Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi,

Is it possible to identify the color code from the excel data and filter by using those colour codes.

for ex: if its highlighted in yellow then I need to extract only yellow highlighted data from excel

Categories:

General topics

Hi @Shanmugapriya09 ,

To identify the color code from an Excel file using only Power Automate Desktop (PAD), you can try the following workaround, as there is no direct action to read cell colors in PAD:

Set Up Your Excel File: Ensure that your Excel file has a table with the color-coded cells you want to identify.
Launch Excel: Use the ‘Launch Excel’ action to open your Excel file.
Read Range: Use the ‘Read from Excel Worksheet’ action to read the data into a DataTable variable.
Use a Helper Column: In Excel, set up a helper column that uses a formula to return the color index of the adjacent cells. For example, you could use a formula like =CELL("color", A1) where A1 is the cell you want to check.
Read Helper Column: Use PAD to read the values from this helper column, which will give you the color index of each cell.
Filter Data: With the color indices, you can filter your data accordingly within PAD.

Remember, this method requires you to set up the helper column manually in Excel, as PAD cannot directly read the color of a cell. If you need to identify and work with cell colors frequently, consider using Excel’s built-in features like conditional formatting or VBA macros, which can be triggered from PAD using the ‘Run Excel Macro’ action.

For more complex tasks or automation, you might need to resort to scripting or using additional tools that can handle such operations directly. However, if you’re looking to stay within the capabilities of PAD, the above steps provide a feasible approach.