What is Canvas apps and what is it used for?

Copilot answer

Canvas apps are a type of low-code application you build in Microsoft Power Apps by designing the user interface on a blank canvas with drag-and-drop controls and Excel-like formulas.

They connect to many data sources such as SharePoint, Dataverse, SQL, Excel, and APIs so you can read, update, and present business data across mobile, tablet, and web.

They are used to rapidly create task- or role-focused solutions like forms, approvals, inspection reports, booking systems, and lightweight field or line-of-business apps without full-scale software development.

Explain it to me like I’m 10 years old

Canvas apps explained for a 10-year-old

Canvas apps are like a digital craft table where you drag buttons, pictures, and boxes onto a blank page to build your own app.

You can hook the app up to lists or spreadsheets so it can show, save, and change real information.

People use them to make simple tools fast—like sign-up forms, checklists, or helpers for jobs—without needing to be a coding expert.

Specialist answer

April Dunnam, Power Platform Advocate at Microsoft.

Canvas apps let you build line of business mobile and desktop applications without having to write any code.

They’re called canvas apps because you start with a blank canvas that you can design however you like.

Using the pre-built controls that are provided, you can just drag and drop them onto the canvas to build out your app user experience.

Cathrine Bruvold, Head of Power Platform @ Point Taken

Canvas apps offer a low-code approach to build fully customisable user interfaces for working with organisational data.

It combines writing formulas in Power Fx (If this, then that syntax) for creating business logic and validation with predefined drag and drop controls, connectors for accessing internal business systems and external data sources, and when necessary, custom code to extend functionality when low-code falls short.

This enables organisations to build and deliver valuable and tailored applications solving and streamlining specific tedious, manual or even complicated business processes while leveraging the built-in security mechanisms in Power Platform, low-code flexibility and automation capabilities in Power Automate efficiently.

Explain it like it’s my first day on the job

Canvas apps are a simple way of building a fully working app on any data source. Where a Model-driven app always relies on Dataverse, a Canvas app can have other data sources, or no added sources at all!

Think of all the different forms you have in your company, all of these can be replaced by Canvas apps and connected to different data sources. A form that needs to update multiple data sources? Can be done from one Canvas app. Registering out sick, which then triggers an outlook blocker and auto reply in outlook. Registering vacation which updates your HR system and blocks your calendar. Registering a new employee, adding the employee to the HR system, EntraID and gives them the correct user access and licenses and posts something about the new employee on Teams!

Where the design and structure of a Model-driven app is set, you have free rains with a Canvas app. There are good and bad things about that.

• The good thing is that you can make it look and feel any way you want, and you can connect it to multiple data sources or no data source.
• The bad thing is you have to tell the app how to do all of this. Every single button – you need to tell it what it should do with the use of Power Fx.

You use Microsoft’s code language Power Fx to “code” what the app should do. Using Excel you might have seen the formula bar, and if you’re an expert, you’ve probably done some amazing formulas. Notice the “fx” in the formula bar – this is Power Fx! The syntax, the way you write the formulas, is more or less the same.

You can start from a blank canvas or you can start from data and have Microsoft build parts of the app for you, or you can even have Copilot build the app for you by explaining what it should do.

If you start a Canvas app from data, the system will:

• Add the data source and the table you’re selecting
• Create a fully working app;
  • List of that table
  • Edit options
  • Create a new row
  • Delete a row

For the app I made, I’ve used the contact table in Dataverse and I already have a fully working app that I can start editing.

Now it’s up to me to edit the app to work in a way I would like it to work. Maybe I want to add other data sources or maybe I want to change the columns in the form or the colour of the app. I now have a good starting app and can customize it the way I want from here.

I can also start from blank or start from a design and create everything from scratch if I want to (and have the knowledge on how to).

Some changes to the app you can do by selecting in a menu, but a lot of it you need to change the Power Fx. You can find the Power Fx bar in the top. We’ll be back later with a Power Fx blogpost!

Use cases with large customers

I was delivering training for a Norwegian municipal when they told me how they created a Canvas app for people going to deliver things that was built on a SharePoint list. In the SharePoint list they had all the work needed to be done for the day and where everyone was going. They used to filter on the list and create complex queries to be able to have a worklist for the workers.
They then created a simple Canvas app based on the SharePoint list. The workers opened the Canvas app and could see a list of their tasks from the same SharePoint list, but now structured and showing only their tasks and by priority. The workers could easily by clicking a button complete the task and all of that was updated in SharePoint. The customer said they have had no support tickets for it and delivered minimum training, but it saved them a lot of time every single day.

Another big customer were using model-driven apps, but they also had an ERP system. They wanted to see the financial transactions without having to open the ERP system (or didn’t want the sales people to have access to the ERP system). They wanted to see if the bills were paid before they tried to sell something new to the customer. We created a canvas app where the datasource was the ERP system and embedded that in the model-driven app. That way the sellers could see the transactions and if everything was paid before they initiated a new sales, all this without having to open the ERP system.

Use cases with small customers

There are so many uses for Canvas apps for smaller customers, but one Microsoft story that I loved is this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/maker-uses-power-platform-to-help-his-daughter-manage-diabetes/. It goes through how Haniel Croitoru has mad a Canvas app to manage his daughters diabetes. It shows how a simple app can be lifesaving.

A friend of mine created a Canvas app for his kids kindergarten. The app was for the preschool teachers to register when they changed the diaper for the children. They put in how many diapers each kid had and then when they started running low, it sent a message for the parent to bring a new batch of diapers, so the child didn’t run out. Simple app which helped both the preschool teachers and the parents with notifications. This app didn’t have a datasource, but collected the information to the app and triggered a Power Automate when the numbers got low.

Training material

Microsoft learn has some good learning paths

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/create-powerapps/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/training/paths/power-apps-online-workshop/

There are also soom good, free trainings called App in a Day that goes through Power apps for beginners: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/events/search-catalog?q=App+in+a+Day&filters=primary-language%3Aenglish&scenario=events

April Dunnam has a great Youtube channel with some great content a lot around Canvas apps: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz_x76EBX5UXsV27drGNh6w

Scott Durrow is a colleague of April’s in Microsoft, he’s re-created the game Lemmings in a Canvas app: https://youtu.be/3ivzvQ-P30I?si=t11e9T5Vp0G4okns. He also created a 3D game in a Canvas app: https://youtu.be/2gbsvuotjOc?si=I9Q6abXTEHB0BQSB

Summary

Canvas apps are a great way of creating simple apps that can look great and help you solve a lot of different needs in the company. Because it can be connected to multiple different data sources, it gives you a great way of having one way of gathering data for multiple sources, making it a lot easier for the users. You can create complex videos and make big Canvas apps, but the gold is in creating a good, simple interface for your users, not depending on the interface of the data source.

Original Post https://malinmartnes.no/2025/11/19/what-is-canvas-apps-and-what-is-it-used-for/