In order to avoid the repetitive tasks performed over the desktop, Microsoft has developed an extended service, the Power Automate Desktop. It has been recently announced by Microsoft, which has been made available to Windows 10 users. It is a new low-code Robotic process automation that enables business empowerment to automate those tasks that are repetitive and other manual tasks to focus better on higher-value work and to establish more in their corresponding areas of work. Users can optimize their workflows with minimal efforts; regardless they are a coder or a non-coder.
This recently launched service is an extended version of softomotive technology which has been integrated deeply into its own stack. The aim was to democratize development for everybody with the benefits of this technology. It is highly effective as the users can create bots and automate tasks. When managed by manually, repetitive tasks eat up the quality time that could be used for better and improved productivity. On the other hand, it ensures reduced human errors along with the reduction of maintenance efforts and costs while improving scalability and assuring better security.
What is Power Automate Desktop?
 Power Automate is a service that makes it possible to avoid repetition by automating those tasks enabling better efficiency to any organization. Several types of workflows could be created using this technology. Cloud flows could be created whereby we have options to trigger automation automatically, instantly or through schedules. At the same time, Desktop flows are used to create automation across desktop or on the web.
Several tasks could be automated using this facility, such as quick organization of documents using dedicated files and folders, accurate extraction of data from websites to be stored in the Excel files using the Web and Excel automation. It could also be used for putting our desktop work on autopilot.
Benefits of Power Automate Desktop
The benefits of Power Automate Desktop are beyond expectations. Its capabilities streamline workflows in both modern and legacy applications. As it receives input via mouse and keyboard, the actions are recorded. The repetitive actions are tracked and recorded by the technology across several applications such as SharePoint, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel and other third applications as well. The process of automation can be carried over to other sources such as databases, Excel files Pdfs and the like.
With this technology, it is possible to build automation across organizations, enabling more than 400 connectors across the cloud. To make it equally accessible to all, it is available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
Initiating Power Automate Desktop
There are several essentials for accessing Power Automate Desktop. A work or school account is necessary to sign in to the Windows device with administrator privileges for Power Automate. Certain system requirements are essential to be maintained before the installation of the Power Automate Desktop.
It should be noted that the ARM devices are not supported buy this technology; rather you need a Windows 10, Enterprise, Server 2016 or 2019 with minimal storage of 1GB and a Ram of 2GB. The system also requires a .NET Framework of 4.7.2 or later.
Automation of Application UIs
The installation of Power Automate Desktop is a facile procedure. Once the installer has been downloaded, click on the Setup.Microsoft, PowerAtomateDesktop.exe file to begin the installation and follow the instructions given in the installer. There are options to select the essential feature at the time of installation, based on our requirements.
The default settings can be changed as of not send the usage data to Microsoft. You just have to uncheck the “Allow Microsoft to collect usage data to improve Power Automate. The language used in the Windows OS will be the one followed by Automate as well.
Once you are done with the installation, you need to install and enable the extension for Power Automate Desktop. This is to initialize web actions within desktop flows. From the links displayed in the installer, you shall select the necessary ones, such as the Microsoft Edge, if you insist on having automation on Microsoft Edge.
The Power Automate Desktop provides several built-in actions to bring about automation to several processes. After the creation of desktop flow, you shall run it from an event, schedule or button. There are options to manage the created desktop flows – to edit, delete and so on. The details of the desktop flows can be seen by selecting the name of the created desktop from the list. You can even share the desktop flow with other users along with enabling certain permissions for those users.
Power Automate Desktop Console is the key interface to the Power Automate Desktop. The console lets you work effectively and is a high-end user-friendly mechanism. A drop-down list on the top right corner will allow the user to switch between environments to access various flows.
The Power Automate Desktop Flow designer aids the users to design and debug the corresponding flow. It further extends its use to the access and management of several variables of the desktop flow along with other aspects such as images and UI elements. One can even identify the flow status with the designer’s help as it has a workspace where the details are given. Apart from that, there are different panes for both the variables and actions. With the designer’s help, users can identify the errors as they are detailed in the workspace and highlighted.
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