Help Desk App - Free with Microsoft 365 Subscription

Get started with a simple help desk application to help manage incoming issues and track their resolution progress. This video will give you a brief overview of the tool, talk about some customization options, and point you in the right direction to get started.
For full setup instructions, check out our walkthrough video: • How to Set Up Your Own...
This app leverages a Microsoft 365 subscription, spanning multiple tools including PowerApps, Power Automate, and SharePoint.
✍️ Full Blog Writeup: bulb.digital/blog/creating-a-...
Installation Instructions
Video: • Installation and setup...
Blog (NO LONGER SHOWS COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS, SEE VIDEO ABOVE): docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powe...
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Presenter: Michael Wright

[@BulbDigital]

Want to set up the Help Desk App? Check out our full setup video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3W3k4WkrN2hjdk

[@franciscoferreyra6638]

This need to be TOP on views. Your explaining capabilities are awesome. keep up !

[@BulbDigital]

Much appreciated!

[@BulbDigital]

Microsoft has removed/adjusted their written instructions for how to configure all the pieces to this template. The only reference that still exists is in the video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGXGlad6a811lZY

[@mikefrey123]

Thanks for the walkthrough...wouldn't it be nice if MS had this out of the box. ;)

[@BulbDigital]

I agree! Things are a little bit lacking out of the box.

[@tatyarailana7315]

Great video, your explication help me so much.

[@BulbDigital]

Glad it helped!

[@enmanueltejada13]

Incredible content. Thanks you so much!

[@BulbDigital]

Thank you Enmanuel!

[@jessicalu4707]

Thank you for the video, it is really informative! How long does it take to set up the app and automate? Can this be integrated with Dynamic easily?

[@BulbDigital]

The initial creation of the app essentially gives you all of the data within collections created in the App.OnStart property. It's basically demo data (only exists in the app). As a first priority, you'd want to create the lists that would store the ticket and admin list data or come up with alternatives for how you define "admins" vs. regular users. The video linked in the pinned comment is about 15 minutes for setup. I will also point out that you'll probably want to rework how / where the data is collected or connected. App.OnStart is not the best place for this going forward. Additionally, given you want the user to login as an admin or regular user, you should consider waiting to load data until the Tickets list screen OnVisible instead of the App.OnStart. In this case you can then filter the data based on the user and not bring any data into the application that is not accessible to the user. If you're familiar with the Power Platform I would expect a half day effort by the time you decide on your "storage" for tickets and the list of admins, create the app, create the SharePoint lists and then rewire the application for the new lists and test everything out. If you're a beginner, you can expect that you'll be sifting through blog posts and other resources to figure out how to rewire it. You can absolutely connect this to Dynamics (Dataverse). Of course you'll need to define your storage. Maybe you already have a tickets entity in your Dataverse environment. This may be a little more complex than using simple SharePoint lists. The other thing to consider is if you want to connect to Dynamics (Dataverse) from this Canvas App, you'll need a premium connector license for every user of the app.

[@user-nx3oi4rq6i]

The main issue I see with all these and basically microsoft's feature set is that we are unable to paste screenshots and have it properly save into the ticket so that there will be persistent reference when required, rather than needing to "import image" which is too much hassle for users.

[@fors89]

Is there a way to include an option for the requester to add an attachment to his/her request? Great video by the way!

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks! Yes, you can add the ability to have users upload attachments and save them to SharePoint. For reference: powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/add-attachments-to-sharepoint-lists/

[@jensdeneef8356]

Hi is there a guide for the sharepoint list you need for this app? or an existing list that works with the app? On the old documentaion is was listed on what collums where needed. But now i cant find any info on it thanks in advanced and great video

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Jens, the only place we know of that has the full process of setting up the lists is in the KZbin video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGXGlad6a811lZY

[@Kevin-zo4kl]

Hello, Great video. Could you expand a little more about what you mentioned at 8:41 about the conversation thread? How can I get started doing this? Does it have a name that I can look up/google? Thanks

[@BulbDigital]

No problem! Here’s a high level overview of what I’d do. First add a new SharePoint list called Message with fields Body (text) and TicketID (number). In PowerApps edit form add a custom card where you want messages to show up (maybe under description). Add a “Messages” label at top, followed by text input & save icon for new messages, followed by vertical gallery under that for old messages. New message save icon would patch the text input text along with ticket ID (from the ticket form), and gallery would filter from “Messages” database based on TicketID = ThisItem.ID (current form item ID). The gallery would probably want fields for Author.DisplayName (who wrote the message), Created (date message was created), and Body (the message itself). These can be sorted in the gallery however you want (probably newest on top?). Also add to the save icon for new messages a reset of the text input control so that blanks out for another new message, and refresh the “Message” data source so your new message shows up in the gallery. Then you’ll want to add the same gallery to the View Form page / form (obviously without ability to add new messages).

