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Best Practices for Desktop Automation

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Posted on by AS-02061918-0

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Hi Everyone,

I am venturing into Power Automate desktop, which will include automating downloads from a website which will involve signing in, selecting a few different submenus, then downloading a file and moving it from downloads in a specific folder. Are there any best practices or materials I can refer too?

Thank You!

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Power Automate Desktop

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Riyaz_riz11 3,844 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi,

Step 1: Launch Browser and Navigate to Website

Action: Launch new Chrome/Edge/Firefox instance

URL: your target website

Action: Populate text field on web page

Fill in username/password fields.

Action: Press button on web page

Sign in to the site.

Step 2: Navigate Through Submenus

Use Click link on web page or Click UI element in window to navigate through menus.

Use Wait for web page content or Delay between actions to ensure elements are loaded.

Step 3: Download the File

Locate the download button or link.

Use Click link on web page to trigger the download.

Alternatively, use Invoke web service if you can get a direct download URL with credentials.

Set default browser download path beforehand or configure browser to ask where to save.

Step 4: Wait for Download to Finish

Use a loop like:

While File Does Not Exist

Use File Exists action to check if the expected file is in the Downloads folder.

Add Delay to wait for a few seconds in each loop.

Step 5: Move the Downloaded File

Action: Move file

From: Downloads

To: Desired folder

Optionally rename the file dynamically using date/time or metadata.

Best Practices

1. Secure Credentials

Use Windows Credential Manager or PAD's "Get Secure Credential" instead of hardcoding.

2. Use Reliable Waits

Prefer Wait for element to appear over static delays.

Always check if elements exist before clicking.

3. Organize File Downloads

Use timestamp-based folders or filenames to avoid overwriting.

Create subfolders using Create Folder dynamically.

4. Add Logging

Use Write to text file or Log message actions for troubleshooting.

5. Error Handling

Wrap critical actions in Try-Catch blocks.

Use On block error for retries or alternate flows.

Helpful Learning Resources

Microsoft Docs – Power Automate Desktop

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/

YouTube Channels

Reza Dorrani

Pragmatic Works

Anders Jensen (excellent for UI Automation

Forums

Power Automate Community: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/

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

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eetuRobo 4,204 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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To add to @Riyaz_riz11's post I would maybe check some tutorials from Anders Jensen or other PAD youtubers to see how they build such flows. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm7B_N2eSYY or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDclQ7MgVtY

Here is new learn.microsoft page about how to build Build readable and maintainable flow scripts: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/guidance/desktop-flow-coding-guidelines/build-readable-flow-scripts

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AS-02061918-0 36 on at

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Thank You!

Do you all have any knowledge of setting up unattended mode through entra id? I am having difficulty understanding the document.

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