A Power Platform environment is like a workspace or container where your organization’s apps, data, chatbots, and flows are stored and managed.
✅ Why use environments?
- Environments help you:
- Keep your data and apps organized.
- Control access (security).
- Separate apps for testing, production, or teams.
✅ Example:
Your company can create a Test environment for trying out new apps and a Production environment for live apps that employees use.- You may also create different environments for Sales, HR, or Global Branches.
🔶 Scope of Environments
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Each environment is linked to a Microsoft Entra tenant (your company’s Microsoft 365 space).
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It’s tied to a geographic region (like U.S., Europe). So, the apps/data live in that region's datacenter.
📌 Important:
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You can’t mix resources from different environments.
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Example: If you create an app in the Test environment, it can only access the Test database, not the one in Dev.
🧱 Dataverse in Environments
Each environment can have zero or one Dataverse database:
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Dataverse is used to store data for apps and chatbots.
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Whether you can create a Dataverse DB depends on:
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Your license.
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Your permissions.
🔁 Moving Resources Between Environments
You can move apps, flows, and other resources from one environment to another. This is helpful for:
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Moving apps from Test to Production.
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Example: Build your app in Dev, test in Test, and move to Production.
👥 Environment Roles
There are 2 main roles in every environment:
1. Environment Admin
Can do everything:
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Add/remove users.
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Create Dataverse database.
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Manage resources and set data policies.
2. Environment Maker
Can:
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Build apps, flows, and connectors.
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Share their apps with others (users, groups).
📝 Note: Just being in these roles doesn’t give automatic access to the Dataverse database—you need to assign that separately.
🌐 Early Release Environments
Some regions allow you to create early access environments to:
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Test new features before they reach production.
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Discover bugs or issues early.
🏷️ Types of Environments
| Type | Description | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Production | For official/live use. Needs a license and at least 1 GB space. | Full control |
| Default | Automatically created for each tenant. Used by everyone. | Limited control |
| Sandbox | For testing and development. Can reset or copy. | Full control |
| Trial | Temporary (30 days) for testing. | Full control |
| Developer | Created by users with Developer Plan. Personal use only. | Limited control |
| Dataverse for Teams | Created when you use Power Apps inside Microsoft Teams. | Limited control |
🟡 Default Environment
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Every company (tenant) gets one by default.
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All users are added to the Environment Maker role.
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Cannot be deleted.
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Located in your default region.
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Named like: YourCompanyName (default)
🔒 Admin Access:
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Not automatically given.
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You should assign System Admin role to trusted users manually.
💾 Storage Capacity:
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3 GB Database
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3 GB File
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1 GB Log
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Max capacity: 1 TB
✅ Best Practice:
Rename the default environment to something meaningful like “Personal Productivity Environment” to clarify its purpose.
⚙️ Managing Environments
You manage all environments in the Power Platform Admin Center:
Steps:
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Sign in to Power Platform Admin Center.
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Go to Manage > Environments.
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Select an environment to see:
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Type
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URL
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Region
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Current State
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🛠 Tools:
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Sort/Filter environments (helpful if you have many).
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Edit environment details like name and description.
🌍 Environment Location
| Type | How Location is Set |
|---|---|
| Production | Set at creation |
| Default | Set to tenant home region |
| Sandbox | Set at creation |
| Trial | Set at creation |
| Developer | Tenant region or user-selected |
| Teams (Dataverse) | Tenant region |
You can use PowerShell to change the default location for new environments.
⏳ Environment History
You can track:
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When environments were created, copied, edited, or deleted.
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Who performed the action and when.
🔍 To View History:
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Go to Admin Center.
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Select Manage > Environments.
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Select any environment.
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Click on History to view changes.
⚠️ Once deleted, environment history is also deleted. So, deleted environments cannot be tracked afterward.
🧠 Summary
| Feature | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Environment | Space for apps, data, flows. |
| Dataverse | Data storage inside an environment. |
| Roles | Admin (full control) and Maker (build apps). |
| Types | Production, Sandbox, Trial, Developer, Teams. |
| Default Env | Shared space for all users. Cannot be deleted. |
| Region | Each environment is tied to a specific region. |
| Management | Admin Center is used to view and edit environments. |
| History | Track all changes to environments over time. |