Why Power Automate turned your flow off, and how to turn it back on

Short answer: Power Automate turns a flow off when its trigger or actions fail continuously for 14 days, when it is consistently throttled for 14 days, or when it has no trigger activity within 90 days. Open the flow in My flows, fix the failing connection or action, choose Turn on, then run a test. The fix comes first, or the flow can be switched off again. A missing premium license can also get a flow turned off. Add a second owner, send failure alerts to a shared place, and run a test after every fix.

The three reasons a flow gets switched off

Microsoft publishes limits for automated, scheduled and instant flows. Here is what that page says about flows that are turned off.

Flows with errors: a cloud flow that has a trigger or actions that fail continuously is turned off. The limit is listed as 14 days.
Flows without trigger activity: a cloud flow that is not triggered within a 90 day period might be turned off. Microsoft says owners and co-owners are notified 30 days before, and they can turn the flow back on. It also says flows owned by people with premium licenses, or flows with certain capacity licenses, are not subject to this suspension.
Consistently throttled flows: a flow that is throttled all the time is turned off after 14 days. Throttled means it is sending more requests than the limits allow.

There is a fourth reason, which is licensing. Microsoft's licensing FAQ says that when the owner of a premium flow no longer has a premium license, the flow is downgraded to lower performance, the owners are notified, and the flow is turned off in 14 days if no action is taken. Microsoft also describes license enforcement from an admin point of view. Admins get emails about flows that need licenses, and there is a long period to fix them before other actions, including flow suspension, can be taken.

Two license timelines are different, so do not mix them up. The downgrade case above is 14 days. Microsoft's page on license enforcement describes a longer admin timeline: "Admins have 90 days to take remedial actions." and "After another 90 days (total 180 days from admin notification), other enforcement actions can be enacted, including flow suspension." So a flow that needs a premium license can be suspended 14 days after a downgrade, or after 180 days from an admin notification, depending on the case.

Admins can also see why a flow stopped. Microsoft says a suspended flow has State=Suspended with FlowSuspensionReason and FlowSuspensionTime values, and lists these reason values for runtime limits: AllActionsFailingDetected, AlwaysFailingDetected, ApiCallOverageDetected, BillingConsumption, BillingConsumptionMissingRPALicense and NeverTriggeringDetected. Ask your admin to look up the reason code for your flow.

Signs your flow was switched off

A task that used to happen on its own did not happen.
The status on the flow details page does not say On.
You got an email from Power Automate about the flow.
The run history stops on a date and nothing is after it.
Nobody on the team can say who gets the error emails.

Step 1. Find the status

Microsoft's troubleshooting page gives three states to look for on the flow details page. Open Power Automate, choose My flows, and open the flow.

On: the flow is active. The problem is somewhere else, such as a trigger that did not fire.
Off: someone turned it off by hand. Turn it back on. If it turns off again at once, ask your admin whether a data loss prevention policy changed.
Suspended: Microsoft says Power Automate suspended the flow because of repeated failures. Open the run history, find the failing action, fix the cause, then turn the flow on.

Exact names may differ on your screen. If you cannot find the flow, check that you are in the right environment.

Step 2. Read the cause

Work through this checklist in order. Stop at the first yes.

Look at the latest failed run. Open it and find the action marked in red. Read the error.
Is the error 401? Microsoft says the connection token expired or a password changed. The fix is to re-sign in on the connection.
Is the error 403? Someone may have lost permission to the target, or an admin may have changed a data loss prevention policy. Microsoft notes that if a group of flows broke at the same time, a policy change is the most likely cause.
Is the error 404? Microsoft says the list, file, mailbox or channel was renamed, moved or deleted. Point the action at the new place.
Are there no runs for a long time? The flow may have been idle. Check that the trigger still has events to react to.
Did the owner leave, or lose a license? See the next section.
Did you get an email? The email names the reason. Keep it.

Microsoft's page on fixing connection failures has the full table of error codes. It is linked in the sources.

Step 3. Fix the cause before you turn the flow on

Turning the flow back on without a fix can make it fail for another 14 days. Here is the fix for each cause.

Failing connection. Open the Connections page, find the connection with a warning, and choose Fix connection. Sign in again. Microsoft says a connection can break after a password change, a sign-in policy change, a revoked consent, or about 90 days of no use. If the flow uses a connection owned by another person, that person has to sign in again, or you can create your own connection and update the flow to use it.

