When you capture a VM image, you can reuse the custom VM image to provision other hosted machines or hosted machine groups. The capture process:

• Snapshot: Captures the VM's disk at a specific point in time.
• Generalization: Removes machine and user-specific information from the VM for reuse.
• Storage in your Azure Compute Gallery: Stores the VM image so Power Automate services can use it.

Power Automate for desktop now lets you assign custom names to actions directly in the flow designer. When you add an action to the designer panel, you can rename the action to something meaningful and descriptive. The custom names appear in runtime logs in the Power Automate portal, so you can more easily trace, monitor, and troubleshoot specific steps in flows. This enhancement promotes best practices in flow design, improves legibility, and benefits complex workflows or collaborative environments where naming consistency is critical.

Step over and step out give you more control when debugging desktop flows in Power Automate for Desktop. Step over lets you skip subflows without entering them, so you can focus on the main logic. Step out lets you exit a subflow and return to the parent flow, which is helpful when reviewing nested logic or skipping known sections. You’ll see new icons and tooltips for both actions in the debugger toolbar during a paused run.

This feature is off by default. To turn it on, go to the Tools menu in the designer and enable it. Then, start debugging a flow. The step over and step out buttons appear in the debugger toolbar, and hovering over each shows a tooltip with a short description.

You can now create subflows as public or private in Power Automate for desktop. When you create a private subflow, any variable you add is local to that subflow and you can't access it from outside the subflow. With private subflows, you can set up input and output variables.

The Run subflow action shows input variables as fields for arguments and displays output variables for private subflows. In the variables pane, you can see which variables belong to a subflow and which variables are global. Use filters to quickly find variables.

Power Automate for desktop now supports templates. With these templates, you can start automation projects faster by using prebuilt flow structures that follow best practices.

Choose from several built-in templates, including:

• Generic business process
• Basic exception handling with try/catch logic
• Work queue item producer and consumer templates
• Generic logging frameworks

You can access templates directly from the Power Automate for desktop console. When you create a new flow, you can start from scratch or use a template. You can also import templates into existing flows from within the designer.

Organizations can create custom templates and distribute them centrally. This approach helps align with internal standards, speeds up development, and improves quality.

Power Automate for desktop now lets you automate browsers without requiring an extension. The Launch browser actions include a new option to choose between extension-based automation and direct browser control. Direct browser control uses native browser drivers for interactions.

An advanced failover setting adds reliability by automatically switching to the next available method if the default method fails at runtime. For example, the setting enables failover from direct control to extension.

This update simplifies deployment, improves automation speed, and reduces points of failure for both individual makers and enterprise IT teams.

Copilot in Power Automate for desktop offers an interface that simplifies the automation creation process. With natural language and Power Fx syntax capabilities, you can create desktop flows by providing instructions in natural English or using Power Fx syntax. This capability eliminates the need for algorithmic or pseudocode knowledge. With Copilot, you can easily generate automations, saving valuable time and resources.

Endpoint filtering in Power Automate for desktop adds control and security to your automation tasks. As an admin, use the existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) feature in Power Automate to apply endpoint filtering. Create an allowlist of applications and websites that your automation scripts can interact with, or create a blocklist of applications and websites to restrict.

This feature targets UI and browser automation actions, so your automation follows your organization's policies. Power Automate for desktop checks endpoint filtering the same way it verifies DLP policies. Use endpoint filtering to tightly manage which endpoints are accessible, so you enhance the precision and security of your automation workflows.

Work queues in Power Automate play an important role in improving the efficiency, scalability, and resiliency of automation. Work queues help you prioritize work.

You can configure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for work queues with the following settings:

• Type of SLA
  • Time to live (TTL)
  • Business hours
• SLA engine
  • Prioritize work queue items closest to the SLA deadline.
  • Identify work queue items at risk.
  • Monitor the state of SLAs for work queues.

Copilot in Power Automate for desktop now supports contextual memory, so you can build flows by referencing previously provided prompts. This feature eliminates repetitive input and makes automation creation more intuitive and efficient.

Key features and benefits:

• Contextual Understanding: Copilot retains details from earlier prompts, such as file paths, parameters, or objects, for seamless reuse.
• Efficiency: Simplifies complex workflows by removing the need to retype information across multiple steps.
• Improved Accuracy: Ensures consistency and minimizes errors by accurately referencing previous inputs.
• Intuitive User Experience: Facilitates smoother, smarter automation creation with minimal effort.

