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Author: Kimberly Kratz
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Timeghost Power Automate Connector for Timekeeping
The 360th Power Automate connector to enter the ether is the new Timeghost.
Great Vibe
Right off the bat, I found the name intriguing and loved the ghost logo for this new timekeeping connector. So, I was hoping its functionality would match my initial excitement because looks (even if they are other-worldly) aren’t everything!
So, let’s look under the sheet!
Easy Integration
The Timeghost integration allows you to login using your Office 365 credentials to generate time reports, invoices and other documents that you’ll want for a clear picture of how and where you and your team are spending time. The ability to drag and drop scheduled events directly from a list sourced from your Outlook Calendar onto the workspace makes it less likely you’ll forget to track important billable events.
Time Tracking the Details
Connector actions let you add a client or project to a workspace and then add a task, tag or time. Plus, it allows you the ability to update any of them. When you need an Excel report detailing who did what and how much time was dedicated to a project, the connector lets you get clients, projects, times, tasks, tags, or the current user so you’ll be able to invoice customers or pay your staff leaving the heavy lifting to the connector.
Why Ghosts?
Reminding you of things you have forgotten to track or prodding you to work on a procrastinated task, Timeghost creators put it this way, “ghosts are experts in bringing back things of the past,” beside you when you need them and gone once you are done. For Office 365 users, this Power Automate connector has the potential to make your timekeeping tasks seem like a friendly ghost is watching out for you.
When you need help with a connector or you need a custom connector tailored for your needs, feel free to reach out to Reenhanced! We know lots about Power Automate connectors. Fill out our Contact Form with details about what you’re working on and we’ll be in touch!
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Azure IoT Central Connector Breathes New Life into Things
If you’re not currently using the Azure IoT Central (Legacy) connector for the app platform, you may want to check out the new Azure IoT Central connector in Power Automate.
What does it do?
I like to think of this connector as an information gatherer from Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Using this connector lets me act like the Wizard of Oz except instead of a being a powerless wizard behind the curtain, I can control hundreds or thousands of little robots by leveraging the power of Power Automate.
What is IoT Central?
Azure IoT Central is a pre-made Web Application framework that lets you consume data and information from IoT, Gateway or IoT Edge devices. It offers a number of made-for-you applications for common business tasks that let you (mostly) plug in IoT devices and easily spin up new functionality through the IoT Central apps you’ll create.
Think of IoT Central as a way to ignore some of the inherent complexity of IoT device implementation by using a platform that handles lots of the underlying concerns for you.
What’s new?
While the legacy version lets users connect, monitor, and manage IoT devices, the new connector adds a bit more action and addresses known limitations of the former.
Like the legacy, the new Azure IoT Central connector allows you to create, update or delete a device by ID. But this new connector also lets you get details about an existing device including its properties, cloud properties, or telemetry value.
Simply knowing the telemetry value gives you, or the aforementioned wizard, a better understanding of the information that it gathers which can then be extrapolated through IoT Central into the apps that work for you. A good example would be a stream of temperature readings from onboard sensors located in beer brewing containers that are connected to IoT Central.
Other actions of this Power Automate connector include the ability to update properties (or cloud properties) or to execute a device command.
Finally, you can trigger any of your flows by listening to your rules defined within IoT Central. You can make it so whenever a rule is fired in IoT Central, it starts your flow.
Removing Limitations
Notably, the new connector eliminates the earlier limitation where IoT Plug and Play-enabled IoT Central applications were not supported.
This brings the total number of Power Automate connectors to 358.
Azure user notes
In other Power Automate news, Azure Log Analytics connector is fully deprecated, and Azure Sentinel has added a new trigger that happens when an Azure Sentinel incident creation rule was triggered.
If you try the new Azure IoT Central connector, we’d love to hear about your use case. Contact Us.
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Connect with new Office 365 Groups Mail
The new Office 365 Groups Mail connector for Power Automate is all about keeping groups communication organized.
Office 365 Groups MailWhile there are now 357 connectors available to tempt you, for cohesive development you might consider adopting Office 365 Groups connector to use for calendar scheduling as a companion this new mail connector.
How Can this Connector Help You?
Office 365 Groups Mail actions allow you to start a new group by creating a thread, to create a new conversation in a group, or a new thread in a specific conversation, and to delete those conversation threads when they are no longer needed.
You’ll be able to get a specific thread post, conversation thread, or the properties of a particular conversation. As you might expect, you can add or reply to a post, forward it, or post to a thread in a group conversation.
Lists available include conversations or threads of a group, all of the threads in a group conversation, posts to a specific conversation thread, or a list of attachments that belong to a post.
