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UI Automation is slow

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Posted on by seeligt

Hello together,

I'm new at PowerAutomate Desktop. We want to use UI-Automation. Mostly it works. But every UI-Action needs up to 2 minutes or longer. In online trainings it is only a few seconds.

What is the problem? How can i fix it?

Best regards

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Power Automate Desktop

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eetuRobo 4,579 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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What kind of program are you trying to automate? Is the program that you are trying to automate slow it self?
If you test the UI element does the test find it pretty quickly and with green check marks?

I suggest trying to modify the UI elements and see if you can make it faster with that. Sometimes using the Repair can work or you can modify them by yourself.

Also if you are running the flow in edit mode then try changing the Run delay to minimum (1ms)

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CU16071609-1 6,255 Moderator on at

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@seeligt
Hope you are doing!!
Would you kindly provide further information about your issues?
It would be appreciated if you could offer additional context. If feasible, please include a screenshot of your code and specify the online training example you are referencing.

This will enable forum members to offer more precise assistance.

Thanks,
Deenu

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seeligt 4 on at

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I have used for example the integrated example in Power Automate - Desktop Automation - Send Text to Editor.
I have tried this on Windows 10. Loading times about 2 minutes for the step "Textfeld in Fenster ausfüllen". On Windows 11 the job runs out up to hours and never come to an end at the same step or on the other way i receive directly an error message:

Korrelations-ID: 0b8d254e-6a95-42ac-8f3f-2fd57f7ca700
Die angeforderten Informationen sind nicht verfügbar, da der Prozess beendet wurde.: Microsoft.PowerPlatform.PowerAutomate.Desktop.Actions.SDK.ActionException: Das Hauptfensterhandle der Anwendung „notepad.exe” kann nicht abgerufen werden. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: Die angeforderten Informationen sind nicht verfügbar, da der Prozess beendet wurde.
bei System.Diagnostics.Process.EnsureState(State state)
bei System.Diagnostics.Process.get_MainWindowHandle()
bei Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.System.Actions.SystemActions.RunApplication(Variant exePath, Variant commandLineArguments, Variant workingDirectory, Variant& processId, Variant& windowHandle, Variant& exitCode, Int32 windowStyle, Int32 waitProcess, Boolean timeoutSet, Int32 timeoutSeconds)
--- Ende der internen Ausnahmestapelüberwachung ---
bei Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.System.Actions.RunApplicationBase.Execute(ActionContext context)
bei Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Robin.Engine.Execution.ActionRunner.Run(IActionStatement statement, Dictionary`2 inputArguments, Dictionary`2 outputArguments)

But the notepad is still running.
The notepad opens directly as you run the bot.

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eetuRobo 4,579 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Troubleshoot questions:
I assume the computer has minimum specs?

Minimum hardware:
Processor: 1.00 GHz or faster with two or more cores. For unattended mode, four or more cores are needed.
Storage: 1 GB
RAM: 2 GB
Recommended hardware:
Processor: 1.60 GHz or faster with two or more cores. For unattended mode, four or more cores are needed.
Storage: 2 GB
RAM: 4 GB
GPU acceleration
.NET Framework 4.7.2 or later
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/requirements

Do you run the flow from the cloud unattended or attended or directly from Power Automate Desktop? If you run in unattended then does the same problem happen if you run it in attended mode?
Can you check what the task manager says when you run the flow? Is the CPU or memory or disk running almost 100%? Is the computer slow in general or only when running the flows? Is it only that the UI actions takes 2minutes/goes to error?
Is you Power Automate Desktop updated?

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seeligt 4 on at

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I have stronger hardware than recommended. An i7 with 3 GHz and 32 GB RAM. The cpu usage at running is at 30 % the ram at 45 %.

I run the bot directly from the desktop client. It is up to date.

As i know so far it is only at the UI section. The other works fine.

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eetuRobo 4,579 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Can you show your UI element of that notepad? Like so:
And have to tried to use Test when the notepad is open? Does the Test find the UI element or does that also take long time or give error?
Do you only have one notepad open? If there are other notepads open Power Automate Desktop might get confused since it doesn't know which notepad to write on.

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CU16071609-1 6,255 Moderator on at

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@seeligt

If the problem is solely related to the notepad application, attempt terminating the process as outlined below to see if it solves the current slowness issue.

Could you please confirm if the reported slowness issue is specific to the notepad application?

Have you attempted any other automation tasks, such as opening Excel and entering values into cells or saving files, to determine if the issue extends beyond notepad?

Thanks,
Deenu

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Almaviva 6 on at

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I've got the same problem. This affects every UI element in different apps. Clicking on cells in e.g. Excel is no problem. Try to add an UI Element takes between 20-60 secs. Running the flow will causing a break at this point where the ui should be activated. The flow is still running, but there is no action anymore.

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Jacksonong2020 21 on at

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Hi, I have the same problem as well. I time each click, and every click I need to wait 50 seconds or more. So a simple process took 30 minutes to run. Because each click waits almost 50 Seconds. I cant figure how why is it so. I am clicking on an excel pivot table. Test done on the element is ok.

Any Idea to speed things up?
Thank you so much.

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Almaviva 6 on at

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Hey guys/girls,
I found a way to solve the problem for me.
In my case I was using Logitech G Hub, because I'm using a gaming mouse and keyboard. The G Software has a background UI check, which allows you to configure it, to have a different mouse/keyboard set up for every application. After turning off this software, power automate works like it should.

Maybe you've running the same, or other software in the background which permanentely checks active UIs.
Try to turn off all other software running in the background.

In my case debugging took around 15 Minutes to figure out what software it was 😉

Hope I could help you with this information.

Best,
Alma

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