Power Platform SharePoint Week Day 6: Top 7 Mistakes When Using Power Platform with SharePoint (And How to Fix Them)

The Microsoft Power Platform and SharePoint Online are two of the most powerful tools in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Together, they create dynamic solutions that automate processes, enhance collaboration, and improve business workflows. However, as versatile as this pairing can be, it's easy to fall into common traps that lead to broken flows, bloated lists, or security nightmares.

In this article, we’re wrapping up Day 6 of Power Platform SharePoint Week by diving into the seven most common mistakes people make when using Power Platform with SharePoint—and more importantly, how to fix or avoid them. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned Power Platform builder, these practical tips will save you time and frustration.

1. Using Power Apps Without Planning SharePoint List Architecture

One of the most frequent mistakes is jumping into app development in Power Apps without carefully designing the underlying SharePoint lists. SharePoint is often treated as just a data source, but poor list architecture can significantly affect your app’s performance and scalability.

For instance, creating flat lists with too many columns, or neglecting to normalize data into lookup columns, often leads to maintenance issues. Apps can become sluggish or break when list thresholds are exceeded. Moreover, skipping content types or ignoring column types can make integrations harder down the line.

How to fix it: Before building in Power Apps, take time to model your data. Use multiple related lists where appropriate, implement lookups, enforce data types, and consider creating views with filters to minimize query load. Think of SharePoint as your database—it deserves the same level of planning.

2. Ignoring Delegation Warnings in Power Apps

Delegation is a term that causes headaches for many Power Apps makers. Essentially, Power Apps can only process a limited number of records locally (usually 500–2000), so if your queries aren’t “delegable,” only part of your data will be retrieved. This leads to missing records, inaccurate results, and often a false sense that the app is working correctly.

Common culprits include filters using non-delegable functions or unsupported column types. You’ll often see a blue warning triangle—but many ignore it, assuming it’s harmless.

How to fix it: Learn which operations and column types are delegable with SharePoint. Where possible, adjust your queries to use delegable methods (e.g., StartsWith instead of In). If delegation isn't possible, consider pre-filtering data in views or splitting data into smaller lists.

3. Overusing Flows with Poor Trigger Conditions

Power Automate flows triggered by SharePoint events (like "When an item is created or modified") are incredibly popular. But many users fail to apply trigger conditions or filters, resulting in flows that fire too often—or worse, endlessly loop.

Without constraints, these flows consume unnecessary Power Platform API calls and can overwhelm your environment. In some cases, recursive updates create infinite loops if not carefully controlled.

How to fix it: Always use trigger conditions to define when a flow should run. For example, trigger only when a specific field is changed or a status field meets a condition. Also, include “Condition” controls early in your flows to minimize unnecessary steps.

4. Forgetting to Secure Power Apps and SharePoint Permissions

A surprisingly common mistake is assuming Power Apps handles permissions the same way as SharePoint. By default, users with access to the app can interact with any connected list—even if they shouldn’t have permission. This becomes a major issue in apps used across departments or external audiences.

Another risk is granting users full edit rights to lists when only read or contribute access is required.

How to fix it: Always align SharePoint list permissions with what users are supposed to see and do in your app. Use SharePoint groups to manage permissions efficiently. Inside Power Apps, implement role-based access logic, hiding or disabling features based on the user’s group or role.

5. Hardcoding Values and URLs in Power Automate or Power Apps

It's tempting to drop hardcoded values—like site URLs, list names, or user email addresses—directly into your apps and flows. But this makes solutions brittle and hard to maintain. If you move the app to another site or environment, everything breaks.

Hardcoded email addresses also create risks if people leave the organization or their roles change.

How to fix it: Use environment variables in Power Automate. In Power Apps, create configuration collections or use SharePoint config lists to store values like site URLs and user roles. These patterns make your solutions portable, scalable, and easier to manage.

6. Neglecting Performance Optimization in Large Lists

SharePoint lists can handle up to 30 million items, but performance starts to degrade once you approach the 5,000-item view threshold. Apps and flows often slow down or fail when querying large datasets without filters or indexing.

A common mistake is pulling in entire lists without leveraging indexed columns, filters, or pagination. Users then face loading spinners, lag, and timeout errors.

How to fix it: Always filter your SharePoint queries to retrieve only what you need. Index commonly queried columns in SharePoint. Use pagination in flows and Gallery controls in Power Apps to load items incrementally. Break lists into archive and active sets if necessary.

7. Not Using Solution-Aware Development

Finally, many Power Platform makers build apps and flows directly in the default environment, outside of managed solutions. This makes lifecycle management difficult, complicates export/import, and increases the risk of versioning issues.

Without solutions, there’s no clean way to group related components, track dependencies, or deploy to production safely.

How to fix it: Use solutions in Power Platform—even for small projects. Create managed solutions for production environments and use environment variables to manage settings. This approach ensures your app, flows, and connectors are packaged together and easier to move across dev, test, and prod.

Wrapping Up: Avoiding Mistakes is the First Step Toward Mastery

Using Power Platform with SharePoint unlocks an incredible range of possibilities for automating and transforming your business processes. But even experienced makers can fall into these common traps. Understanding where things typically go wrong—and knowing how to fix them—empowers you to build more resilient, scalable, and secure solutions.

As we round out Day 6 of Power Platform SharePoint Week, take a moment to audit your existing apps and flows. You might just find a few of these issues hiding in plain sight—and now, you know exactly what to do.

Source: Power Platform SharePoint Week Day 6: Top 7 Mistakes When Using Power Platform with SharePoint (And How to Fix Them)