Coconote
AI notes
AI voice & video notes
Export note
Try for free
Power Automate Desktop Tutorial Overview
Jul 16, 2024
Power Automate Desktop (PAD) Tutorial
Introduction
Presenter: Kevin
Purpose: Automate repetitive and mundane tasks using PAD.
Example Scenario: Data transfer between two legacy systems with no APIs.
Getting Started with PAD
System Requirements: Windows 10 Professional/Enterprise, Work or School Account
Installation Process: Office.com > Sign In > All Apps > Power Automate > Create > Install Power Automate Desktop App
Using PAD
Main Screen Overview
Top Left Corner
: New Flow
Recent Flows Section
: Run, Stop, Rename, Search Flows
Actions Pane (Left Side)
: Over 300 different actions (File, Web Automation, etc.)
Main Canvas
: Displays the list of actions in the flow
Right Pane
: Variables, UI elements, Images
Creating Your First Flow
Example:
Launch Excel, show message, close Excel
Step 1
: Launch Excel (Blank Document, Visible)
Step 2
: Show message box (Title: “Launched Excel”, Message: “Successfully launched Excel”)
Step 3
: Close Excel (Do Not Save Document)
Testing
: Run the flow to see actions executed sequentially
UI Automation and Desktop Recorder
Recording Actions
: Using Desktop Recorder to capture mouse clicks and actions (Example: Calculator app)
Creating Actions Without Recorder
: Using 'Click UI element in window’ from Actions Pane
Example: Two approaches (desktop recording or adding actions manually)
Advanced Example: Aggregating Order Forms from Word to Excel
Project Overview
Objective
: Extract data from multiple Word documents and compile into an Excel sheet
Scenario
: Kevin Cookie Company order forms
Steps to Create Advanced Flow
Retrieve Files
: Get files in the folder
Use ‘Get files in folder’ action
Save file list in a variable
Launch Excel
: Open the order tracker sheet
Example: Select document path
Loop Through Files
: Process each file in folder
Use ‘For each’ loop
Rename current item to ‘extract’
Launch Application
: Open Word document ‘extract’
Find app path using search > file location > open file location > copy as path > remove quotes in PAD
UI Elements
: Identify elements within the Word document
Use 'Add UI elements'
Extract Data
: Create variables for each UI element
Use ‘Extract data from window’
Create variables (e.g., %order_number%)
Write to Excel
: Place extracted data into Excel
Use ‘Write to Excel worksheet’
Specify instance, values, columns, and rows
Close Word Document
: Terminate Word to open next document
Use ‘Terminate process’
Testing and Execution
Run the Flow
: Validate the extraction and population of data
Multi-Monitor Setup Caution
: Ensure using single monitor for consistent UI element behavior
Conclusion
PAD allows powerful automation across different applications
You can connect desktop flows with web flows for more advanced automation
Troubleshooting Tip
: Use a single monitor while setting up UI elements
Feedback and Suggestions
Thumbs up if helpful
Subscribe for more tutorials
Leave comments for topic suggestions
📄
Full transcript