[@Kevin-zo4kl]

@@BulbDigital Perfect, thanks for the help!

[@suleymantemur2767]

@@BulbDigital Great Video, Thanks. Would be great to have a short video on the customization :)

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks! We'll add it to our backlog. Is there any of the customizations that you're particularly interested in?

[@dudleyfuddpucker7017]

What you described with the "messaging" that you said was "easy" but made no other mention of is what I am looking for. Do you have a tutorial for that?

[@BulbDigital]

Hey Dudley Fuddpucker, unfortunately we don’t have a tutorial for adding messaging to the app at this time. Sorry!

[@sowmya9710]

Hello , Thanks for the clear video. As i can see in the setup links mentioned here , can't find the setup for sharepoint lists or for power automate. To do the whole setup, kindly let me know on the same please. Expecting fast response. Thanks in advance

[@BulbDigital]

You'll find the links to the instructions in the description

[@sowmya9710]

@@BulbDigital Thanks a lot for the quick response . But I have gone through all the links mentioned in the description & the recent Microsoft docs on the same. I request you to once cross check with the updated one's it mentions it uses only Collections . No proper setup for sharepoint lists or at least for power automate flows to send the emails . Kindly suggest on the same. Thanks in advance & awaiting for the response.

[@BulbDigital]

It looks like they changed their blog documentation to only use collections, but the video link in the description still shows the setup of the list/automation, so you can give that one a shot.

[@kristis61]

i want to create a ticketing system for my team with the help of power automate or apps. Is there a way where the inbox emails are registered as tickets and then when dragged to another folder “done” are registered as closed ?

[@BulbDigital]

Yes, you could use Power Automate to enter a ticket into something like a SharePoint list or Planner to track the ticket, and perform another action when it's completed. If you'd like to chat about it further, we do have an upcoming Open Office Hours where you can ask questions and we'll do our best to answer it live! www.bulb.digital/office-hours

[@underwoodvideo6775]

Hello, this seems to be a great app. I do encounter some issues however. When we change the collections (p.e. the admin list), the app does not pick that up. Same for the issue-list. Also, the mails send from the flow do not arrive in the mailbox. This tickets do end up in the sharepointlist; What are we doing wrong?

[@BulbDigital]

Hi! This is probably a bit hard to dig into via comments. Double check you followed the process in the linked video, if you'd like some hands on help you're welcome to join us for office hours! www.bulb.digital/office-hours

[@BulbDigital]

Our next one is actually on Wednesday, hope to see you there!

[@aschmitt89]

Will this work for external users? I'm an MSP, and would like to internalize helpdesk. I'm sick of losing ticket history from third-party providers. I'm just not as up to par with powerapps licensing.

[@BulbDigital]

The Helpdesk app is a Canvas App which can be shared with internal and guest users. Guest users are those that are invited to your tenant and "named" in Active Directory. I think the original intent of the Helpdesk app was really for support internal to an organization. If you want something a little more fully baked, you might consider a Power Apps Portal, which allows public access through a website, which they can authenticate to and ultimately engage with your internal team. The Power Apps Portal option is more complicated to implement and the licensing model is a bit different in that you pay for number of authenticated sessions per month or page views.

[@venkateshmovva6190]

I was going through the other video you put in the description. It says to download the help desk package using a link. But Microsoft has changed the blog. There is no link to any package. Please help.

[@BulbDigital]

Hello! Please see our full write up for the download to the package (it's in the important error workaround section) bulb.digital/blog/creating-a-help-desk-app-with-powerapps

[@user-gb6kb5re7y]

Hi, I've tried granting admin permissions via app>onstart and adding my my admin (same as account I created app with). But when trying to sign in as an admin the rejection message comes up. Any ideas?

[@BulbDigital]

Hey Liam, can you verify that your onstart has your email inserted as on the ClearCollect line in OnStart, and that you also clicked “Run OnStart” from the tree view? If you want further help it may be best for you to email [e-mail] with some screenshots.

[@gunnerenz1267]

hey, could this be linked with sharepoint on a desktop? for example, the user can have the app on a mobile, but could they do the same on a desktop? I work for a school so I would like for the staff and students to raise a ticket on a desktop as well as on a mobile. is this possible? thanks

[@BulbDigital]

Yes, Power Apps can be built to be responsive and scale to the device being used.

