Can't set the Ordinal of a UI element to a variable

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Posted on by ZB-11101139-0

Hey guys,

I'm automating a process in SAP and want to populate a table by using a counter variable and going through each box by increasing the ordinal.

Thus, I'm trying to set the ordinal of an object to the counter variable. However, when I click save, the value disappears from the ordinal attribute. I can set up a variable on every other attribute. It only does this behavior on Ordinal.

After I click save and go back to the object, it's empty every time.

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Power Automate Desktop

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eetuRobo 4,401 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Try to toggle "Text editor" On and put the variable in the right place and save the selector and try then.

There has been a long lasting bug in Power Automate Desktop that variables don't work in Selector editor especially when using number type variables.

Example of a thread that discussed it: https://community.powerplatform.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=36c22603-b09a-4e7d-a145-0ede0855eae2

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ZB-11101139-0 4 on at

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I've already tried :eq(%variable_name%) in the text editor, but didn't work. It just defaults back to empty.

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eetuRobo 4,401 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Just to make sure did you press Save when the Text editor was on? Make sure you keep the Text editor toggled ON and don't switch it back. Then at least for me the Ordinal has variable kept and it works when I run the flow.

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ChrisS81 134 on at

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I'm having this same exact issue. Were you able to find a solution?

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eetuRobo 4,401 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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@ChrisS81 Can you confirm that you changed the UI element Selector to be in Text mode and Saved it like that (Text mode toggled ON)?

Power Automate Desktop has had this long lasting bug that if you try to use variable to elements attribute that is taking in only numeric value it will not store that (even if the variable stores numeric value) when Text editor is toggled OFF. But if you simply Toggle it ON and insert the value in the eq() then it will work.

You can see this bug demonstrated when you don't have Text editor ON and insert the variable into Ordinal. Preview Selector will not update it into the eq():

But if you add variable to text attribute like Title then preview selector shows that:

Add number to the Ordinal then it will update. But if you add text or a varialbe then it will not update and there for not store the variable in that Ordinal value field

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