I recently worked with a manufacturing client who had one primary need: to easily communicate with their external users, such as vendors and partners.
They already used Microsoft tools internally, so I suggested something secure and straightforward, such as Microsoft Power Pages.
Power Pages is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. It enables you to create websites that integrate with tools like Dataverse or SharePoint. And the best part? You don’t need to be a developer to build one.
In this tutorial, I will explain what Microsoft Power Pages is and why it’s useful. Also, I will cover:
- The lifecycle of Power Pages environments.
- Steps to create a Power Pages site using:
- Copilot
- Templates
- A Blank canvas
- Power Pages pricing and licensing options
What is Microsoft Power Pages
Microsoft Power Pages is a low-code website builder that enables you to create secure, data-driven websites for users within and outside your organization, even if you have little to no coding experience.
It’s part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which includes Power Automate, Power Apps, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents. It is designed to enable businesses to securely and easily share data and services with customers, partners, or vendors over the web.
With Power Pages, you can:
- Design responsive websites using a visual, drag-and-drop interface
- Use ready-made templates to launch faster
- Connect to Dataverse, SharePoint, and other Microsoft services to manage data
- Control who sees what with role-based security
- Automate tasks using Power Automate flows
The new and enhanced design studio provides five workspaces:
- Pages workspace for creating, designing, and arranging webpages
- Styling workspace for applying styles and themes to your site
- Data workspace for creating and modifying Microsoft Dataverse tables used in data-driven web applications
- Set up a workspace for administration and site management
- Security workspace for identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities
Power Pages Lifecycle
Before you start building your Power Pages site, it’s important to understand the lifecycle of a Power Pages environment and site.
The lifecycle refers to how long your Power Pages environment and site stay active and accessible, and what happens when they are not used.
- Developer Environment: This is a free personal environment for learning and testing. Your Power Pages site here stays active as long as you use it. If there’s no activity for 28 days, Microsoft will automatically delete the environment and all related sites to save resources.
- Trial Environment: When you start a Power Pages trial, you are given a temporary environment that lasts 30 days by default. After this period, the trial environment and sites are deleted unless you upgrade to a paid plan.
- Sandbox and Production Environments: These environments are more permanent and are used for real projects (sandbox for testing, production for live sites). They don’t have automatic expiration like developer or trial environments.
- Default Environment: Power Pages cannot be created in the default environment that exists by default in every tenant.
Create a Site With Power Pages (Step By Step)
As I told you, Power Pages cannot be created in the default environment. If you’re jumping in and clicking around, you might be surprised to find that the “Start from blank” button is disabled.
To get started, I created a Developer environment. However, you can use other environments, such as a Sandbox or Trial Environment.
When creating a Power Pages site, you have three ways to get started:
- Using Copilot
- Using a Template
- Starting from Blank
Follow the steps below to create a site:
Create a Power Pages Site Using Copilot
- Go to powerpages.microsoft.com and sign in with your Microsoft account.