Power Automate
Originally released as Microsoft Flow in October 2016, Power Automate Desktop is a local version of Power Automate that helps with repetitive tasks of tasks and programs on your computer. Part of the Windows Accessories, Power Automate is a cloud-based service available online with access to services such as social networks and process mining. For example, if you make YouTube videos, you could create an automated flow that creates a post on your social networks any time you release new content.
It's important to realize that Power Automate and Power Automate Desktop are different services with different capabilities. If you're new to Power Automate, we recommend starting with the online version, which includes several pre-made templates, unless you're primarily interested in automating local tasks.
Power Automate is sometimes abbreviated as PA, and Power Automate Desktop is sometimes abbreviated as PAD.
For those who've used the service IFTTT (if this then that), the cloud version of Power Automate is quite similar. In both versions of Power Automate, you can create a new task called a "flow" with no programming knowledge. For example, you'd perform the following steps to create an automated cloud flow:
- Click the Create button.
- Click the Automated cloud flow button to create an automated task that launches on its own when triggered.
- Name the flow and select a trigger, like receiving a new e-mail or when a new file is created on OneDrive.
- After selecting a trigger, you'll be asked to choose an operation, which can be varied and include conditional operations. For example, you could make a conditional operation that if an e-mail contains specific text, you're sent a notification on your phone. Other new e-mails are ignored.
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