This connector triggers when a new email arrives to a group.
If you decide to use this connector in your work or need assistance to get rolling, we’d love to hear from you. CONTACT Reenhanced at +1 (215)-804-9408.
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New Connectors LIFX and Virus Total Make Power Automate More Valuable
Want to feel like a superhero using these new Power Automate connectors?
With a total of 355 available Power Automate connectors, these two new ones, when used together, will let you work in the ambient light you choose while fending off pesky viruses.
Seriously, there’s a lot going for these two.
LIFXUse the LIFX connector to color your world with light. Scientific studies about how people act and react to various colors may make you see this connector in a new light. (Pardon the pun.) You can use this Power Automate connection to control your LIFX smart lighting system.
Virus TotalThink of Virus Total connector as a resource to help you analyze suspicious files and URLs. Its actions also allow you to retrieve info about an IP address, or to upload a file for analysis. Virus Total detects malicious code and malware with the use of antivirus engines and web scanners, and automatically shares it with the Virus Total security community.
Outlook Customer Manager Connector DeprecatedAs a final note, it bears mentioning today that Microsoft’s Outlook Customer Manager connector is now fully deprecated in anticipation of the June 30 shut down of its app by the same name. As an alternative, Microsoft has pointed its users of the expiring app toward Nimble CRM for tracking customers and deals.
At Reenhanced, we’re laser focused on assisting people who want more out of their Power Automate connectors so they can focus on what they do best. For information CONTACT US.
*Update: A previous version of this post named another new connector in error.
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Microsoft 365 Adds New Message Center Connector
The addition of the Microsoft 365 Message Center connector for message syncing brings the total number of Power Automate connectors to 353!
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels The new connector has one simple but powerful action. It will sync your messages from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to Planner which provides yet one more integrated experience across the platform.
Given the tumultuous changes we’ve all experienced this year, there’s no doubt that businesses both large and small will see an increased need for time savings and productivity in order to get back on a profitable track. Reenhanced can help do that for your business.
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Microsoft To-Do Task Management Connector Update
This task management connector update may be less wonky.
For task management, Microsoft’s To-Do connector for Business could pave the way toward something more robust but as a Wunderlist user forced to move from my comfy place, I’m uncomfortable.
What can To-Do do now that it didn’t before?
They have added actions that offer the ability to create a to-do list, to get a specific list or one with a given ID; to add, update or delete a task in your list(s), or to retrieve a list of the tasks from a specific list or from all lists.
Previously non-existent in this connector, triggers have also been added for when a new task is created or updated, or when one has been created or updated in a specific folder.
Why Task Management through Tech?
I’m not happy when I miss a deadline…any deadline. Mostly, I dislike looking foolish, so I rely heavily on tech for task management. You could argue that if that’s a problem I should just go back to paper and pencil. Fair point.
Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels But that brings up a bunch of other issues. Where’s that paper with my list on it? I wrote a note-to-self during a meeting but now I don’t know what it means. Or, my personal nemesis: repeating tasks for weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual to-dos.
You see? Not really an option.
In 2015 Microsoft bought Wunderlist from founder Christian Reber but retired it today in favor of its own task management app. As a Wunderlist user and fan, I’ll admit bias here.
While Microsoft did state in its blog that Wunderlist app was becoming more difficult to maintain over time, its replacement seems short-sighted. Microsoft already had a head start with the user-friendly interface for which Wunderlist was known. And it could have spent time restructuring the areas they felt needed adaptation to make it even better rebranding it as To-Do.
Even after Reber’s widely reported lament in tweet offering to buy the app back from Microsoft in late 2019, still today marks the ax of Wunderlist.
Good-bye old friend The Takeaway
While the added actions and new triggers in the Microsoft To-Do (Business) connector make it possible that it will ultimately impress, right now I see To-Do as a rush to market. I’d rather have a piece of tech that’s killer from the start.
At Reenhanced, we know a lot about Power Automate connectors and can help you choose ones that will work best for you. When you’re ready to start a new project or need assistance with the one you’re working on now, CONTACT US.
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Education Connector for Marketing Automation Lands When it’s Needed
For marketing automation, and in light of school closures during the pandemic, the Dutch creators at Eduframe probably asked a question.
Looks like Eduframe delivered a new connector that answers the question and fulfills the need. So what’s the question?
“Wouldn’t it be great if there was a connector that could reach students through enrollment and allow educational institutions to offer their courses online?”
A full-featured management system, Eduframe connector integrates users, accounts, invoices, courses, and categories into flows with seamless integration to Canvas LMS.
Eduframe’s new connector brings the total number of available Power Automate connectors to 352!
What does it mean for education?
