Category: Power Automate

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 17th of the new functionality in the Cloud Flows section is use workflows on calendar events in Teams and Outlook.

You can boost productivity with calendar-related templates to get ideas for scenarios you might be interested in.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Aug 2024

Feature Details

This feature allows you to create flows on existing and new calendar events. For example, you can configure a flow that is triggered to run at the start or end of a meeting.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 1st of the new functionality in the AI Flows section is use generative AI to achieve a process in AI flows.

AI flows use generative AI reason over unstructured content and determine what steps and sequence are needed to achieve a process outcome based on instructions and parameters provided by you in natural language.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Aug 2024
General Availability: Feb 2025

Feature Details

Instead of building out complex rules-based processes from beginning to end, you work with AI to create an automation plan. When you execute the plan, the LLM considers all the resources available to it and dynamically selects the most appropriate actions to achieve the desired outcome.

Building an AI flow is a fundamentally different user experience than building a rules-based cloud flow or desktop flow. It involves the following steps:

1. Describe the objective of your process in natural language, and let AI develop an automation plan to achieve it.
2. Refine the automation plan generated by the LLM and adjust inputs, outputs, and variables as needed. Add reference sources and guidelines in natural language that influence the LLM as it executes the flow.
3. Validate the flow by reviewing how the AI flow is achieving the business objective prior to moving the flow into production.
4. Review production run history, analytics, and individual flow run details to ensure your process is performing to expectations.

The ability of AI flows to easily incorporate both structured and unstructured data makes it flexible as information resources are updated. Its reasoning abilities make AI flows uniquely beneficial in the building and maintenance of complex process flows to handle conditions, exception management, and process loops.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 16th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is automation center to monitor and manage all your automations and related assets.

The automation center provides comprehensive automation monitoring experiences across Power Automate flows, infused with the power of AI and Copilot.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: May 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

The automation center offers a comprehensive automation monitoring experience that is infused with the power of AI. It provides in-depth monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities for both experienced makers and citizen developers, as well as members of Center of Excellence (CoE).

With top-level automation monitoring, you can gain an end-to-end view of your automation status. The dedicated work queue monitoring area allow you to closely track SLA attainment, average processing time, and work queue throughput.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 15th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use customer-managed encryption key for Hosted RPA.

This feature provides greater data privacy and data protection when using Power Automate.

Enabled for: Users by admins, makers, or analysts
Public Preview: Jun 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

Customers can use their own encryption keys, which gives them full and transparent control and management of their encryption keys that reside in their Azure Key Vault, for use to provide storage-level encryption for virtual machines that are part of Power Automate Hosted RPA offering.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 14th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is create a reusable collection of UI elements.

UI elements are now designed for central maintenance and can be distributed among various desktop flows, as well as among different users or teams. This centralization of UI element collections enhances management, allows for greater reusability, and ensures the dependability of UI elements tailored to specific applications within desktop flows.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Apr 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Jul 2024

Feature Details

Previously, UI elements were isolated to individual desktop flows. This may have required you to duplicate the same UI element for multiple flows. Now, collections of UI elements empower creators and administrators with centralized oversight and control. These collections of UI elements can be shared among numerous users and integrated into various desktop flows as reusable modules. Consequently, should an application undergo an update, a one-time adjustment to the UI elements collection is all that’s required. This single update ensures all desktop flows linked to this collection within the same environment will automatically reflect the changes.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 13th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use machine to credential mapping in desktop flow connections.

In many organizations, each machine must have a unique user session. This implies that they cannot use machine group. List of credentials will allow them to use unique credential for each of their machines. For organizations who want to use automations executed on agent machines, there’s no option to define a mapping between machine(s) and agent(s). List of credentials will allow to start an attended automation to the machine of the right agent.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Jul 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

Allow customers to define lists of credentials and use them in the desktop flow connections. These lists will also allow customers to define which machine(s) can use these credentials. These lists can be used as login credentials in the desktop flow connections and will benefit from the same credential management feature, such as:

• Encryption and data protection
• Password rotation with Azure Key Vault or CyberArk
• Application lifecycle management

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 12th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use Python v3 in Power Automate for desktop.

Python v3 support in Power Automate for desktop allows desktop flows to execute Python scripts created in version 3.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Apr 2024

Feature Details

Power Automate for desktop now supports Python scripts created using version 3 of Python in addition to the already supported Python version 2. You can now invoke desktop flows Python scripts created using Python v3 using the Run Python script action.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 11th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is use the Run Power Fx expression.

Makers can use the Run Power Fx expression to directly perform data transformations on the desired data sources (such as data tables, lists, variables).

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: –
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

With the Run Power Fx expression, makers can perform Power Fx expressions directly on data. For example, use functions, such as Collect(), ClearCollect() to emulate the functionality of the Add to list and Update list actions.

This action is only available for Power Fx enabled desktop flows (currently in preview).

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 10th of the new functionality in the Desktop Flows section is self-heal UI and browser automation actions at execution with AI.

This feature is for Power Automate for desktop users that automate UI and web interaction scenarios. It improves success rates and handles cases where UI elements can’t be found.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Jun 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: Sep 2024

Feature Details

Once enabled by users, the feature uses AI to locate elements in the screen at the execution time. The repaired selector is used in future executions. Plus, it’s optional and can be disabled if you prefer.

• Self-healing refers to the case that a UI element cannot be found at the execution time.
• Self-healing can be applied only for UI and web automation scenarios, and subsequently for Desktop and web UI elements.
• With self-healing, Power Automate for desktop can locate a UI element in the screen.
• When UI element and its selector are retrieved, a confirmation is required by the user in order the flow to be healed and saved.
• This feature can be disabled by the user.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Power Automate 2024 Wave 1.

The 10th of the new functionality in the Copilot for Power Automate section is leverage desktop automation with the Power Automate Plugin for Windows Copilot.

As a user, you’re always looking for ways to streamline your workflows and make everyday tasks easier. The Power Automate Plugin for Windows Copilot is here to assist. This tool is designed for users who handle repetitive desktop tasks, especially those who work with Excel, PDF, and file operations. You’ll enjoy the newfound ability to leverage AI-powered automation right on your desktop, cutting down on time spent on routine tasks and boosting your productivity.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Apr 2024
Early Access: –
General Availability: –

Feature Details

The Power Automate Plugin for Windows Copilot is an AI-powered virtual assistant that introduces the ability to easily automate desktop tasks. This feature integrates popular Power Automate for desktop actions, such as Excel operations, PDF manipulations, and general file operations, right into the Windows Copilot interface. This allows you to automate routine tasks, increasing efficiency and freeing up time for more important tasks.

As we continuously improve this feature, you can look forward to more automation options in the future. The plugin is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easier than ever to get started with desktop automation.

Geographic areas

This feature will be released into the following Microsoft Azure geographic areas:

• Singapore
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
• Asia Pacific
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• South America
• Canada
• India
• Japan
• Korea