Power Platform: export large usage metric lists

Key insights

• Open the Power Platform admin center and select Manage > Usage to view activity for the previous 28 days.
• The page covers Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio, but the presenter says its built-in export can be unwieldy for large lists.
• In browser developer tools, filter Network requests for “usage” and inspect the relevant service request.
• The demonstrated request returns up to 50 items by default; the presenter changes it to 100 and paginates with $skip.
• The manual method requires a Power Platform administrator role and downloads separate JSON batches for later merging.

Power Platform admins can collect larger sets of usage metrics from the admin center by capturing paged browser requests, rather than exporting resources one at a time. This can help administrators analyze long lists of app, flow, and agent activity beyond what is convenient in the built-in export. Microsoft demonstrates the approach using the Power Platform admin center (PPAC) Usage page and browser developer tools.

What it does

The Usage page gives administrators a view of activity across Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio. In the demonstration, it shows activity for the previous 28 days; the presenter says the page does not offer a way to look further back. The metrics shown include Power Automate flow runs and Copilot Studio usage, while the page also includes Power Apps usage.

For a short list, the built-in Export control can be enough. The challenge arises when the table contains thousands of entries: the presenter describes having to open each item to export it as a CSV. The browser method captures the page’s underlying usage responses in batches, which can then be downloaded as JSON files and brought together for analysis.

Who it is for and what you need

The technique is intended for Power Platform administrators who need to examine larger sets of usage data. The presenter says you need to activate the Power Platform administrator role before using the admin center. The navigation path shown is Manage > Usage.

The demonstration uses Microsoft Edge, but the presenter says the approach may work in other browsers. It depends on browser developer tools, an authenticated PPAC session, and manual editing and resending of network requests. No additional license, region requirement, or rollout status is established in the demonstration, so those details should not be assumed from this method alone.

How it works

The key detail is that the Usage page makes requests from the browser to retrieve its data. Copying the request URL and trying to call it directly in a separate tool, such as Postman, did not work in the presenter’s test. Resending the request inside the browser allows the existing session to supply what the request needs.

1. In PPAC, open Manage > Usage and load the usage table you want to collect.
2. Open browser developer tools by right-clicking and choosing Inspect, or press F12. Select Network; if it is not visible, use the plus menu to add it.
3. Filter the network requests for usage, refresh the page, and locate the request for the relevant service, such as Power Automate. The demonstration also names Power Apps and Copilot Studio usage requests.
4. Right-click the request and choose Edit and resend. The presenter observes that the request retrieves 50 items by default and changes the requested page size to 100.
5. Add or adjust the $skip value to select the batch. Send the request, then download its JSON response. Increase the skip value by 100 for the next batch and repeat until you have collected the results.
6. Check the response’s odata.count value to see the total number of items reported. The presenter gives an example of a client list with 2,800 entries, which required 28 batches at 100 items each.
7. After downloading the batches, merge the JSON files for analysis. The presenter says they used Copilot to combine the files and then worked with the result in Excel.

This is a manual extraction workflow, not a one-click export or a standalone API integration. The browser remains responsible for making the request, and the administrator repeats the paging and download process for each batch. The same general approach is demonstrated for the three product usage request types mentioned above.

The presenter also describes a separate option under Manage > Data exports: configure an export to Application Insights, provided the organization has an Azure instance with Application Insights. The demonstration names Dataverse, Power Automate, Dynamics Customer Service, Power Apps, and Copilot Studio among the available data categories, with Dynamics Customer Service and Copilot Studio identified as preview in that description. The setup is not walked through in detail.

Limitations and open questions

The Usage page’s stated time window is 28 days, and the described workaround only collects data returned by those usage requests. The clip does not explain how far back the underlying endpoints retain data, whether every tenant exposes identical requests, or whether the request structure may change. It also does not give a supported API contract for using these endpoints outside the browser.

Expect some hands-on work: the method means repeating a request and downloading each batch, then combining the files. It can help when a large list makes the built-in export cumbersome, but it is not presented as an official bulk-export feature. For a small result set, the page’s built-in Export may be simpler. Application Insights data export is another route mentioned, but its configuration and requirements need separate investigation.

Sources

• Microsoft website
• Microsoft demonstration of extracting PPAC usage metrics

Frequently asked questions

What role do I need to view Power Platform Usage metrics?

The presenter says you need the Power Platform administrator role to access the admin center page used in the demonstration.

How do I export more than 50 Power Platform usage results?

The demonstrated browser technique edits and resends the usage request, sets the page size to 100, and uses $skip to collect successive JSON batches. It requires manual repetition.

How far back does the Power Platform Usage page show data?

The presenter describes a 28-day view and says there is no way to go beyond that on the page in the demonstration.

Is the browser request method an official Power Platform API?

The material does not establish it as a supported API. The presenter says a direct request in Postman did not work in their test and resends the request inside the authenticated browser instead.