Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi everyone,

We are facing an issue with a Power Automate flow in a test environment and would appreciate any guidance.

Environment

We have a Power Automate flow created by User 1.

The flow contains multiple actions that require connections, such as:

Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Dataverse
Other connector-based actions

The flow works correctly when it is tested from User 1's account.

User roles

We currently have two users in the same environment:

User 1 – Flow owner

Basic User
Environment Maker
System Administrator
System Customizer

User 2 – Tester

Basic User
Environment Maker

Issue

We use the "Send a copy" option in Power Automate to share the flow with User 2.

User 2 receives the flow and can set it up, but after opening the flow, all actions that require a connection show a connection error / connection needs to be configured.

This happens across multiple connector actions rather than with only one specific connector.

For example, actions that work correctly for User 1 show a connection error for User 2.

Important observation

We tested the same flow with User 2 after assigning the System Customizer role.

After giving User 2 System Customizer privileges, the connection issues are resolved and the flow works correctly.

When User 2 has only:

Basic User
Environment Maker

the connection errors occur.

Connection References

We are also investigating whether this is related to Connection References.

Our understanding is that the flow should use Connection References so that the flow can use the appropriate connection for the user/environment rather than being dependent on the original owner's connection.

However, we are not sure whether the "Send a copy" option correctly handles/rebinds the Connection References for the receiving user.

What we want to achieve

We do not want to give the Tester user the System Customizer role just to make the flow work.

We would like to keep the Tester user's permissions limited to:

Basic User
Environment Maker

and provide only the specific additional privileges required for the flow and its connection references.

Questions

Why do all connector actions show connection errors when the flow is shared using "Send a copy"?
Is this expected behavior when using "Send a copy" instead of deploying/importing the flow through a Solution?
Are there specific Dataverse privileges/security-role permissions required for a user to use Connection References?
What is the recommended security role configuration for a user who needs to create/test/run the flow without having System Customizer?
Should we package the flow inside a Solution and use Connection References instead of using "Send a copy"?

Any guidance on the required permissions or the recommended architecture would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Categories:

Connector development

Using flows

Using connectors

Building flows

When you export a flow as a package and send it to someone else, then the recipient imports the package and creates a new flow in their environment. They become the owner of that new flow. The imported flow's connection references are then linked to connections owned by the importing user. This is normal.

The person you send a copy of the flow to needs the same permissions and access that the original owner of the flow has unless the person is going to make major changes to the flow. This would also be normal to do as you would not want duplicate flows running on the same SharePoint list and doing the same thing.

If you sent the copy of the flow to change owners and plan to delete your flow, that would be an exception. However, there are easier ways to change owners than by sending a copy of the flow to someone.