The web version of Power Automate is being used by many of us to automate our repetitive manual tasks and has shown wonders already. We are more efficient & effective in our work thanks to all the flows created.
Power Automate Desktop is more towards extending the Robot Process Automation capabilities. I have seen this in action by creating a campaign, attaching a marketing list and campaign activity to it. I loved the automation done behind the repetitive process of configuring the campaign & sending it for approval.
Before we move ahead, let us setup the Power Automate desktop on your device. I am mentioning steps in detail
Please make sure to go thru pre-requisites just to ensure you are all covered.
Now we need the installer file, which is available here
Run the Setup.Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop file
If you have already installed Microsoft Edge, make sure you check the installed version & you can uncheck the option. You will easily get that in setting of the browser & click on About Microsoft Edge, you should be able to see the details for the same.
On making the necessary selections, the installation will start & will update once it’s successful. It will also show the version of the setup.
Once you Launch Power Automate Desktop, sign in with your credentials, select country & you are good to go.
Once logged in you will see the below window and you can proceed for creating a new flow to get started.
Extensions –
You can also install the Power Automate browser extensions. Choose your preferred browser here & install.
If you did install it in past, you don’t have to re-install it.
There is also an option to install this via command line & below are the simple steps for the same
- Make sure you run it in administrator mode
- Assuming the setup is in your downloads folder
cd C:\Users\<Yourname>\Downloads\
Setup.Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop.exe -Silent -Install -ACCEPTEULA
-ACCEPTEULA is for accepting T&Cs
The installer will run & complete the setup
It does have some limitation & check it out here
Note – The installer installs the Web driver component. You need it to run desktop flows created with Selenium IDE. It will also install the Power Automate Desktop app and third-party components.
Keep reading, keep enjoying, keep exploring!