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Get user browing history for current session ID

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Posted on by kky1

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Hello - I'm fairly new to Power Automate Desktop. Have used cloud service a good bit though so I'm open to any solutions someone can offer.

I've been asked to build a flow that could automatically detect a web URL in the user's browsing history to pass through as a variable to auto-populate a field in a web form. (Currently, the form is in MS forms but I could build in Power Apps if the capability exists.) Is there a way in Power Automate Desktop to capture this?

What I need to do is pull the various links in the history and then do a loop to look for any in the last # URLs with a specified prefix (e.g. https://xx.xxx.edu/)

The form is for users to report issues/incorrect data on web pages in the company, and the automation is to help the staff determine the pages that need attention. Currently, users are asked to paste in the URL, and web page staff are hoping the automation would cut down on human error with the URL link.

Thanks for any suggestions anyone might have.

@kky1

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Laish_Glenberg 20 on at

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This might not be the best method, but this is what I would do:

Use either the UI or browser automation functions to open the history tab, eg:
attach to browser
'press button on web page' to open up the user's history tab (have the flow click on the settings and then click the history option)
Once the history page is open use the 'populate text field' function to search for the specific web page you need the URL for (you might have to use the 'send keys' function to emulate pressing 'enter')
Once the needed URLs are displayed, you have a few options:
Use the 'extract data from web page or window' function (this is probably the best option)
Use the OCR function
Use send keys to copy all the text
Assuming you use the extract text function, all the text will be stored in a list variable:
Use a for loop to search through each URL
Within the loop use the subtext function to find specific prefixes and store them into another list variable
Have the flow copy the variable to your clipboard
After that it is up to you, personally I would have the flow use the 'run macro' function to paste the data into an Excel sheet and then you can paste it into MS forms or Power Apps.

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momlo 1,527 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Chrome?

Two ideas:

1. Custom extension
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/history/

If you guys have capabilities you could create extension that would get history and push to PA or other place accepting calls.

2. Read history from local file system
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2562092/how-to-access-google-chrome-browser-history-programmatically-on-local-machine

If not - I guess no other option than what @Laish_Glenberg suggested - automate browser.

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VJR 7,635 on at

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Haven't used them but a routine web search gave these results.

Export Chrome History with Powershell - Stack Overflow

Script to fetch browsing history on Windows 10 devices - Hexnode Help Center

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kky1 550 on at

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Thank you @VJR @momlo @Laish_Glenberg - these are all amazing suggestions and good places to get started. I'm attempting the solution provided by @Laish_Glenberg because it is more aligned with my skillset, but I can see looking at the other replies using Powershell or the Chrome extension that they would also work - just more of a learning curve for me. Thank you all!!

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