Export PowerApps for Teams to a non Teams environment

[trwdpoweruser]

Hello,

I have a PowerApps for Teams solution which includes Dataverse for Teams.  Our organization did not like the idea that the Power App form resides as a tab inside of a Teams channel so now we're looking to export and import this solution to a non Teams environment.  The PowerApp will now become a standalone and the Dataverse will be become premium licensing using the pay as you go model.  Has anyone done this before ? 

Thank you.

[iAm_ManCat]

Whew, love a challenge!

Ok, so the first problem will be your data - you'll need to recreate the data structure in Dataverse - I'm not aware of a way to export the DV4T schema and use it in a new table in Dataverse, so if you do find/know one, please do share it here!

BUT - I can help you with not having to recreate the actual APP from scratch - you will just need to connect it to the new datasource once you are done with the process I'm about to outline below.

Strap in, this is going to be a rough ride!

Ok, so firstly, from the Teams Power Apps editor, you will need to download a copy of the App:

This will download a .msapp file to your downloads folder.

Now, you need to extract this to a folder - an msapp file is actually just a zip archive. I use 7zip so it automatically detects that this is a zip file that can be extracted, but if you don't use 7zip then you can rename the file to .zip from .msapp:

7zip

Windows zip (after renaming file to .zip):

Now, inside this folder you will find a number of files and folders - in the root directory you will need to open Properties.json

I normally use Visual Studio Code to open this, but for the sake of not everyone having VSCode, I will open it in Notepad - you then need to look for the AppCreationSource property that will current be set to AppFromTeams and change that to AppFromScratch

Ok, now save that file and close it.

Next we need to open the Controls Folder, and then open the 1.json file (this file is the app 'container' and is always called 1.json)

Now we need to find the bit of text that says "Children":

now you'll see one left Square Bracket [

delete everything from inside this bracket to the last right Square Bracket ] :

Ok, now save this file and close it.

Now you'll need to get the recompile PowerShell script from my GitHub here:

https://github.com/iAmManCat/PowerApps-Branding-Template/raw/master/V3/Build_This_Folder_MSAPP.ps1

For reference, there's nothing malicious in this PowerShell, its only using the compress function to create a valid zip that Power Apps will allow to import - and you can view its three lines of code here in the github repository:

PowerApps-Branding-Template/Build_This_Folder_MSAPP.ps1 at master · iAmManCat/PowerApps-Branding-Tem...

Now, save/copy that file into the folder that we extracted, then right-click it and choose 'Run with PowerShell':

Type a name for your new App:

Ok, now this will have created a file inside that folder, I suggest moving this to your Downloads folder:

Ok excellent, now in the environment that you want the App to exist in, create a blank Power App from make.powerapps.com (just so we can get into the standard editor),

Then from there, hit the ellipsis and choose Open:

Now choose Browse:

Select the file we moved to the Downloads folder and click Open:

Once inside the editor with the App open, click the Arrow dropdown and choose Save As:

Give the new App a name:

You can now open https://make.powerapps.com to confirm that your new app is showing:

So that gets your App out of Teams, now you'll need to create the Tables in Dataverse and from within the App, add them and fix all of the errors regarding this (all items that your app was previously pointing to will need to be changed - if possible, name the new Tables in Dataverse EXACTLY the same as your existing tables, and the same for columns, that way when you add the datasource into the App, it will see the same names and just connect to them - otherwise if you name them differently or there is slight discrepancies in naming then I would recommend using the Search-and-Replace function from the editor to rename the incorrect names within the App to the newer correct name.

Sorry I know this probably isn't what you wanted to see but I don't think there's any easy way to do what you're asking for - al lof the documentation and videos I've seen are about either moving (from Dataverse to DV4T) or about moving (from one DV4T instance to another DV4T instance), but your request was obviously to go the other way so we had to use the process above that I just figured out 🙂

Cheers,

Sancho

[iAm_ManCat]

Ok, so you might not actually need to do all of this - you can export from a DV4T environment to a non-DV4T Dataverse environment now I think - this video by Tomasz Poszytek covers how you can:

Exporting and importing Microsoft Dataverse for Teams solutions

Ok so i actually tried to follow the above video guide but it just results in an empty app and it still only lets me publish to teams, so its not actually a valid solution - my long solution above still stands!

[trwdpoweruser]

@iAm_ManCat much appreciated for your thorough explanation and steps.  I followed them closely and was successful until the last step where I needed to open the .msapp file within Power Apps.  I then get the following message 🙄

[iAm_ManCat]

hmmm, it looks like you ran the PowerShell in another folder (possible one folder too high?), it needs to be within the folder you extracted 🙂

[trwdpoweruser]

yeah I realized I had the directory path 1 level up 😑

anyway I redid it and still got this message

[iAm_ManCat]

This indicates that one of the files inside (possibly the ones that we edited) has an error - can you post the code or a screenshot for your properties.json and 1.json?

If I could see it I'll be able to see if there was any issue there 🙂

[trwdpoweruser]

Looks like the account I was logged into for the make.powerapps.com did not have permissions to create any tables in Dataverse.  My own account also did not have this access, but I had someone else with elevated permissions take my export of just the tables as a solution from the DV4T and import that to make.powerapps.com and it worked.  
I then exported my Power App solution without any dependencies into a solution and imported that to make.powerapps.com and it appeared to successfully complete.  The only issue I have now is the network connection references to the Dataverse tables from the PowerApp.  Turns out the same account that I use to import does not have access to the table data therefore the App will not be able to reference that via the connection setup.  I'll have to ask someone in my organization to see if they can grant those permissions and perhaps all the errors showing on my form will disappear.

[iAm_ManCat]

Yes, when I tested the transfer of the App via solution it also looked like it worked, but then when I edited the App it was missing some controls and it would only publish to Teams rather than as a standalone app - has yours done similar?

Can't see any issues with your 1/properties, but the Power Apps editor is quite fickle when it comes to content inside the .msapp, and it has to be zipped via the PowerShell method rather than a standard zip tool otherwise it won't import - PowerShell preserves something in the stucture that a normal zipping action does not, could never figure out exactly what though

There should also not be any other content in the folder you turned into an msapp, so worth checking that its as-is with only the mods to those two files.

Will ask around the community if there's a better way to do this.. or maybe a different way of exporting

[trwdpoweruser]

Yes, I'm not able to publish the app yet because of the errors I am receiving when referencing the Dataverse tables.  I will have to sort that piece out first before knowing if this is going to publish to Teams or become a standalone app.