UI Flows in Power Automate enable users to automate repetitive tasks by mimicking manual user actions such as clicking, typing, and navigating through applications. This is particularly useful for applications that don’t have APIs or when working with legacy systems.
This guide covers:
✔ What UI Flows are and how they work.
✔ How to set up and configure UI Flows.
✔ Best practices for UI automation.
1. What are UI Flows?
UI Flows are a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) feature in Power Automate that helps automate manual tasks in both web and desktop applications.
Types of UI Flows:
Desktop UI Flows – Automate actions in Windows-based apps.
Web UI Flows – Automate browser-based tasks in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
Common Use Cases:
🔹 Data entry automation – Fill forms in a legacy system.
🔹 Automating report generation – Extract and process data from applications.
🔹 ERP and CRM automation – Perform repetitive tasks in enterprise applications.
🔹 File and document processing – Rename, move, and manage files automatically.
2. Setting Up UI Flows
Prerequisites
✔ Power Automate Desktop installed.
✔ Windows 10 or later.
✔ Browser extension (for web UI Flows).
Step 1: Create a UI Flow
1️⃣ Open Power Automate and go to My Flows.
2️⃣ Click New Flow → Select UI Flow.
3️⃣ Choose Desktop app or Web app based on what you want to automate.
Step 2: Record User Actions
For Desktop UI Flows:
- Click Record actions and perform the steps manually (e.g., open an app, enter data, click buttons).
- Power Automate captures these actions for automation.
For Web UI Flows:
- Install the Power Automate browser extension.
- Select Record a web session and complete the steps in a browser.
- The UI Flow will track the interactions for automation.
Step 3: Configure Input and Output Variables
- Input variables allow users to enter data dynamically (e.g., usernames, search terms).
- Output variables capture results for further processing.
Step 4: Add UI Flow to a Cloud Flow
Once your UI Flow is recorded, integrate it into a Power Automate Cloud Flow to trigger it from SharePoint, Power Apps, or Teams.
3. Running and Managing UI Flows
Triggering UI Flows
UI Flows can be triggered by:
✔ A scheduled cloud flow.
✔ A Power Apps button.
✔ A change in SharePoint, Dataverse, or SQL.
Monitoring and Debugging
- Use the Run history to check execution logs.
- Implement error handling for failed UI actions.
4. Best Practices for UI Flows
Use stable UI elements – Avoid automating elements that frequently change.
Implement error handling – Use Try-Catch blocks to manage failures.
Optimize performance – Minimize UI interactions and unnecessary steps.
Use selectors instead of coordinates – This ensures UI Flows remain stable even if the screen resolution changes.
Keep applications in a predictable state before running the UI Flow.