BREAKTHROUGH Multilingual Power Apps Feature You Never Knew Existed 💬

    Power Apps has revolutionized how businesses develop applications by enabling seamless translation to various languages. In a recent video, Brian Knight and Andrew Perez walk us through the breakthrough multilingual features of Power Apps, highlighting how you can translate both canvas and model-driven applications from English to languages like Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic. Let’s dive into the key takeaways from the session:

Setting Up for Translation

The first step to translating any Power App is enabling language options within the environment. The video starts by explaining how to activate different languages through the Power Platform Admin Center. Andrew Perez walks viewers through this process step by step:

• Navigate to the Admin Center and find your environment.
• Click on "Settings" and select "Languages".
• Choose the language you need (Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, etc.) and apply it. This step will take 10-15 minutes for the language pack to be applied.

Once you apply the language, Microsoft’s core tables (such as contacts and accounts) are translated automatically. However, if you have custom tables, such as those created in your specific app, you’ll need to manually translate them.

Manual Translation of Custom Tables

For applications with custom-built tables, translation becomes more hands-on. Andrew Perez demonstrates how to export translation files and customize them:

• Navigate to your solution in Power Apps and click the three dots for the translation option.
• Export the translation file as an XML document. This file will include labels, choices, and drop-down boxes but not actual data entries.
• Open the XML file in Excel or a similar editor to translate the labels into your desired language.
• After making the necessary changes, re-import the translation back into the solution.

This step ensures that all user-facing elements in the app are translated into the new language while leaving data entries intact, which remain in the original language.

Canvas App Translation with OnStart Property

In a Canvas app, the translation approach is slightly different. Andrew Perez demonstrates the process of creating a multilingual experience using the OnStart property:

• Set up a variable (e.g., VAR language) to determine the user's language preference (e.g., Spanish, English).
• Create a collection in the OnStart property of the app that defines what labels will be shown based on the selected language.
• The app will dynamically translate the labels when it’s launched, displaying them in the selected language.

This method allows for quick and efficient translation within the Canvas app, utilizing the OnStart property to dynamically adjust the app’s language settings. As soon as the app is opened, it reads the language setting and translates all labels accordingly.

Publish and Test Your Translated App

Once all translations are in place, the final step is to publish the customizations and test the application. Andrew Perez demonstrates this process:

• Publish the changes to apply the translations across the app.
• If the app is opened on a device with a Spanish or Arabic regional setting, the labels will automatically adjust to the selected language.

This ensures that users in different regions can interact with the app in their native language without additional configuration.

Key Takeaways

In summary, translating Power Apps to support multiple languages involves a few key steps:

• Activate the desired language in the Admin Center.
• For custom tables, manually translate labels and re-import them into the solution.
• In Canvas apps, use the OnStart property to create dynamic language changes based on the user's device settings.

By following these steps, you can easily create multilingual Power Apps that cater to a diverse user base, enhancing accessibility and user experience. Whether you're building a model-driven or canvas app, these techniques will enable you to provide a localized experience for users worldwide.

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