v1.0.0 to v1.0.0

---

name: "power-automate-desktop"

description: 'Author Microsoft Power Automate desktop (RPA) flows -- attended and unattended robotic process automation that drives UI, browsers, files, and Excel -- so an agent can design the action sequence, variables, error handling, and cloud-flow trigger wiring. Covers when RPA is appropriate versus API/connector automation and the desktop-flow execution model.'

metadata:

version: "1.0.0"

created: "2026-05-30"

compatibility:

surfaces: ["power-platform-builder", "low-code-builder", "agent-x", "engineer"]

platforms: ["power-platform", "power-automate-desktop", "rpa"]

---

# Power Automate Desktop (RPA)

> Purpose: design Power Automate desktop flows that automate UI-driven work no API exposes -- the automation of last resort -- with robust selectors, variables, and error handling.

## When to Use (RPA Is a Last Resort)

Use a desktop flow only when there is no connector, API, or cloud flow that can do the job:

- Driving a legacy desktop app or a website with no API

- Screen-scraping or form-filling a system you cannot change

Always prefer, in order: native connector -> custom connector over a documented API -> HTTP action -> desktop flow (RPA). RPA is brittle (UI changes break selectors) and needs a machine/runtime -- only choose it when nothing higher wins.

## Attended vs Unattended

| | Attended | Unattended |

|--|----------|------------|

| Runs | With a signed-in user watching | On a machine with no interactive user |

| Trigger | User starts it, or a cloud flow | Scheduled / cloud-flow, queued on a machine group |

| Use for | Human-in-the-loop, desktop apps the user owns | Lights-out batch processing |

## Flow Structure (Designer Model)

A desktop flow is an ordered list of **actions** grouped into optional **subflows**, operating on **variables**.

```

Main (subflow)

1. Set variable NewVar = %FormInput%

2. Launch browser (or Run application)

3. Populate text field on window (UI element selector)

4. Click UI element

5. If <condition> ... Else ... End

6. Loop / For each %item% in %list%

7. On block error -> retry / continue / go to label

```

- **UI elements / selectors**: captured per target window/control; the most fragile part. Prefer stable attributes (id, name, accessible role) over screen coordinates and ordinal indexes.

- **Variables**: `%VarName%` syntax; typed at runtime (text, number, list, datatable, custom object).

- **Excel / file / data actions**: first-class actions for spreadsheets, CSV, folders -- prefer these over UI automation of Office where possible.

## Error Handling

- Wrap fragile UI actions in **On block error** with retry counts and a fallback path.

- Set per-action timeouts; do not let a missing window hang the run.

- Capture a screenshot + log on failure for unattended diagnosis.

## Cloud Flow Integration

Desktop flows are invoked from a cloud flow via the **"Run a flow built with Power Automate for desktop"** action: the cloud flow passes inputs, the desktop flow runs on a machine/machine-group, and returns outputs. This is how RPA participates in an end-to-end automation (trigger in Dataverse/Teams -> cloud flow -> desktop flow -> result back).

## Anti-Patterns

- Choosing RPA when an API/connector exists -- accept brittleness only when unavoidable.

- Coordinate-based clicks / ordinal selectors -- break on resolution, theme, or layout change.

- Hardcoded credentials in the flow -- use the credential store / environment variables / Key Vault.

- No error handling on UI actions -- one moved button fails the whole unattended run silently.

- Long unattended runs with no logging/screenshots -- undebuggable failures.

## Related

- [power-automate-flow-json](../power-automate-flow-json/SKILL.md) -- the cloud flow that triggers the desktop flow

- [pac-cli](../pac-cli/SKILL.md) -- environment + connection management