[@nagash123]

Is this a mobile app only? Can users use this app from a desktop browser? Thanks

[@BulbDigital]

Hey Nagash, this particular app template is using the mobile layout, but it could be rebuilt with the desktop/tablet layout with some time. Users can 100% use it from desktop, it will just display in a "mobile view" and won't use all the screen real estate.

[@augustomartinfernandez6193]

hello, I can't find the list generated by the application in sharepoint, could you help me?

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Augusto, if you're running into trouble, please be sure you're using the Microsoft documentation linked in the video description to install the solution and create the SharePoint lists, rather than start from the Power Apps template itself.

[@faquirdigital6687]

Hello, how are you? I used this template to make a ticket app but I can't find the sharepoint or where it stores the created data, how do I solve it?

[@BulbDigital]

Hey Faquir, you may find the help you need in our walkthrough of the setup here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3W3k4WkrN2hjdk

[@tvenkatesh81]

All tutorials says only about the Application. Basically we need to how to setup the application, how to connect our datasource and link them/ how to add the Admin users etc. The latest blog from Microsoft has no use.

[@BulbDigital]

Hello! Please see the pinned comment on this video, it gives some explanation for this.

[@digitalcat3717]

the video was good but there is no documentation on how the back systems work and how to set these systems up. what I'm left with is an app that just sits there with no real way of taking the information out of the app. Also there is no documentation on how to implement the power automate portion that is less then 5 seconds long. the app is nice and a cool idea but with no info on how someone could do this themselves I'm left struggling through Microsoft guides and other videos trying to pinpoint each problem I run into.

[@BulbDigital]

Hey DigitalCat, it seems Microsoft changed their documentation for how to build this after we published this video. So their blog no longer includes the instructions, but the video linked in the description still walks through the setup process.

[@BulbDigital]

We just updated the description to be a little clearer, hopefully that helps!

[@borisbi1795]

Where i find HELPDESKFLOW template? All video tutorials are now in year 2022 is out of date. Interface is different etc.

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Boris, we have always pointed people to Microsofts setup video linked in the comments/description of this video. But it's likely to be a bit outdated. We have it in our backlog to create a new version at some point.

[@kashustephen]

unfortunately, i cant find the onstrat property, it is not there, also most of the things seem to have been changed in my verison o fhte help desk app. even the guide was eradicate dan dreplaced with a standard microsoft post. am stuck

[@BulbDigital]

OnStart is being phased out, so you may have to re-enable it at File -> Settings -> General, and. "Enable App.OnStart property". We're working on some content in the future that has some recommendations for how to move away from that property. As far as the guide from Microsoft, the only reference to the full setup process is a video that is in a pinned comment on this video. You can check out our written blog version of this for other notes as well.

[@kashustephen]

@@BulbDigital Thank you, seems the problem was with the actual app i imported it seems to be the one causing the errors, the updated version on the blog also throws version its from dec 2020 could there be a newer version of the zip file?

[@BulbDigital]

Ah bummer, we'll give it a look and see what we find! Thanks for letting us know.

[@BulbDigital]

Could you make sure you downloaded the updated zip file and imported it? I was just able to import it successfully. What is the error you're getting?

[@MMJAZZ1977]

Great video was able to make it work ! Is there a way to add SMS notification en plus of Mail messages ?

[@BulbDigital]

Awesome, glad you got it going! You can swap out the actions in the Flow for SMS, but it likely requires you to be subscribed to a third party SMS messaging service.

[@MMJAZZ1977]

@@BulbDigital Thx for quick response. Just realize that i have difficulty to share the Helpdesk to internal user for testing...I share it as regular user not co-worker. Is there any step for sharing steps?

[@BulbDigital]

It sounds like you're on the right path. Assuming you're in the default environment, you should be able to share the Canvas app from your Apps list in Power Apps with users in your organization. If you're not in the default environment, you need to ensure your users have access to the environment. We actually have some content planned that walks through all the different ways to deploy Power Apps!

[@MMJAZZ1977]

@@BulbDigital What do you mean by 'Default Environment' ? Can't wait for your futur planned contents :)

[@BulbDigital]

Odds are you're using the default environment so I don't know you have much to worry about. But if you want to learn more about environments we have a video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKi6kqGaqqqGb7M We also have Office Hours in a few hours if you want to drop in: www.bulb.digital/office-hours

[@Motive13524]

I am not able to edit few of the power app like inventory - in the app there is no way to add new inventory tried to modify but it won’t work

[@BulbDigital]

We're not sure we understand the question?

