The process of building custom applications and tools that interact with Microsoft SharePoint, including SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365.
The error indicates that the flow (or its trigger/connection) is using a premium connector, and the user who is calling the flow from SharePoint does not have a license that covers premium connectors. This is a licensing/connector issue, not a general outage.
Key points from the error and behavior:
- The caller’s license is what matters
- For flows that use premium connectors, the user who triggers or runs the flow must have a Power Automate Premium (Per User) license, or the flow must be covered by a Power Automate Process (Per Flow) license.
- The fact that the “Run As” or owner account has a premium license is not sufficient if the scenario is evaluated against the caller’s license. This matches the documented behavior where the error
DirectApiAuthorizationRequiredoccurs when a flow uses a premium connector but the caller doesn’t have a premium license.
- Why it may have started “suddenly”
- If this worked previously and only started failing yesterday/today, the most common documented cause is that a license expired or changed for either:
- The user who is triggering the flow from SharePoint, or
- The flow owner (for scheduled/automated flows).
- Another possibility is that the flow or its connections were modified so that a previously standard connector was replaced with, or now depends on, a premium connector.
- If this worked previously and only started failing yesterday/today, the most common documented cause is that a license expired or changed for either:
- What to check and do
- Confirm whether the flow’s trigger or any actions use premium connectors (for example HTTP, SQL Server, Dataverse, custom connectors):
- Edit the flow and identify the connector used in the trigger and key actions.
- Compare it against the connector list in Power Automate; premium connectors are explicitly marked as PREMIUM.
- Verify licensing for the users who run the flow from SharePoint:
- Ensure each of these users has either:
- A Power Automate Premium (Per User) license, or
- The flow is covered by a Power Automate Process (Per Flow) license and is configured accordingly.
- If they previously could run the flow, check whether their premium trial or paid license has expired or been removed.
- Ensure each of these users has either:
- If the flow is intended to be shared broadly and uses premium connectors, consider assigning a Process (Per Flow) license instead of relying on each caller having a Premium (Per User) license.
- Confirm whether the flow’s trigger or any actions use premium connectors (for example HTTP, SQL Server, Dataverse, custom connectors):
Once licensing is corrected (or the flow is redesigned to avoid premium connectors), the SharePoint button should be able to trigger the flow without the “Flow could not be activated because you need a Power Automate Premium license” error.
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