Renamed or deleted target. Open the flow in edit mode, find the action with the warning, and choose the correct list, library or channel.

License problem. Licensing is a question for your admin. Microsoft says the fix is to assign a license to the flow owner, or to license the flow itself. Ask your admin which one applies to your tenant. For a plain explanation of what a small team needs, see "Which Power Automate license does a small team need?".

Owner left. Microsoft says a flow with an active owner keeps running, but actions that use the leaver's connections might fail. See "The person who built your flows left: what happens and what to do".

Too many requests. Microsoft says to revise the flow so it stays below the limits. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: start by filtering the data before a loop, so the loop touches fewer items.

Step 4. Turn the flow back on

Microsoft gives two ways to do this.

Open Power Automate and choose My flows.
Select the flow and open the menu with the three dots.
Choose Turn on. The status changes to On.

Or open the flow details page and choose Turn on in the menu at the top.

Exact names may differ on your screen. Microsoft's help page is linked in the sources. Microsoft also notes that turning a flow off stops new runs, while runs already in progress finish.

Step 5. Test it

Do not trust the status alone.

Run the flow once with a real example. For a flow that starts when a list item is created, add one test item.
Open the run history and read the result.
Check the thing the flow was supposed to do, such as the email, the message or the changed row.
Write down the date in your flow list.

Prevention that works

Add a second owner. Microsoft says any owner can view run history, edit the flow, start or stop it, update connection credentials and add other owners. It also says you must be the creator or an owner to add owners. So add a second owner while the first one is still here. The same page says to use co-owners only where shared editing is needed, and run-only access for people who just need to start a flow.

Send failure alerts to a shared place. Microsoft's troubleshooting page describes one way: add a parallel branch after the action most likely to fail, set Configure run after to has failed, and add a Send an email action, or a Teams post, with the flow name and the error. Microsoft suggests a shared mailbox or Teams channel so the alert is not missed. For another way to make problems visible, see "Late tasks nobody notices: setting up late alerts".

Use an alert email that more than one person reads. The warning emails go to flow owners. If the only owner left the company, the warning goes nowhere. This is another reason for a second owner.

Check the run history on a schedule. Microsoft suggests looking at production flows once a week for failed runs, cancelled runs and a sudden drop in run count.

Keep the flow list. One row per flow, with an owner, a backup owner and a date last checked. The list in the owner guide named above works for this.

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: for a flow that rarely runs, run a test every few weeks, so the 90 day idle limit never comes close.

What to avoid

Do not turn the flow back on before you know the cause. It can fail again and be switched off again.
Do not make one person the only owner.
Do not ignore an email from Power Automate about a flow. It is the warning you wanted.
Do not share one person's sign-in to keep a connection alive. Check with your admin for an approved option.
Do not assume a flow works because it shows On. Read the last run.
Do not add everyone as a co-owner. Use run-only access where people only need to start a flow.
Do not guess about licenses. Ask your admin.

Honest limits

This guide covers cloud flows in Power Automate. Limits and wording can change over time, and your tenant may have settings that differ. A flow switched off for a license reason needs a license fix first, and that is a question for your admin. Some of these steps, such as data loss prevention checks, need an admin too.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Why does my Power Automate flow turn off automatically?

Microsoft lists three limits: a flow whose trigger or actions fail continuously (14 days), a flow that is consistently throttled (14 days), and a flow with no trigger activity (90 days).

Why is my flow not running automatically after it was turned on?

Open the flow details page and check that the status says On, then read the latest run. If it turns itself off again, the cause is still there, such as a broken connection.

How do I find the reason a flow was suspended?

Microsoft says a suspended flow has a FlowSuspensionReason value, such as AllActionsFailingDetected or AlwaysFailingDetected. An admin can read it through PowerShell, an API or the list flows as Admin action.

Will I be warned before an idle flow is turned off?

Microsoft says flow owners and co-owners are notified 30 days before suspension and can turn the flow back on. Flows owned by users with premium licenses are not subject to the 90 day suspension.

My flow turned off because of a license. What do I do?

Microsoft says the flow is downgraded, owners are notified, and it is turned off in 14 days if no action is taken. Ask your admin to assign a license to the owner or to the flow.