About exceptions

Exception handling is the mechanism that the Power Automate desktop app uses to handle and recover from unexpected circumstances and problems that might occur while a flow is running.

In the example you explored in the introduction of this module, consider the scenario where a network problem prevents access to the client database. If the flow tries to connect to the database, the problem causes an exception. The flow stops running and returns an error.

In this unit, you learn about exceptions and how to handle them.

Exceptions

Exceptions are events that occur while a flow is running. These events disrupt the expected flow of actions and cause the flow to fail if they're not handled properly. Exceptions occur when an action can't run as intended. Various factors can cause exceptions, such as incorrect inputs, unexpected values, software or hardware failures, and unavailable resources.

Handling exceptions

When an exception occurs, the default behavior is to stop the flow and generate an error. However, you can change this behavior to fix the problem and prevent the flow from stopping.