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Cannot send Alt+F2 command

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Posted on by MLaverick

Hi all,

I need to send Alt+F2 to an application. I am successfully focusing the window then I tried using the "Send Keys" node to send the command. I found this solution on the forum so have tried the following:

{Alt}{F2}
{LMenu}{F2}
{Alt}({F2})
{LMenu}({F2})
{F2}({Alt})
{F2}({LMenu})

None of which worked.

I have tried with a large delay on the "Send Keys" node and a 0 delay, and also sending as hardware keys.

I recorded my action and the macro recorder showed the combination as {LMenu}(){F2} which also didn't work.

I then tried using a combination of "Press/Release Key" to hold the Alt key and "Send Keys" to send the F2 command

PAD.Designer_5r9nAmm1y7.png

Each combination I have tried only seems to be sending the F2 command.

Other things I have tried:

Refocusing the window before sending the command
Forcing a release of the Alt key using "Press/Release Key"
Sending the command multiple times with delays

Unfortunately I'm also unable to rebind the key combination, so I've hit a bit of a road block.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Hey Matt,

You seem to be on the right track. A shame it's not working.

{Alt}({F2}) would be Hold Alt down while pressing F2
{Alt}(){F2} would be Press Alt, Then press F2

By default, "Send Text as hardware keys" should be off. I have never had to turn it on. But for the sake of troubleshooting have you tried both on and off?

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MLaverick 10 on at

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Hi Michael,

Thanks for the quick reply.
Yes I have tried with "Send Text as hardware keys" on and off.
The odd thing is, I have just tried it in a loop and it works once in a while, maybe every 15 tries. Doing it manually works every time so I don't think it's the application

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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That's so weird. Anything you can do to utilize that, such as set up the loop and before it attempts it again, say, If element exists, Exit Loop.

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MLaverick 10 on at

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Yes that's what I am doing currently. I check for an image to see if the UI has loaded then exit the loop. But with the time it takes to check for the image and with success being so infrequent, the task I'm trying to automate would take several hours

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LucianoGomesBR on at

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@MLaverick , I had the same issue sending keys to MS Excel.
I solved the issue adding Waits before and after the Send Keys.
I tried to remove one and other and now it is working fine.
I also tried to use a shorter and a longer "Delay between keystrokes", but adding the Waits solved the issue.

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MLaverick 10 on at

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Hi @LucianoGomesBR,
Thanks for the reply, unfortunately that didn't work either.
I have it working if I just loop the command over and over until the menu is recognised so will stick with this for now, but this makes me think that there might be a bug.
It works a lot quicker outside of the debug mode so it's mostly fine.

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Benny_1857 124 on at

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Would try F12 instead of Alt F2?

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Benny_1857 124 on at

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There might be several solutions for Save As.
1. Press Alt then F2;
2. Press F12;
3. Save As;
4. Close Save As
So I guess whether the problem is not in the key you press but the window where you are.

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MLaverick 10 on at

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Hi @Benny_1857,
It's actually a shortcut to open an NVidia tool, "Ansel" for taking 360 screenshots.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Matt

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