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How to preserve output variable data type

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Posted on by DABot

When I run a desktop flow that reads values from a range of cells from Excel, the variable produced is a data table data type. When I try to pass that variable as an output variable to another flow, it is automatically converted to text. How can I preserve the data table data type for output variables?

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Power Automate Desktop

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Pstork1 69,573 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Have you tried converting the table to JSON and then send the JSON to the other flow where it can then be Parsed?

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John_Mavridis Microsoft Employee on at

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Hello,

That's indeed a limitation for the time being, as Power Automate Desktop currently only supports text and sensitive text as input variables. Supporting more variable types like lists and data tables is in the mid-term roadmap of the product, and will probably take place over the coming months.

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Henrik_M 2,021 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

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Interesting info! What about variable types such as browser instances and even UI elements?

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DABot 11 on at

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My solution was to copy the desktop flow that reads the Excel range into the calling flow as a sub flow. I had to modify the input/output variables a bit, but this was a fairly simple solution that preserves the data table for that variable.

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yoko2020 495 on at

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@Henrik_M wrote:
Interesting info! What about variable types such as browser instances and even UI elements?
@Henrik_M
I think we need to wait. Let the developers do their work .
I remember you in ProcessRobot forum 😂.

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