Power Automate

Power Automate desktop send file as output to a cloud flow

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by santoGD

Hi All,

Could anyone help to provide solution to pass file as output to a power automate flow from PAD.

Thanks in Advance

Santo

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

I have the same question (0)

All responses (7)

Answers (0)

CU31080729-3 500 Moderator on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi,
Can you elaborate your scenario.

(Note:- if you got your solution you can mark as solution and gives kudos)

Thanks & Regards
Chetan Ninghot

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Deenuji_Loganathan_ 6,250 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (1)

Report
@santoGD
Since you have not shared the complete use case, let me attempt to address it in a more generalized way:

Based on my understanding, it's not straightforward to directly pass a file as output to Power Automate cloud.
Here's why:
Power Automate Desktop (PAD) doesn't have a variable type specifically designated for files.
Even if you attempt to convert files to different formats like binary or base64, passing these binary or base64 data as strings or text to Power Automate cloud may result in the content being rejected.
Alternatives:
Write the file directly into SharePoint or OneDrive using PAD packages. Once you receive the file ID from either of these options, pass that information as text(output) to the cloud flow for further processing.
If you have files stored on your desktop, you can file path as output of your PAD flow to access them from Power Automate cloud through the data gateway options.
I hope this provides clarity.

In case if your require any further help on the above two approaches. Please let me know. Happy Automation.

Best regards,
Deenu

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
santoGD 58 on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks @Deenuji and @Chetan_Ninghot for the response.

My requirement was to connect to a web application and download some files using RPA and then upload to an ADLS Gen2 storage.I thought to pass the file to cloud flow from PAD and then connect to ADLS from cloud flow.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Deenuji_Loganathan_ 6,250 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report
@santoGD ,
There are two approaches you can consider:
Whenever you download files from your web application, you can store them in a local OneDrive folder where the data is automatically pushed into the cloud in the background. Then, simply share the file path with the cloud flow. You can use "ADLS" connectors to upload them.
Alternatively, you can directly utilize the ADLS WEB API from PAD's HTTP action to upload the files.
These are the two potential methods I foresee for your use case.

In case if your require any further help on the above two approaches. Please let me know. Happy Automation.

Best regards,
Deenu

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I have answered your question, please mark it as the preferred solution. If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up. Thank you.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
santoGD 58 on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks @Deenuji for the solution.

I have one more doubt.If I have a file of 200 MB or 500 MB, how I can transfer it.Because, when I tried 'Get file content' in Power Automate, it is showing the max Limit as 30 MB.

Thanks
Santo

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Deenuji_Loganathan_ 6,250 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report

@santoGD

Could you please clarify where its showing 30MB limit pls.

Please find the below GitHub link where they mentioned max limit size in TB size.
https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/azure-docs/issues/47313

Even though there is some limits in power automate cloud connectors, then i would recommend to create some app in azure portal then you can call Azure data lake API through HTTP Action and pass your 500MB data.

In case again if your facing any issue, please do power automate desktop web automation like
1. Open some browser
2. Head to azure portal
3. then go to Azure data lake portal
4. Finally upload your file as like human do.

Thanks,
Deenu

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

NickTT 236 on at

Like (0)

Report

Set an output variable to TEXT... call it FileBase64. Then use the "File To Base64" function to set the output variable "FileBase64". You can then use that in the Power Automate flow to convert back to file and attach or use as the file contents.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No