#PowerPlatformTip 65: 'PowerDocu: Document Power Apps, Flows and Solutions Automatically'

TL;DR: PowerDocu is a free, open-source Windows tool. Export your flow, app or solution, point PowerDocu at the file, and get Word, Markdown or HTML documentation with flow diagrams. No installation, no licence, no manual screenshots.

PowerDocu reads exported Power Platform packages and writes the technical documentation for you: cloud flows, canvas apps, model-driven apps, Copilot Studio agents and complete solutions. The output is a Word document, HTML or Markdown (handy for GitHub or Azure DevOps wikis), plus PNG and SVG diagrams of your flows.

💡 Challenge

Spending too much time manually creating documentation for your Flows in Power Automate or Canvas Apps in Power Apps? Keeping technical documentation up to date by hand is slow and error-prone.

✅ Solution

Make your life easier with PowerDocu, a Windows GUI tool that automatically generates technical documentation for exported Flow packages, Canvas Apps, or Solution packages.

Key features:

📌 Creates documentation in Word, HTML or Markdown format

📌 Flows: general info, connectors, trigger, actions, plus high-level and detailed diagrams

📌 Canvas apps: global variables, collections, data sources, resources, screens and a full control list

📌 Model-driven apps and Copilot Studio agents: metadata, security roles, tables, views and agent instructions

📌 Solutions: documents every contained component in one run

📌 PNG and SVG versions of all diagrams

🔧 How It’s Done

1. Download PowerDocu

🔸 Grab the latest release from the PowerDocu GitHub page. There are two packages: one that needs the .NET runtime and a standalone one that includes everything.

🔸 Unzip the package, no installation required.

2. Export your app, flow or solution

🔸 Export the flow (.zip), canvas app (.msapp) or solution (.zip) you want to document. Exporting the whole solution is the quickest way to cover everything at once.

3. Choose the output format

🔸 Start PowerDocu.exe, open the Settings tab and select Word, Markdown, HTML or all of them. Save it as default so you only do this once.

4. Run the tool

🔸 Click Next, select the exported file and let PowerDocu work. The documentation lands in a subfolder next to your source file.

🎉 Result

You get consistent, up-to-date documentation for your apps and flows in seconds instead of hours, improving governance and saving valuable time.

🌟 Key Advantages

🔸 Automated documentation in Word or Markdown

🔸 Visual high-level and detailed flow diagrams (PNG & SVG)

🔸 Works for Flows, Canvas Apps, and Solution packages

🎥 Video Tutorial

Watch the demo from the Microsoft 365 Community call to see PowerDocu in action:

🛠️ FAQ

Q: How do I install PowerDocu?

Download the latest release from the PowerDocu GitHub repository, unzip the package, and run PowerDocu.exe, no additional installation is required.

Q: What output formats are supported?

PowerDocu supports Word (.docx), HTML and Markdown, and generates flow diagrams in both PNG and SVG.

Q: Can I document both Power Automate Flows and Canvas Apps?

Yes. PowerDocu works with exported packages from Power Automate flows, canvas apps and solutions. Newer versions also cover model-driven apps and Copilot Studio agents.

Q: Is PowerDocu free, and does it send my data anywhere?

It is free and open source (MIT licence). It runs locally on Windows and reads the files you export, so nothing has to be uploaded.

🔗 Related Tips

🔸 #PowerPlatformTip 82: ‘Automated Code Commenting’ - use AI to comment individual Power Fx formulas, a finer-grained complement to PowerDocu’s app-level documentation.

🔸 #PowerPlatformTip 116: ‘AI Automated Solution Design’ - generate a solution design overview before you document the finished result with PowerDocu.