[@Motive13524]

@@BulbDigital hi! Thanks for responding sorry i am not clear with my question. I tired to use power app recently and I tried using pre made inventory power app because the whole UI is very good but the thing that I missing is 1) there is no option to add new inventory item 2) I didn’t understand how did they add sheets to variables like a main screen sheet, product sheet etc there is no way to add my table or modify the app for my need.

[@jamessmith6900]

Can non tenant users be a user to create a ticket in this process?

[@BulbDigital]

Hi, James! Power App Canvas Apps are not open to unauthenticated users, which means they have to be a tenant user. I think you are asking about Guest users vs. Member users. It is possible to add a Guest user to a Canvas App, but you need to make sure they have the proper licensing (as guest users are not normally assigned licenses). In the case of the Help Desk app, I don't think there are any licensing issues and you should be able to do this without issue. But again, the user must be part of your tenant (either a member or a guest).

[@AleixRamirez]

hello! Let's see if you can help me, I can't get the tickets to register in my share point list. I create tickets but they are created in the share point list

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Aleix, did you make sure to reconnect the data connection in Power Apps to the list? We do have a blog being released shortly that walks through the instructions that might be helpful to you.

[@AleixRamirez]

@@BulbDigital I guess I am missing some connection command when the application starts.

[@BulbDigital]

I'll try to send the link to our writeup when it's launched, might be helpful!

[@AleixRamirez]

@@BulbDigital thanks😁

[@kevinblanco4673]

Hi I have an issue where I’m trying to grant myself admin permissions but I keep getting a error message

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Kevin, what error message are you seeing?

[@kevinblanco4673]

@@BulbDigital “we were unable to give you access as an admin as your account does not have admin privileges”

[@BulbDigital]

It sounds like you need to reach out to your administrator for those permissions

[@kevinblanco4673]

@@BulbDigital but from the app I went to onstart and put the same account I created the app with

[@BulbDigital]

Are you an administrator in your O365 tenant?

[@jimandrews706]

Where can the powerapp zip file be downloaded now?

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Jim, you can find the zip file towards the top of our blog writeup here: www.bulb.digital/blog/creating-a-help-desk-app-with-powerapps

[@jimandrews706]

@@BulbDigital Thank You, that worked! I have modified the app.onstart to reflect my email address and in settings have turned on Enable App.OnStart, yet nothing happens when I click on Login as Admin

[@BulbDigital]

Jim - remember any time you make a change to the App.OnStart property while you're in the developer studio, you'll need to right click the App object and select Run OnStart. This will "re-initialize" the app. Also, if you remain stuck on this issue, feel free to join us for Office Hours on the first Wednesday of every month and we can get you unstuck. www.bulb.digital/office-hours

[@ABE-sv5lk]

You make this like there is no background set up … non of these you are saying can be done without initial set up and this video just becomes an advertising for you rather a proper learning path,

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Amin! Sorry you feel that way, it's definitely not our intention! Not every one of our videos is a tutorial on how to do every step. In this case it was about awareness. We thought: "I bet a lot of people don't even know they have the option to build a help desk app via a Power App template - let's help bring awareness to it because it's pretty good. Microsoft already has documentation to set it up, so let's point them in that direction. Also, let's inspire them to think further and cast some vision as to where they could customize this app in the future." I would encourage you to find another video on our channel that you can read what is on the wall behind Michael in this one. It says "Make Others Successful". That is out number one reason why we started this channel. We're sorry you didn't find it helpful in this case.

[@CarlyleSmith]

This is not as simple as you imply. I've wasted a lot of time trying to get Flows to do anything useful. 😕

[@BulbDigital]

Hi Carlyle, sorry this didn't work out for you. We have an entire video dedicated to setting his up here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3W3k4WkrN2hjdk You're welcome to come to our next office hours if you have any questions.

[@lindseysiegle1174]

It’s stunning how bad this is. I can’t figure out why these even get uploaded, they are literally 100% free of useful information.

[@jimandrews706]

I have modified the app.onstart to reflect my email address and in settings have turned on Enable App.OnStart, yet nothing happens when I click on Login as Admin

[@BulbDigital]

Jim - remember any time you make a change to the App.OnStart property while you're in the developer studio, you'll need to right click the App object and select Run OnStart. This will "re-initialize" the app. Also, if you remain stuck on this issue, feel free to join us for Office Hours on the first Wednesday of every month and we can get you unstuck. www.bulb.digital/office-hours