Power Automate allows users to mark their workflow actions as comments to help document the flow without actually running any logic. This can be very useful for leaving notes for yourself and others about the purpose and flow of the automation without affecting its execution.

To mark an action as a comment in Power Automate, simply select the action you wish to comment out and then click the “Comment” icon on the tool panel on the right side of the designer screen. This will add comment brackets around the action title to visually indicate it is now a comment only and will not run when the flow is triggered.

{Comment}

For power users who are developing complex workflows with many conditional branches and loops, using commented actions is a great way to temporarily remove sections of logic while testing other parts of the flow. The commented actions will remain visually in the designer so you don’t lose your place but will be ignored during any test runs or when the flow is activated. This allows for iterative development and troubleshooting of complex automations.

Some key things to note about commented actions in Power Automate:

• Any action can be commented out, including things like HTTP requests, trigger actions, logic flows etc. The comment formatting will be applied universally.
• Commented actions will appear grayed out in the designer visually to distinguish them from active actions.
• When running a test of the flow or when live, commented actions will be skipped and will not execute any logic or API calls contained within them.
• To uncomment an action and re-activate it, simply click the “Comment” icon again on the right toolbar. This will remove the comment brackets.
• Commented actions do not affect the overall workflow sequencing and connections to subsequent actions. The flow will skip commented steps but continue to following actions as designed.
• You can comment and uncomment actions repeatedly as needed while developing and troubleshooting a complex flow in the designer window.
• Well commented flows can help future users, including yourself, understand the overall logic and purpose of each section more easily when revisiting the automation workflow later.

One example of how commenting actions can help is if you have a long running or complex conditional branch that you want to temporarily remove from execution while testing a different logic path. To do this, simply comment out the entire offending section by commenting each individual action within it.

{Comment}

Then you can run test instances of the flow without that logic executing at all so you can isolate other issues. Once the alternative code path is validated, you can then just as easily uncomment that whole section to reactivate it for full flow testing.

For conditional branches especially, commenting unused logic paths can be invaluable during development and troubleshooting processes. Things like if/else blocks allow multiple options that may not all be fully ready to be live at once. By commenting unneeded options temporarily, you get a cleaner testing experience.

Some automation developers also use heavy commenting as an internal documentation practice within their flows. Placing summaries, instructions or explanations as commented actions helps provide important context when revisiting complex automations down the line. This supports better long term maintenance and understanding of sophisticated workflows.

The ability to comment actions in Power Automate provides a potent way to iteratively build and test complicated logic flows. It maintains your full automation design visually while allowing selective execution during development. Proper use of commented steps aids the incremental development approach for complex solutions. Over time, well commented automations also function as internal self-documentation assets. It is a best practice that power users of the platform should learn to effectively leverage.

{Comment}

While commenting actions does not affect execution sequencing, it’s still good practice to double check that any dependent logic or requirements further in the flow still make sense when sections are temporarily commented out. Verify data consistency and expected behavior across all test cases to avoid unexpected side effects from skipped logic steps.

There may be some advanced automation scenarios where commenting is not ideal or possible, such as workflows using custom connector APIs that have strict expected payloads. In general though, taking advantage of commenting freely throughout development is highly recommended for complex Power Automate flows as a best practice. It promotes clean, iterative design and makes debugging problems and validating logic paths much more efficient.

Using action comments is a core capability in Power Automate that power users should be leveraging heavily, especially when building and testing sophisticated multi-step conditional logic flows. It keeps your full workflow visually intact while enabling selective execution control that is invaluable during development cycles. With proper usage of commenting, intricate automation logic can be designed, validated and maintained in a much more organized and incremental fashion over time.

To mark any action as a comment in Power Automate, simply select it and click the “Comment” icon on the right toolbar. This allows design and testing flexibility that aids complex workflow development greatly. Be sure to also uncomment sections as needed when validating alternative logic paths. Properly applying action commenting is an essential technique for developing robust and maintainable business automations in the Power Automate platform.