Describe actions for Power Automate desktop flows
In Power Automate for Desktop, actions are the fundamental building blocks used to create desktop flows. Each action performs a specific task, and desktop flows are built by combining these actions in a sequence to automate processes on a local machine.
Based on your specific needs, there are many different types of actions. Let’s examine some of the more common categories of desktop flow actions:
File and folder actions: You would use these actions to automate file system operations, such as Creating folders, Copying, Deleting, and Moving files.
Web automation actions: These actions automate browser tasks without backend API access, like launching a browser, clicking links, and extracting web page data.
UI automation actions: Used to interact with desktop applications through their user interface, such as clicking a UI element, or populating a text field.
Excel actions: These actions are used to automate Excel data processing. They include tasks such as launching the Excel application, reading data from a worksheet, or writing data to a cell.
Email actions: These actions are used to automate email communication and processing such as sending and receiving emails from Outlook.
System actions: These actions are used to control system-level operations. They include tasks such as launching applications, shutting down or restarting a PC, or displaying messages.
Conditionals and loops: These actions are used to add logic and repetition to desktop flows, such as If statements, and for each loop.
Variables and data manipulation: These actions are used to store and manipulate data during flow execution, such as setting variables, and text operations.
Scripting and custom code: These actions are used to extend the functionality of a desktop flow with custom scripts such as running Python scripts, and JavaScript code.
A simple flow that is used to rename and move files might include something like:
Get files in folder (File action)
Loop through files (Loop action)
Rename file (File action)
Move file to new folder (File action)
Most desktop flows use a combination of different actions to accomplish the task at hand. For example, let’s say that you work for a real estate company that specializes in commercial properties. As part of your sustainability initiative, you need to ensure that none of your properties have any Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violations. This information is stored in a government run website. You can use actions to:
Open the EPA website.
Enter the property address into the webform.
Take a screenshot of the property details and capture the URL of the page.
Open Excel if the property has a violation, and enter the property details, including image and URL into the first open row in the worksheet.
Open Outlook and send an email to a manager to review the violation and determine next steps.