If you’re not in the field of education or someone who has school age kids, you may not know that Canvas LMS is a popularly used online educational software program for both K-12 and college level learning. Plus, with over 30 million users worldwide, lots of institutions rely on Canvas software for their classrooms. Eduframe’s connector syncing with Canvas LMS helps bring classroom learning from brick and mortar schools to the online world.
As a marketing automation connector, Eduframe helps educational institutions automatically publish to a storefront on their website with course listings, registration forms, pricing and online payment. This avails the opportunity for follow-up in Eduframe or from among a handful of the prominent mailing list hubs they may already be using. And it can integrate to the CRM or accounting software that many schools use now.
How does this automation impact the user?
We liked the idea that the Eduframe integration with Canvas allows students a single sign-on to both apps. And meetings planned in Eduframe for face-to-face or hybrid courses can sync to the Canvas calendar so students have a complete overview of what’s happening.
At Reenhanced, we work hard to stay on top of the most recent Power Automate connectors to keep you up-to-date. If you have questions about our service, CONTACT US. We’re happy to talk with you about your project.
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Encodian’s Document Conversion Connector Delivers
Document conversion connector Encodian just released a few additions to its already robust work.
It is painful to convert document formats inside Power Automate. Encodian’s full-featured connector helps make this easier. With so many possible document and image types, any connector that can simplify the process of getting your data in the format you need is a lifesaver. In case you haven’t run across this connector yet, it is certainly worth a look.
What could this connector do before this update?
Let’s consider what the Encodian connector could handle before this update. Encodian’s connector already provided document format conversion from PDF to Word; HTML or Web URL to Word, parses CSV and returns extractions in JSON. It could already extract data using optical character recognition (OCR) from more than 70 different file types, including PDF documents.
But wait, there’s more! Prior to this latest update the connector could also replace or reformat, provide text redaction, image replacement and cleanup, add watermarking, page numbers, or add headers and footers to PDF and Word files.
Usable for document conversion with Power Automate, Power Apps, and Logic Apps, Encodian isn’t done yet!
What document conversion changes make this a better connector?
Developers of the Encodian connector clearly have the user in mind and they’ve added more valuable resources in it.
The updates include:
- Reading a QR Code or a Barcode in an image or document
- Creating a Barcode
- Searching regular text expressions (regex),
- Extracting text from an image using optical character recognition (OCR)
- Extracting images from a PDF and
- Converting an image format
We like this update and we can help you find the right connectors for your project. CONTACT US for more information.
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New Connectors In Power Automate: Azure VM, Azure App Service, CivicPlus, and RiskIQ
Automatically Start your Web Apps and Virtual Machines, Connect your Forms and Expand your Security Data
Connectors galore, WOW! Power Apps connector creators were on a tear this past weekend with the release of four new connectors. There are now more than 350 Power Automate connectors.
Azure App Service Subscribers to the Azure App Service may want to check out the new Azure App Service and Azure VM connectors.
The Azure App Service connector lets you manage the app services and server farms hosted there with its ability to start, stop, and restart web apps.
Azure VM We at Reenhanced thought of a couple possible uses, and we’re betting there are lots more you’ll think of for your business. We envision that you could use an external event to trigger the start of a web app, or save costs by running apps only when people are working using a time-based trigger that schedules web app availability.
The Azure VM connector allows you to manage virtual machines (VMs) to start, stop, restart, redeploy, or deallocate a VM image. With it, you could start or restart a VM automatically based on a schedule or specific external event, and again save costs by building a flow that will automatically deallocate a VM when resources are done. This ought to please your boss, board, and shareholders too.
What about forms connectors?
CivicPlus Transform Another connector among the new releases will serve as a handy tool for people who work in local government or similarly structured organizations. CivicPlus Transform automates the connection of forms data to the Power Platform. The connector simply retrieves the specific form submission and also has a trigger for when a form submission happens, making it easy to power intelligent business processes using CivicPlus forms.
Did someone call for security?
Rounding out the four new Power Automate connector selections is RiskIQ.
RiskIQ This connector, used to identify and verify site security, ties your security infrastructure to the Power Automate platform. You can use this as a part of a flow to analyze URLs, SSL Certificates, DNS and WHOIS records. We think this offers you interesting possibilities for expanding your data, like the ability to find a domain associated with a phone number, or to analyze URL information for use in other actions. You can, for example, turn a long URL like
http://reenhanced.com/rescues/brokentech.htmlinto the base hostname,reenhanced.comwhich can be useful in flows where you want to populate or match website data.Any way you use these connectors have the potential to make your work more efficient. Contact your team at Reenhanced for more information.
