Introduction to other types of desktop flows

Important

This section covers topics to develop automations using legacy systems:

• Selenium IDE: If you are just starting your RPA automation project, we recommend that you use Power Automate for desktop instead.
• Windows recorder (V1): From November 30th, desktop flows will no longer be supported. Migrate your flows to Power Automate for desktop or delete them.

Read on if you already have automation built using Windows recorder (V1) and Selenium IDE.

You can jump right in:

• Create and test Windows recorder (V1) flows for desktop applications
• Create and test Selenium IDE flows for Web applications

Desktop flows or connectors?

With Power Automate, you can automate both modern applications with APIs, or legacy applications with incomplete or missing APIs. You can even combine legacy apps, modern apps, and manual processes in a single automation.

Application type	Feature	Benefits
Modern apps with APIs	Connectors	High reliability with software UI updates
Legacy apps (no APIs)	desktop flows	Easy to create. Works if no API is available.

You will find your desktop flows alongside automated, button, scheduled, and business process flows in My flows.

Next steps

• Learn how to set up desktop flows.
• Learn more about the different types of flows you can use to automate your workflows.