We’ve all heard about the power of automation, and how it is possible to automate mundane tasks we face in our everyday lives to boost our productivity and efficiency. Microsoft Power Automate Desktop is now free for all Windows 10 users, and if you can take some time out to learn how to automate business processes using this app, this could potentially be a huge deal for you.
Now that you have downloaded and installed Microsoft Power Automate desktop, let us take you on an interface tour to guide and help you get started with the platform.
The Microsoft Power Automate Desktop platform contains two main components which allows you to create flows: The Console and the Flow Designer.
Table of contents
Console Overview
The console is the first window you will see once you launch and sign in to Microsoft Power Automate Desktop. The main feature of the console is to allow you to create new flows or manage your existing flows.
To create a new flow, click on the “+ New Flow” button at the top left of the screen. You will be prompted to name your flow.
Decide on a name for your new flow and click on “Create”.
This will direct you to the Flow Designer<hyperlink to Flow designer> which we will be covering at a later part of this article.
The console also allows you to select and manage a specific existing flow. To do that, right-click on the flow and you can choose any of the options provided. You can Start, Stop, Rename, Edit or delete the flow.
Start – To run your flow
Stop – To stop your flow from running
Edit – This will direct you to the Flow Designer
Rename – If you would like to change the name of your flow
Delete – Delete your flow
Another alternative to manage your flows would be to use the icons next to the name of the flow. Likewise, you will be able to run, stop and edit your flows. If you click on “More Actions”, it is essentially the same as when you right click on the flow.
Tip: A faster way to start editing your flow would be to double click on the selected flow.
So, what happens when you run your flow from the console? When you click on “Start”, you should receive a notification at the bottom right as shown. In my case, I also have a display message box because the flow I ran involved a “display message” action. In your case, depending on the actions in your flow, you may or may not have any.
There are 2 ways to stop running the flow from the console: the stop icon and the “Stop” button on the notification box at the bottom right corner.
Flow Designer Overview
Now that you have an understanding of what the console is, let’s find out what the Flow Designer is and how it works.
Flow designer will be launched whenever you create a new flow or edit an existing flow.
You may be wondering what a flow is. In the Power Automate universe, a flow is simply a series of actions that are run sequentially. By defining and then executing these actions, you are able to automate mundane and menial tasks and/or business processes which you used to perform manually.
The Flow Designer is the main workspace where development takes place. By using the workspace, you can develop flows that run in sequence or alter them using conditionals, loops, and flow control actions.
Flow Designer summary:
Action Pane
To utilize or search for actions, go to the actions pane located at the left hand side of the Flow Designer.
The actions are categorized into groups based on their functionality. You can find the actions you need by clicking the arrow next to each category, or you can search for a specific action on the search bar at the top of the action pane.
There are 2 ways to deploy an action.
You can double click on the action or drag and drop action to the main workspace.
For Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, the more common actions used include Excel and web automation. For example, you can send an email to a contact in a selected row in an Excel spreadsheet. The sequence of actions of your flow is very important to ensure your development runs smoothly without any errors. If you are faced with a situation where you need to reorder the actions, simply click and hold on the action and drag it accordingly.
There are many actions in Microsoft Power Automate Desktop that is really useful. For example, there are actions to work with texts and conditionals like if and else.
Main VS Subflows
At the top of the main workspace, you will see “Subflows” and “Main”. You may be wondering, what is the difference between the Main flow and subflows? And why is there a need to create subflows? This is to simplify complex flows that require many actions—maybe hundreds of actions. With subflows, it will be easier and less confusing to test out certain flows.
To create a subflow, Click on “Subflows”, followed by the “(+)” icon.
You will be prompted to name your subflow, after you are done, click “Save”.
Variables Tab
Over at the right hand side of the flow designer, you will see the “{x}” sign. This is an indication for the variable pane. In short, a variable is a container to store data. This data is needed later on for the flow.
UI elements Tab
The UI elements tab allows you to define UI elements. When you define UI elements, you can combine them with actions. This is used for websites and apps.
Note: UI stands for User Interface. For example, a button you can click on on your website.
Images Tab
This tab stores all the images that are used in the deployed actions, allowing you to access and manage them effortlessly.
Errors
While developing your flow, you may be faced with errors that will disrupt the entire automating process. An error pane will pop up at the bottom when there are any inconsistencies with the flow. Use the error pane to identify and rectify/debug those errors in your flow.
Desktop/Web Recorder
Next, you will come across two features located at the top of the called Desktop and Web Recorder. Recorders are useful, because instead of building one action at a time, you can show Microsoft Power Automate Desktop how you would normally do the tasks that you wish to automate, and the app will translate it into a series of actions in the flow.
If the tasks are desktop based, use the desktop recorder. If your tasks are web-based, you will need the web recorder. For example, when you use Microsoft Excel app, you will use the desktop recorder. However, if your data is situated in Google Sheets, then you’ll be using the web recorder. So to put it simply, as long as the task is done using a web browser, it should be recorded via the Web Recorder.
This seems like a huge game changer and it might feel like there is no point putting in so much effort learning about flows and different actions. However, do note that the recorder is not perfect, and there are situations which will require you to correct and make changes to the actions in the flow.
Saving your Flow
Most importantly, it is good to develop a habit of saving your flows whenever the flow is complete or if you would like to take a break from automating the task. There are 2 ways you can do that:
- Click on the save icon
- Click on file and save accordingly
Conclusion
Hopefully this post has gone some way in expanding your knowledge and understanding of Microsoft Power Automate Desktop and its interface. What we’ve covered today was just the tip of the iceberg; there’s a lot more to automating your business processes. The main purpose of this article is for you to familiarize yourself with Microsoft Power Automate Desktop’s interface and gear yourself up for more in-depth lessons ahead!
Tags
Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, Robotic Process Automation, Console, Flow designer
Learning resources
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/pad-first-steps/3-flow-designer-overview
Software Version
Microsoft Power Automate Desktop 2.7.49.21099