Book Image

Democratizing RPA with Power Automate Desktop

By : Peter Krause
Book Image

Democratizing RPA with Power Automate Desktop

By: Peter Krause

Overview of this book

Whether you want to organize simple files or perform more complex consolidations between different Office programs and remote-control applications that don't allow outside access, Power Automate Desktop helps meet these challenges. This book shows you how to leverage this workflow automation platform by explaining the underlying RPA concepts in a step-by-step way. You’ll start with simple flows that can be easily recorded and further processed using the built-in recorder. Later, you’ll learn how to use the more advanced actions to automate folder and file management and enable Office programs to interact with each other. You’ll also get to grips with integrating desktop flows into other cloud environments and further enhance their value using AI. As you progress, you’ll understand how flows can run unattended and how they are managed in the Power Platform, as well as key concepts such as creating, modifying, debugging, and error-handling UI flows. Finally, the book will guide you to use Process Automation Designer (PAD) in conjunction with your frequently used desktop systems to automate routine tasks. By the end of this book, you’ll have become a Power Automate Desktop expert, automating both professional and personal tasks.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Using breakpoints

Breakpoints are a common concept in programming languages. A breakpoint is like a stop sign for the flow. It stops the execution and gives you a chance to inspect the content of variables or some other system. You can create a breakpoint through one of the menu options mentioned previously. The following screenshot shows a breakpoint in line 3:

Figure 3.6 – A breakpoint in the workspace

Figure 3.6 – A breakpoint in the workspace

When you run this flow, it will stop before the action with the breakpoint, meaning that this action has not yet been executed and the flow is paused. You can do one of the following actions:

  • Continue to run the flow by pressing the play button at the top or F5
  • Run only the next step by pressing the button to the left of the recorder button or F10
  • Stop the flow with the stop button or shift + F5

If the flow is stopped, all execution results of the actions before that breakpoint will be preserved. As seen in Figure 3.6, the...