Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Like (1) Share

Report

Posted on 16 Oct 2020 16:10:28 by Serg24

Hi all,

I'm automating SAP application and in order to be 100% sure that my automation clicks on the correct element, I want to use SAP shortcuts (for instance, "Shift+F5" and so on). Could someone help me to understand how I can make Power Automate desktop understand them? If some specific syntax is used, I would appreciate if you share the link to the whole list (including Ctrl, Alt, and so on) and provide and example for Shift+F5 combination (because often I need to combine more that 1 shortcut).

I thought about using an Action "Send keys" but, as I understood it receives a string input, meaning when typing Shift I would not pass a Shift button, but 5 keys. "S", "h", "i", "f" and "t".

Thank you!

All responses (12)

Answers (1)

Sidhant_22 20 on 14 Jul 2025 at 09:17:11

Like (0)

Report

Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Hi,
So I was able to find a solution to my comment which I had posted few days back. So to open the File menu pane, what I did was instead of combining the command as one single command like: {Alt}({F})({Enter}) within one 'Send Keys' action, I used two keys action: wherein I divided into 2 parts (i.e. used Send keys action)
Send Keys (Action-1): {Alt:1}({F}) <- This highlighted the File section
Send Keys (Action-2): {Enter} <- To open the File menu

Regards,
Sidhant.
Sidhant_22 20 on 11 Jul 2025 at 09:54:08

Like (0)

Report

Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Hi,
Stumbled upon this post as I was looking for passing a combination of key strokes to be passed in Power Automate Desktop: which was Alt+F+Enter. So as per the replies that I went through the syntax was : {Key}({Char/Key})
So I followed the same route: {Alt}({F})({Enter}) in the 'Send Keys' action, Ideally this should have work but id did not. The thing is I am trying to save a PBIP to PBIX file (and the saving process is what I am trying to automate) so currently I am using 'Click UI element window' which clicks on the 'File' option (this seems to work but in some cases it starts failing),

so I got to know to open the file menu we can also make use of Keyboard shortcuts
(the above click UI element failed for one of the Power Bi Project file which looked like)

So I tried this first (Alt+F): It selects the File menu like:

And then when press Enter: It opens the File Menu like:

So then I used the Send keys action:

But that did not work, can someone tell what did I miss.
adijain if you can also check and let me know that will be helpful, since your response was accepted.

Regards,
Sidhant.
av00 31 on 17 Sep 2022 at 11:10:44

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Thanks
Pmorg73 95 on 30 Jun 2022 at 01:12:34

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Hi. Just stumbled back on this thread and I have a situation where I can not get it to work. The process I am automating is to open a Power BI report, then hit Control P to print. There is no UI Element for this so need to use the keyboard send keys

Has anyone every tried to Control P in a software? It is just not doing it
{Control}{(P)}
Has told me there was no active application. I then tried to capture the window in the flow step, but it does not seem to work.

Any advice?
JasonM72 26 on 19 Jan 2022 at 16:43:32

Like (1)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Max, I had the same issue and did two things. Ensure Send text as hardware keys is active. And you need to use this as the text to send - Double nesting from the left one step at a time. {Control}({Alt}({F5}))UICode for UI Text
Community Power Pla... on 24 Nov 2021 at 08:42:04

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

I will show you an example, maybe this will help
{F}{End}{Up:4}{Enter}{Right}{Home}{Down:7}{Enter}
See bold above for how to send the same key multiple times
maximed 11 on 10 Nov 2021 at 10:17:58

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Hello,

In Excel I would like to apply the key combination Crtl Alt F5 to update data from source file
I can't do it.

I try : {Control}({Alt}{F5})
Does anyone have a solution?

Thank
Max
rsparks 241 on 21 Apr 2021 at 00:22:58

Like (1)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

@Serg24 I am trying to send 9x {Control}({Next}) in a row to an Excel spreadsheet that has just been opened via automation. This is to navigate through Excel sheet tabs, as I can't figure out how to do so otherwise.

I am unable to get the keystrokes sent to the Excel spreadsheet however. How can I direct the keystrokes to the correct window? I can easily send text to certain cells in the spreadsheet, but apparently that action is not enough to designate the spreadsheet as the active window.

EDIT: I figured it out, I used "Set Active Excel Worksheet" to designate the correct sheet tab.
Serg24 29 on 01 Apr 2021 at 08:39:33

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Hi @Pmorg73 ,

I've just tested Ctrl+H combination and it works fine. It seems that you forgot to add curve brackets around H, so your expression should be: {Control}({H}), where {Control} and {H} are keys you want to pass and () around {H} is used for passing 2 different keys simultaneously.

To work with UI elements, that are not created at the moment of a flow start, I suggest you to use variables in path definition. It should give you a new UI element that you can use later on.
Pmorg73 95 on 30 Mar 2021 at 23:44:23

Like (0)

Report

Re: Passing keyboard shortcuts to Power Automate desktop

Thanks for this answer. I am struggling with using MS Word. I want to find and replace my text in a file. So the keyboard shortcut is Control+H
I entered a Send Keys of {Control}(H)

It does not seem to work. I am generally finding word hard to work with. Id tried it with UI elements, but when you create a new file it seems to forget what the UI is. For example Save,or New just fail in new docs. Is keyboard shortcuts the way to go, and what am I doing wrong in my example above?