Power Automate for desktop - Build 2203.1

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This article describes the new features, improvements and fixes to existing functionality that are included in this build.

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Version 2.18.146.22083 updates

New Features

  • Power Automate for desktop supports web actions that are being applied over a web page that is opened in Internet Explorer mode in Edge browser. The user should use the ‘Launch Microsoft Edge’ action and navigate to the required web page. Also, the recorder can handle the case of launching/attaching to web page in IE mode in Edge browser. Please note that the configuration (steps) required for navigating to a web page using the Internet Explorer mode in Edge browser should be performed manually and Power Automate is not related to this. 

  • Power Automate for desktop is now able to automatically handle the upgrade of Java installation in the user’s machine. A service is now available which checks the machine’s Java installation folders and always ensures that the necessary for Java automation files are installed in the Java installation folders. 

  • The ‘Extract data from web page’ action is now able to handle the extraction of large tables with great volume of data.

    Two new parameters have been added:

    • Process data upon extraction: User specifies whether to process extracted data to present them exactly as displayed in the webpage. When disabled, no processing of extracted data is performed. The processing of data includes displaying information nested in HTML iframes and filtering through hidden or visible elements. For larger datasets, having this option enabled is not recommended as it will increase the extraction time.
    • Timeout: User sets the time in seconds that you want to wait for the extraction to be completed before the action fails.

  • The action 'Click link on web page' is enhanced with an extra parameter, with the name 'Send physical click'. When enabled, the mouse cursor is moved physically over the element prior to clicking. A physical click is required for cases where emulated clicks do not perform the intentional action on the element.  

  • When an application is running with elevated rights, while Power Automate for desktop is not, the latter is not able to 'access' the UI elements of that app. User is now informed why the UI elements are not accessible and that the recommended next step is to restart Power Automate with admin rights.  

    The notification is displayed to the user when the targeted app is running with elevated rights when the user:

    • Opens the UI element picker and hovers the mouse pointer over a UI element of the specific app.
    • Launches the recorder and hovers the mouse pointer over a UI element of the specific app.

Enhancements & Improvements

  • If the machine that Power Automate for desktop is installed on is registered on an Environment, then only the first time that the user signs into Power Automate, the console shows the Environment that the machine is registered on. Otherwise, it shows the default one.
  • Enabling or disabling the organization/tenant picker is now available via a registry key. 
  • Clicking on the bottom whitespace of a subflow now unselects the last selected action, which allows pasting a copied action directly at the end of the actions list.
  • In the console, when there are no flows and the user uses a work, school or organization premium account, a link has been added in the initial text to try Process advisor.
  • If the machine is put in sleep mode while a flow’s execution is paused, that flow can now be resumed normally, as the channel timeout of three minutes leading to the original error has been removed.
  • The interface of the UI elements repository has been improved, distinguishing the parent screens of the captured elements as desktop apps and web pages, via an indicative icon for each case. Those screens are now grouped under the local computer.

Repaired Functionality

The following list details issues in Power Automate for desktop that are now resolved:

  • Users can now edit a desktop flow and open the flow designer, even if that flow is running from the console. 
  • An issue was fixed on the ‘Run desktop flow’ action, which was not showing any data under the ‘My flows’ tab, when the original flow was saved as another flow and the action was being edited.
  • In the flow designer, when the flow runs, the timer now starts as soon as the initial parsing status starts and keeps counting during running.
  • The designer now stops becoming unresponsive, when the variable viewer is trying to display an excessively large variable value (for example, an exceedingly long text value).
  • During recording, applying hotkeys in Power Automate for desktop is now disabled. 
  • Password fields now do not stay erroneous, when a variable is added after the ‘Password input as variable’ option has been selected.
  • When the user renames a pinned variable, the variable now remains pinned in the variables pane. 
  • During debugging, the subflow title tab whose actions are executing now becomes visible and is brought in focus, instead of remaining hidden on the right in case there are multiple subflows in the flow.
  • When renaming a sensitive flow variable, produced by a ‘Set variable’ action, to another existing non-sensitive variable name, the variable value in the summary of the ‘Set variable’ action now remains masked as expected.
  • The Win key is now captured during recording.
  • The ‘Middle click’ option is now included in the list of available options, when recording a ‘Click element in window’ action.
  • The action ‘Set drop-down list value in window’ now works as expected in the respective drop-down menus of the Excel ‘Custom Sort’ window.
  • While using the ‘Extract data from web page’ action, the Extraction preview of the Live web helper window now displays the proper values, when the extraction is converted from a single value to a list.
  • Power Automate for desktop now performs click successfully on Windows 11 context menu after pressing the Search button. 
  • Web automation actions can now handle any option successfully in the ‘If a pop-up dialog appears’ parameter.  
  • An issue was fixed on ‘Launch new browser’ actions, which were failing when the DPI of the machine was high, and the Window state parameter was set as Normal.
  • Setting a UI element as a pager for extracting data from web page while recording now works as expected.
  • The UI element picker now correctly tracks web elements when zoom has been applied to the respective browser.

Other Announcements

  • Concurrent runs of different flow instances in the console have been discontinued, to align with the overall Power Automate policy that only allows a single flow execution per machine at any given time.

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