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Activate custom actions (Power Automate flows)

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You can activate external systems with a Fabric Activator rule by defining custom actions with Power Automate. Custom actions can be useful for:

  • Sending notifications using systems other than Teams and email.
  • Creating action items in ticketing systems.
  • Calling line-of-business apps.

To activate custom actions from your rules, first define a custom action by creating a Power Automate flow. Then, call your custom action from your rule.

Create a custom action

A custom action is a reusable action template that you can use in multiple rules within an Activator item. Creating a custom action requires familiarity with Power Automate. However, once you create a custom action, other Activator users can use the action in any rule, without requiring any knowledge of Power Automate.

A custom action defines how to call a specific external system from a rule using a flow. It defines a set of input fields to pass from your rules to the flow, so that the flow can call the external system. For example, suppose you want to define a custom action that adds a task to Microsoft To Do. The input fields for such an action might be Task name. This custom action would link to a flow that uses a Microsoft To Do connector to create the task on your behalf.

Name your action and add input fields

To create a custom action, select Custom action from the Home tab or select New custom action in the Action type drop-down from your rule definition pane.

Then, give your action a name such as Add a To Do task and define the input fields (such as Task name).

Screenshot of creating an Activator new custom action.

The next step is to define your flow in Power Automate. Select Copy to copy the connection string, then choose Open flow builder. Activator takes you to Power Automate so that you can define the flow.

Define your flow

The flow is prepopulated with an action for Activator.

Important

You must paste the connection string from the previous step into this action, as shown in the following screenshot. Select When an Activator rule activates and paste the connection string as shown in the following screenshot. Once you do so, add further steps to your flow as needed, and save the flow. Screenshot of defining a flow for activator.

To access your custom input fields in the flow, on the field you want to customize input click on fx.

Replace NAME_OF_INPUT_FIELD with the name of your input field and click Add. You can browse and select additional properties in the Dynamic content tab.

triggerBody()?['customProperties/NAME_OF_INPUT_FIELD']

Complete your custom action

After you save your flow, return to Activator. Upon successful saving of the flow, you see a confirmation box in Activator. At this point, your custom action is complete, and you may move on to the next step, calling your custom action from a rule.

Screenshot of custom action completion for activator.

Call your custom action from a rule

Once you create a custom action, it's available for use by all rules and users who have access to the Activator item which you defined the custom action. To call your custom action, from a rule, select action Type from the definition pane, and select your custom action from the list:

Screenshot of calling a custom action for Activator.

You then see the input fields for your custom action. Fill them out as appropriate for your rule definition:

Screenshot of custom action input for activator.

When your rule activates, it calls your flow, sending it the values of the input fields that you defined.

Related content

You can also learn more about Microsoft Fabric: