Teams: sharing Canvas Power Apps

Why?

Ever since it was introduced as Project Oakdale, I have followed the development of Dataverse for Teams (Microsoft Dataverse for Teams overview – Power Apps | Microsoft Learn) with much interest. One of the features I liked very much was about sharing Canvas Power Apps beyond a team (You can now share Dataverse for Teams apps beyond a team | Microsoft Power Apps).

What?

I recently came across a strange issue after I imported a Managed Solution into a Dataverse for Teams environment (yes! we can do that ๐Ÿ˜Ž). As usual I added the Canvas Power App from the solution as a tab to the Microsoft Teams team. I had the expectation that all team members would be able to use the Power App immediately. However other Members of the Microsoft Teams Team could not open the Canvas App:

App isn't opening correctly issue with Dataverse for Teams Canvas Power Apps
App isn’t opening correctly issue with Dataverse for Teams Canvas Power Apps

The notification: โŒ “This app isn’t opening correctly. It looks like you don’t have access to his app. Ask its owner to share it with you.” โŒ. I did not expect this notification, because I imported the solution to a Microsoft Teams team with a Dataverse for Teams environment attached to it. Previously everyone in the team was able to access apps like these by default. When I would change the user from member to owner, the notification disappeared (after a small period of waiting) and that user could open the app as expected ๐Ÿคจ…

How?

I do not use the Power Apps App of Microsoft Teams very often to develop actual Solutions / Apps. I prefer the full Power Apps Studio behind the link of make.powerapps.com. First this made me question the way I created the Solution. Then the way I exported it. And lastly the way I imported it…. With the help of Microsoft Support we found a fix!

1) In this case I have created an Unmanaged Solution in a (premium) Dataverse Environment and I export it as a Managed Solution. After importing this Managed Solution into a Dataverse for Teams environment, all Microsoft Teams team members should be able to use it right away. Again: I have done this a lot of times in the past with multiple types of Managed Solutions in multiple tenants and multiple Microsoft Teams teams. I just use the recently added Open in Power Apps button to open the Dataverse for Teams environment:

Open in Power Apps option from within the Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams
Open in Power Apps option from within the Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams

2) Once imported we can use the Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams to share the solution (including the sharing of the Canvas Power App). Go to the Installed Apps section and select See all of the Managed Solution:

Managed Solutions in Installed Apps section of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams
Managed Solutions in Installed Apps section of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams

From here a Share with colleagues button appears:

Share with colleagues option in imported Managed Solution of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams
Share with colleagues option in imported Managed Solution of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams

3) Remember that this will probably share the whole solution and not just the Canvas Power App. This is to be expected to make sure that everything needed is shared simultaneously.
Behind this button a popup will appear where you can search for the Office Group related to the Microsoft Teams team and provide access to what you want to share:

Share with colleagues popup of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams
Share with colleagues popup of Power Apps App in Microsoft Teams

This should fix the not-shared notification of Team Members. So my conclusion is that something changed at the backend of a Dataverse for Teams environment of a Microsoft Teams team. All components of a Dataverse for Teams environment used to be accessible by default for all members (and owners) of the Microsoft Teams team. However now it seems to be disabled by default so Sharing Canvas Power Apps needs to be explicitly done. I like this setup better so we have more granular control on access ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿ‘.

One thought on “Dataverse for Teams: sharing Canvas Power Apps

  1. I found this blog post to be very informative and helpful in understanding how to share Canvas Power Apps using Dataverse for Teams. The author did a great job of breaking down the process into clear and easy-to-follow steps, with screenshots to illustrate each step.

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