Office 365 Outlook connector in Cloud Flows showing Invalid Connection error | Power Automate

Office 365 Outlook connector is one of the most required connectors for Cloud Flows since it involves Exchange Online / Outlook services.

At times, all the Connection References work fine elsewhere but in causes issues with Office 365 Outlook and shows error which says ‘Connection not found. Please create a new connection and change your application to use the new connection‘ even when you were able to authentication successfully with/without MFA being enabled.

What could be wrong? See below.

Error for Office 365 Outlook

In Power Automate / Cloud Flow, if you may face this error especially in the Office 365 Outlook connector and using Actions for the same.

  1. For example, I want to use Send Email (V2) Action from the Office 365 Outlook connector, but I see the below error.

  2. If you check for the Connection Reference it is using, even though the credentials are correct and you’ve correctly re-authenticated it several times, it shows as an Invalid Connection

Resolution

Here’s why this issue occurred –

  1. Go to the User who you are using as a Connection Reference in your Cloud Flow. Look if a Mailbox exists for the user.


  2. Now, assign the User a license which will create a Mailbox / re-assign a license which has Mailbox/Exchange Online service present in it.


    Here’s Microsoft Documentation on which all licenses provide Exchange Online which must be assigned to a User: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/exchange-online-service-description/exchange-online-service-description?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003911
    In my example: I use E3, so I’ll assign the same. Depending on your scenario, you must assign a license which has Exchange Online plan on it


  3. Check for Exchange Online service and it should be enabled/selected.

  4. Once a license is assigned, it takes a few minutes for provisioning to complete.

  5. Now, if you try to correct the Invalid connection, it will be accepted and you’ll see this

Hope this helps!

Here are some more Power Automate / Cloud Flows posts you might want to check –

  1. Formatting Approvals’ Details in Cloud Flows | Power Automate
  2. Visualize Adaptive Card for Teams user action within a Cloud Flow | Experimental Feature
  3. FormatDateTime function in a Flow | Power Automate
  4. Send a Power App Push Notification using Flow to open a record in Canvas App | Power Automate
  5. Trigger Conditions not working in a Cloud Flow? Here’s Why | Power Automate Quick Tip
  6. InvalidWorkflowTriggerName or InvalidWorkflowRunActionName error in saving Cloud Flows | Power Automate Quick Tip
  7. Parallel Branching in Cloud Flows – Isolate Response dependent Step Actions in parallel branches | Quick Tip
  8. Read OptionSet Labels from CDS/Dataverse Triggers or Action Steps in a Flow | Power Automate
  9. Setting Lookup in a Flow CDS Connector: Classic vs. Current Environment connector | Power Automate Quick Tip
  10. Make On-Demand Flow to show up in Dynamics 365 | Power Automate

Thank you!!

5 thoughts on “Office 365 Outlook connector in Cloud Flows showing Invalid Connection error | Power Automate

  1. Thanks for this explanation.
    Does this user need Exchange Online license after mailbox is created or we can remove it from him later? We are planning to send emails using Power Automate per User license (user will act as connector) not accessing Outlook.
    Thank you in advance!

    Like

    • Hi, glad this is helpful.
      When you assign a license, a mailbox is automatically created. And then you can use Power Automate to authenticate using those credentials to send emails. Hope this clarifies.

      Like

      • Thanks for reply. But can I remove Outlook license and still be able to send emails using Outlook connector?

        Like

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