In Part 2 of the Intro to Power Apps series, our focus shifts from creating a basic app to improving usability, organization, and functionality. By adding additional screens, navigation controls, and better design practices, you can create an experience that feels more intuitive for end users. If you are new to the series, it is recommended to complete Part 1 before working through the concepts covered here.

Understanding screen size and display settings

Power Apps provides several display settings that affect how an app appears on different devices. Within the Settings menu, you can configure:

• Portrait or landscape orientation
• Scale to fit options
• Lock aspect ratio settings

These options help ensure that your app displays correctly across phones, tablets, and desktop environments. For applications intended specifically for desktop use, you can also manually adjust the app's pixel dimensions to create a larger design surface and maintain consistent positioning of screen elements.

Create multiple screens

As applications become more complex, keeping all functionality on a single screen can create a cluttered experience. To improve organization:

1. Create a new screen.
2. Select a blank layout or use one of the available templates.
3. Rename screens to clearly describe their purpose.

In the example, separate screens are created for:

• Viewing records
• Editing records

Splitting functionality across screens creates a cleaner user experience and makes future development easier.

Use meaningful names for screens and controls

One of the most important Power Apps best practices is naming controls as you build. Instead of relying on default names such as:

• Button1
• Button1_1
• Button1_2

Rename controls to clearly indicate their purpose. Examples include:

• Gallery Screen
• Edit Screen
• Edit Button
• Cancel Button

Clear naming conventions make applications significantly easier to maintain and understand, especially as projects grow in size and complexity.

Move and reuse existing controls

Power Apps makes it easy to copy, paste, and reposition existing controls. When controls are copied between screens:

• Layouts are preserved
• Positioning is maintained
• Existing functionality carries over

This allows developers to reuse components without rebuilding them from scratch. After moving the editing form to a dedicated screen, the layout is adjusted so users have enough space to work comfortably with the record being modified.

Add navigation between screens

Navigation allows users to move seamlessly through the app. Using the Navigate function inside a control's OnSelect property, you can direct users from one screen to another. Common navigation scenarios include:

• Opening an edit screen from a gallery
• Returning to a previous screen after saving changes
• Returning without saving changes

By combining form submissions with navigation actions, users can complete updates and automatically return to the main screen.

Create a cancel option

Users may decide not to save changes after opening a record. To support this scenario:

1. Duplicate the existing button.
2. Rename it as a Cancel button.
3. Remove the form submission logic.
4. Replace it with navigation back to the previous screen.

This gives users a simple way to exit the editing process without making changes.

Replace ambiguous icons

Visual cues are important for usability. The example replaces a generic chevron icon with a pencil icon to better indicate that the action opens a record for editing. Power Apps includes a large library of built-in icons that can be customized through:

• Size
• Color
• Position
• Behavior

Choosing icons that clearly communicate their purpose helps users understand the application more quickly.

Test record editing

After configuring navigation and forms, the app is tested by:

1. Opening a record.
2. Modifying its contents.
3. Saving the changes.
4. Returning to the gallery screen.

The updated information immediately appears in the gallery, demonstrating how Power Apps updates the underlying record and reflects the changes throughout the application.

Connect Power Automate to Power Apps

Power Apps integrates directly with Power Automate, allowing developers to trigger workflows from within an app. Using the Power Automate panel, you can:

• Create new flows
• Connect existing flows
• Trigger automated business processes
• Send emails
• Update SharePoint
• Pass information between systems

Power Automate templates are also available to help you quickly build common automation scenarios without starting from scratch.

Use the built-in AI assistant

Power Apps includes a built-in virtual agent that can help answer questions and locate documentation directly from the development environment. The assistant can provide:

• Documentation links
• Guided learning resources
• Videos
• Recommended steps for common tasks

While it may not answer every question, it provides a quick starting point for learning new Power Apps features and troubleshooting common issues.

Build better user experiences

Moving beyond a single-screen application is an important step in Power Apps development. By introducing screen navigation, improving naming conventions, organizing functionality, and exploring integrations with Power Automate, you can create applications that are easier to use, easier to maintain, and more scalable as requirements grow. These foundational design techniques provide the structure needed for building more advanced Power Apps in future development phases.