How to Enable Anonymous Access in Power Pages

Enabling anonymous access in Power Pages (formerly known as Power Apps portals) allows visitors to access your portal without needing to log in, making it an essential feature for public websites, including blogs, informational sites, and more. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to enable anonymous access, focusing on ensuring table permissions for the anonymous web role and setting site visibility to public.

Step 1: Configure Table Permissions for Anonymous Web Role

The first step in enabling anonymous access is to ensure that the anonymous web role has the necessary permissions to access the data it needs. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Navigate to the Power Pages Portal Management App: Log in to your Power Pages dashboard and access the Portal Management app.

2. Identify or Create the Anonymous Web Role: Look for an existing web role named “Anonymous” or similar. If it doesn't exist, create a new web role and name it appropriately to indicate its use for anonymous users.

3. Configure Table Permissions:

   • Within the Portal Management app, go to Table Permissions.
   • Create new table permissions or edit existing ones to associate them with the anonymous web role.
   • Set the Scope of permissions according to the data access needs for anonymous users. Typically, this would be set to Global for read-only access to public data.
   • Ensure you grant at least Read permission for tables that need to be accessed anonymously, such as those containing blog posts or public information.

4. Save Your Changes: After setting up the permissions, save your changes to ensure that the anonymous web role has the necessary access to the specified tables.

Step 2: Set Site Visibility to Public

The next step is to make your Power Pages site publicly accessible by adjusting its site visibility settings:

1. Access the Power Pages Editor: From your Power Pages dashboard, open the portal editor.

2. Navigate to the "Set Up" Tab: In the portal editor, go to the Set Up tab located usually at the bottom left part of the screen.

3. Adjust Site Visibility:

   • Within the Set Up tab, find and click on Security to expand the section.
   • Look for Site Visibility and click on it.
   • Change the site visibility setting to Public. This setting ensures that your site is accessible to everyone, including users who are not logged in.

Save and Publish: Don't forget to save your changes and publish the site to make the visibility settings take effect.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you enable anonymous access to your Power Pages site, allowing public visitors to view content without needing to log in. This setup is crucial for creating accessible and user-friendly websites that serve a wide audience. Remember, while enabling anonymous access, it's important to carefully configure table permissions to ensure that only the intended data is accessible publicly, safeguarding any sensitive information.