web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content

Announcements

News and Announcements icon
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Can't control folder w...
Power Automate
Answered

Can't control folder whichfile gets downloaded to.

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by 431

In my flow, I launch a PDF viewer popup. To download the pdf I use sendkeys to select the download icon. This launches the windows dialog box in some  folder that I don't want to download to and the PDF downloads. I can't control which folder it gets downloaded to. It seems to be a folder that I have used recently but not as part of this flow. I want the download to go to the downloads folder. How can I control the destination? The default downloads folder for Chrome is Downloads.

I have the same question (0)
  • eetuRobo Profile Picture
    4,579 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Try making the flow write the folder path where you want it to get downloaded to the "File name" field.
    For example: Docments/pdfFolder/nameOfMyPdf.pdf

    eetuRobo_0-1695103290390.png

     

  • Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    As @eetuRobo mentioned, you can use Populate text field in window to send the full path of the folder and the file name to the file name field in the Save As dialog. 

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

    I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

  • Steve48 Profile Picture
    431 on at

    I added Populate Text Feld In window before the action where I did send keys. I got an error that it couldn't find the UI element. See screen shots. Also see screenshots of the selector which I got by adding a UI element. I tested the selector and it failed. I don't know how to determine what a better selector would be.  Next I clicked the download icon in the popup manually and downloaded to downloads manually. After that and after I delete the Populate Text Feld In window action, the flow runs and downloads to Downloads. Not sure what is happening but flow is running at the moment.

     

    File Name Selector.png
    Flow snippet.png
  • Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    You probably need to modify the parent window element of this, because it will usually have the page title in the name of the window. Remove that and it should work.

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

    I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

  • Steve48 Profile Picture
    431 on at

    @Agnius In trying to implement your suggestion I got a bit confused. When I tried to reselect the UI Element> the File Name Edit Box I realized that I had to target a specific window first. I wasn't sure which window to target because this dialog box isn't in a web page and I don't know which web page to select before I try to capture the UI element

  • Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    It doesn't matter which web page you are on, if you modify the parent window selector to not use the name parameter, which will by default include the page title. If you disable the name parameter, the same UI element will work with any web page.

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

    I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

  • Steve48 Profile Picture
    431 on at

    Hi @Agnius I am not sure what you mean by "modify the parent window selector".

    Shown below is the selector dialog for the Edit File Box. Is this the place where I am supposed to make the modification? I was not sure what to modify. 

    Steve48_0-1695246251977.png

     

  • Nived_Nambiar Profile Picture
    18,138 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

    Hi @Steve48 

     

    Could you click on Open Screen Selector option in the above window and see whether there is any attribute which is varying ?

     

    Nived_Nambiar_0-1695264633372.png

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Nived N 🚀

    LinkedIn: Nived N's LinkedIn
    YouTube: Nived N's YouTube Channel

    🔍 Found my answer helpful? Please consider marking it as the solution!
    Your appreciation keeps me motivated. Thank you! 🙌

  • Verified answer
    Agnius Bartninkas Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on at

    Every UI element in PAD has a parent element. They will usually contain some window parameters that tell PAD in which exact window to look for the specific UI element.

     

    You can find it in the controls repository (they are usually shown bold above the specific element you are using) or via the "Open screen selector" button as mentioned by @Nived_Nambiar .

     

    Open it and make sure that the window/screen selector does not contain the window title. For browser windows, the title will usually contain the page title, too, which may prevent it from working dynamically for you.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

     

    I also provide paid consultancy and development services using Power Automate. If you're interested, DM me and we can discuss it.

  • Steve48 Profile Picture
    431 on at

    Hi @Agnius and @Nived_Nambiar 

    I eliminated the Name from the screen selector and then tested the selector and it worked. Thank you both for your help. This is something that wasn't obvious to me and I didn't see it mentioned in my usual youtube sources. Is it mentioned anywhere. I had a tough time deciding which to choose as the solution but I went with Agnius. Hope that is Ok Nived. 

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Season of Sharing Community Challenge Winners!

Congratulations to our community stars!

Kudos to our 2025 Community Spotlight Honorees

Expanding mentorship, skilling, and AI innovation

Congratulations to the June Top 10 Community Leaders!

These are the community rock stars!

Leaderboard > Power Automate

#1
David_MA Profile Picture

David_MA 267 Super User 2026 Season 1

#2
11manish Profile Picture

11manish 196

#3
Haque Profile Picture

Haque 182

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard