Flow Connectors in Preview

[DLGross]

What determines when a connector comes out of Preview status? I notice that some have been in that status for many months.

[sandro_asp]

Don't have the exact response, at the end that is Logic Apps team that decides.

But in my opinion, this can be because the service is on preview, let's say MSFT will launch a new cognitive service and also Logic Apps team will create this new connector, this connector will be in preview until this service go GA. Once it goes GA the connector should be GA also.

Or is simply a new connector or action is added, they will be in preview for a while, until the team decides to put it on GA.

[DLGross]

thanks, that sort of makes sense, but I noticed that Planner connector has been in Preview for several months, and that Application has existed for over a year.

[SteveCochrane]

We are currently using a "preview" connector for a production app. What are the odds that the Logic Apps team would remove a "preview" connector? Do they do that, and if so, would they announce it so we can find another way to replace that connector (if there a replacement exists)?

Thanks!

Steve in Spain

[Kasun_Pathirana]

Hi SteveCochrane,

I would recommend not to use "preview" connector for a production app. As the preview feature can be changed it might affect your production later. It will be better to wait until the General Availability to use in Production environment. 

Thanks,
Kasun

[Jay-Encodian]

Hi @SteveCochrane @Kasun_Pathirana 

I agree, a starting position could be not to use a connector in preview, but I think you need to ascertain risk. If it's Microsoft connector I wouldn't expect these will alter radically or be removed but there is a small element of risk.

For third party connectors you may wish to reach out and explore with the vendor; I know for Encodian we couldn't move out of preview until we had breached a threshold level of usage and demonstrated a high (very very high!) level of reliability.... which is as it should be! Microsoft are simply assuring the quality of Power Automate as a platform.

HTH

Jay

[SteveCochrane]

Thanks, both!

   The "Preview" connectors being used are for generating pdf's - "Html to text" (add html here), then "Create file" (a standard connector which creates the html file from the last step), then "Convert file" - another "preview" connector which takes the html file from the previous step and creates the pdf.

   I looked at the Encodian options, but if we need to request a key to use them, it's likely we'll need to pay. Our team will look to get a "premium" license to create a Word template, then use the "Word online (business)" premium connector to do the same thing.

Thanks!

Steve in Spain

[Jay-Encodian]

Hi @SteveCochrane 

Yes, most third party connectors will come at a cost... we do provide a 'Free' sku which allows 50 actions per month, more details here: https://www.encodian.com/pricing

There are of course other third parties you should consider 🙂

Premium connectors are also an option just be mindful of multiplexing... i..e. all users benefiting or using the flow must be licensed. Premium connectors will likely be more expensive, but there is lots of wider benefits to consider so it's not a simple calculation... loads of extra throughput, capability provided with premium.

This may be of interest: Populate a Word or PDF Document using Power Automate 

Hopefully food for thought

Jay

[SteveCochrane]

Many thanks!

   We'll have many more projects for "Premium" connectors, so we'll likely use the "Word online (business)" for this. I was thinking of using a Word template, with fields inside, and then "Update Word template" to create the Word document, then convert to pdf. I didn't think of a simple search-and-replace text which could work better. For example, what if the client needs to update some hard coded text of the Word template? Could they remove the fields or otherwise mess them up? Perhaps, search and replace text would be better, ensuring the tags are in special brackets which they could easily identify.

Cheers!

Steve in Spain

P.S. Why on Earth is "Word online" (from Microsoft!) a "Premium" connector??? 🙄

[Jay-Encodian]

@SteveCochrane 

If the controls are removed from the template they can't be populated.... but arguably that's no different to the search text being removed. Search and replace is easier to setup and re-run IMHO

HTH

Jay