Set up UI flows

  • 5 minutes to read

[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change.]

Note

Microsoft Flow is now Power Automate. For more information, see this blog.

This content will be updated to reflect the branding change in the coming days.

Important

The UI flows feature is currently rolling out across regions. If you don't see the feature in your environment, can't create UI flows, or get an error when you try to run it within a flow, please retry later.

Before you can use your device to create UI flows, you'll need to ensure it meets the requirements outlined here.

Tip

Before you create a UI flow, check the list of connectors to see if the application you want to automate already has a connector. If it does, consider creating a flow instead of a UI flow. You might also build your own connector.

Prerequisites

  • Either a paid or trial Power Automate plan.

  • A work or school account to sign into your Windows device with administrator privileges and Power Automate.

  • A device that runs Windows 10 Pro, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019.

  • The Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser.

  • An environment with a Common Data Service database.

  • A supported keyboard attached.

Limitations

You must have the latest versions of each components to record, test, or run UI flows.

The following are not supported:

  • Windows 10 Home installations are not supported.

  • Desktop UI Flows

    • Multiple monitors
    • Double click, mouse hover, touch/pen input
    • Interactions on Windows (File explorer, startup menu, task bar, etc.)

  • Web UI Flows

    • Right click
    • User session information (e.g.: cookies) will not be reused during playback. You will have to edit the script to embed sign in information when required by websites.

You'll find feature-specific limitations included in the documentation for each feature.

Install UI flows on your device

The UI flows installer contains all the components needed to record, edit, and test UI flows for desktop.

Important

The UI flows installer installs the Webdriver component and the UI flows browser extension. Both of these are needed to record, test, and run UI flows for desktop.

Follow these steps to install the UI flows app:

  1. Download the UI flows installer.
  2. Open the Setup.Microsoft.Flow.UIflow.exe file. This file is likely in your Downloads folder after you downloaded it in the previous step.
  3. Follow the instructions in the UI flows (preview) setup installer to complete the installation.

Set data collection options

During installation, you can change the default settings if you do not want to send usage data to Microsoft. To do so, uncheck Allow Microsoft to collect usage data to improve UI flows.

Image showing the data collection options

Warning

You must uninstall the UI flows app, and then reinstall it if you need to change the data collection settings. UI flows will no longer work if you change the data collection settings without uninstalling the UI flows app first.

Activate the UI flows browser extension

Once the UI flows installer completes, you will be prompted by your browser to activate the extension.

  • On Microsoft Edge, select each warning icon in the top right of the browser, and then select Enable extension.
  • On Google Chrome, select Enable extension when prompted.

Tip

If you did not see the prompt in your browser, please check the following:

  • You must use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
  • You may have to manually enable the extension. For Microsoft Edge, navigate to edge://extensions or for Google Chrome, navigate to chrome://extensions.
  • If Power Automate's UI flows extension does not appear, you can reinstall it with the UI flows installer.

Install Selenium IDE to automate Web applications

The Selenium IDE is an open source tool that lets you record and playback human interactions on Websites.

With UI flows, you can run Selenium IDE scripts from Power Automate and keep them stored securely (with appropriate IT governance) in Common Data Service.

Follow these steps to install Selenium IDE:

  1. Download and install the Selenium IDE for the next version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

  2. On Microsoft Edge, select Allow extensions from other stores, and then select Add to Chrome.

Install the on-premises data gateway

You will need the gateway to trigger your UI flow from an event, schedule, or button flow. on a remote device.

Tip

The gateway isn't required if you only want to create, edit, and test your UI flows on your device.

Install the on-premises data gateway, if you need it.

Setup UI flows connections and machine credentials

  1. Sign into Power Automate.

  2. Expand Data on the left side of the screen.

  3. Select Connections.

    A screenshot of the connections tab

  4. Select New connection.

    A screenshot of a connection

  5. Search for UI flow, and then select **UI flows (preview).

    A screenshot of the search box

  6. Provide the gateway information and device credentials for each gateway:

    • Domain and Username: Provide your device account. You can use a local account by using the name of the user (for example, “MACHINENAME\User” or “local\User”), or an Active Directory account such as “DOMAIN\User”.

    • Password: Your account’s password.

    • Choose a gateway: Select one of the gateways you want to configure.

      A screenshot that shows where to enter the credentials for the connection

  7. Select Create.

Supported keyboard layouts

  • US keyboard – English (United States)
  • US keyboard – English (Australia)
  • US keyboard – English (Canada)
  • Microsoft Pinyin – Chinese (Simplified Han, China)
  • German keyboard – German (Germany)
  • Microsoft IME – Japanese (Japan)
  • United Kingdom keyboard – English (United Kingdom)
  • French keyboard – French (France)
  • Russian keyboard – Russian (Russia)
  • Portuguese (Brazilian ABNT) keyboard – Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Portuguese (Brazilian ABNT2) keyboard – Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Microsoft IME – Korean (South Korea)
  • Spanish keyboard – Spanish (Spain)
  • Italian keyboard – Italian (Italy)
  • Latin American keyboard – Spanish (Mexico)
  • Polish (Programmers) keyboard – Polish (Poland)
  • United States-International keyboard – Dutch (Netherlands)
  • Turkish Q keyboard – Turkish (Turkey)
  • India keyboard – English (India)

Supported languages

Here are the languages that UI flows supports, in additional to English:
Basque French Latvian Slovak
Bulgarian Galician Lithuanian Slovenian
Catalan German Malay Spanish
Chinese (Simplified) Greek Norwegian Swedish
Chinese (Traditional) Hindi Polish Thai
Croatian Hungarian Portuguese (Brazil) Turkish
Czech Indonesian Portuguese (Portugal) Ukrainian
Danish Italian Romanian Vietnamese
Dutch Japanese Russian
Estonian Kazakh Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)
Finnish Korean Serbian (Latin, Serbia)

Uninstall UI flows

  1. Open the start menu > Settings > Apps.
  2. Search for UI flows (preview), and then select it.
  3. Select Uninstall.

Learn more