Yes, you can automate imports with the Import Export PowerTool, primarily through its programmatic interface in AL code and its published events. This is a completely free app from Insight Works for Business Central. The tool is designed to be extensible, so a developer can invoke its operations from custom code and trigger them on a schedule or from another process rather than running each import by hand.
Automating through the AL interface
The tool exposes an interface in AL that lets a developer set the same values you would normally choose on the import page, such as the operation, the validation behavior, and the insert or update options, and then run the import from code. This means a partner or in house developer can build an extension that performs a defined import automatically, for example as part of a scheduled job or in response to an event elsewhere in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Because the parameters mirror the manual options, automated runs behave the same way as interactive ones.
Using the published events
The tool also publishes events that you can subscribe to in order to add custom behavior around the import process. These events are documented in the Insight Works knowledge base and are the supported way to extend what happens during an import, such as handling specialized data or custom field types that the tool does not process directly. Combining the AL interface with these events gives developers a flexible foundation for building tailored, repeatable automation.
What this means for Power Automate and external systems
The tool’s automation is delivered through AL code and the published events rather than a built in connector for an external workflow platform. If you want to trigger imports from a platform such as Power Automate or another external system, the practical path today is to wrap the tool’s AL interface in a custom extension that exposes the behavior you need, then call that from your chosen automation. This keeps the import logic inside Business Central while letting external processes initiate it.
Practical considerations
When you automate imports, design the source files and the import options carefully so that unattended runs are predictable. Decide whether records should be inserted, updated, or both, mark only the fields that genuinely need validation, and account for the error handling behavior, since a failure rolls back the affected table and reports the line that caused it. Building a small amount of logging or notification into your extension helps you confirm that scheduled imports completed as expected, because the tool itself does not keep a separate import log.
Related Tools
Import Export PowerTool is the Insight Works app for fast import, export, update, and delete operations in Business Central. Its AL interface and published events are the supported mechanisms for automating imports and extending the import process.
Automation is achievable, but it is a development task rather than a point and click setting. Use the AL interface to run defined imports from code, subscribe to the published events to customize behavior, and bridge to external automation platforms through a custom extension when you need scheduled or system triggered loads.