Some natural phenomena, such as heat transfer, molecular diffusion and electricity conduction, are very similar to each other to some extent. They all could be treated as generalized flows. Based on this kind of similarity, in this paper we generalize the theory of entransy, and define the concepts of potential entransy, potential entransy flux, and potential entransy dissipation. In the system where there is only one kind of generalized flow or two kinds of generalized flows, the conditions under which we can develop the principles of potential entransy are introduced. Furthermore, the minimum principle of potential entransy loss, the extremum principle of potential entransy dissipation and the generalized minimum flow resistance principle are developed and discussed.