The resolution setting for unattended runs in Power Automate for desktop enables you to set screen resolution and DPI settings directly in each flow's properties. You can define and apply exact resolution settings that fit your automation needs.

Key capabilities:

• Per-flow configuration: Set specific resolution and DPI settings at the automation level. This configuration ensures compatibility no matter which machine runs the task.
• User-friendly interface: Use an intuitive interface to access resolution and DPI settings. This interface simplifies the configuration process.
• Persistent settings: Keep these settings through software updates and across different machines. You don't need to make repetitive adjustments.

The Shadow DOM support in Power Automate for desktop gives you advanced functionality to handle encapsulated DOM structures. Key features include:

• Enhanced element detection: Accurately find and interact with elements in shadow roots by using advanced selectors.
• Dynamic Shadow DOM handling: Automate dynamic or runtime-generated Shadow DOM components without interruptions.
• Nested Shadow DOM support: Traverse and interact with deeply nested shadow trees.
• Cross-domain iframe compatibility: Handle Shadow DOM elements embedded in cross-origin iframes for seamless automation.
• Recorder and playback updates: Easily capture interactions inside Shadow DOMs and replay them accurately.

You can use the new Testing framework in Power Automate for desktop to automate testing for your desktop flows. The Testing module lets you create, edit, list, and delete test cases, and includes actions like Assert and Test a desktop flow to help you validate your automations.

Open Power Automate for desktop and go to the Testing module to start creating test cases. You can run and debug tests directly in Power Automate for desktop, export or import tests with your desktop flows, and integrate testing into automated pipelines for streamlined deployment.

You can create and assign tags to your desktop flows through the console. When you use this feature, you can search and filter your flows by tags. This feature makes it easier to manage and find specific flows.

You manage tags in the Dataverse environment. Tags aren't limited to desktop flows. In the future, other Power Platform assets can use this functionality.

The voice command functionality for Power Automate's Copilot enables you to create and manage desktop flows with natural language spoken through a microphone. Select the microphone icon in the lower right corner of the Copilot side cart to turn on voice commands. You can start dictating automation steps without using your hands. When you're done, select the stop icon. Your prompt is automatically entered in the Copilot prompt screen, where you can review and edit it if needed before submitting. This feature reduces manual input, saving time and effort. It enhances Copilot's versatility and user-friendliness, which leads to improved productivity and streamlined operations.

This feature supports joining hosted machine group bots to both on-premises Active Directory (AD) and Microsoft Entra ID when you use custom virtual networks (VNETs).

• You configure a custom virtual network (VNET) by using Azure Virtual Network. The custom VNET needs access to the domain controller.
  • When you use a custom VNET, you can access on-premises resources while running your automation.
• You configure Microsoft Entra hybrid join as part of the Power Automate network connection setup.
  • With Microsoft Entra hybrid join, your hosted machine group bots enroll in both your on-premises Active Directory (AD) and Microsoft Entra ID.

The solution sends logs to the cloud progressively, without waiting for the entire automation process to complete. This capability enables quicker troubleshooting by helping you determine why automation takes longer than expected or if the process gets stuck at a particular step.

In desktop flows, the Run desktop flow action now includes a toggle that lets you set the child desktop flow to run in parallel. This toggle defaults to running the child flow in sequence, so existing actions in previous flows aren't affected.

Only one parallel run is allowed. If you set a second child flow to run in parallel, an error occurs, and the flow ignores any potential outputs of the child flow.

With this feature, you can share desktop flow connections with a pipeline SPN. Sharing these connections is essential for customers who use pipelines.

1. Create desktop flow connections with a service principal as the run owner. (By default, the run owner is the connection owner.)
2. Share the connection with the pipeline SPN.
3. Export the solution in the pipeline as the owner of all records for the managed solution.
4. Import the solution into the production environment with the pipeline SPN, while keeping the connection reference and connection ID mapping.

With this feature, you can define lists of credentials and use them in desktop flow connections. You can specify which machines in the list can use these credentials. When you use these credential lists as authentication credentials in desktop flow connections, you get the same credential management benefits, such as:

• Encryption and data protection
• Password rotation
• Application lifecycle management

During the public preview, you can map only CyberArk credentials.

The Access automation feature enables you to work with Access databases stored on your device. First, create an Access instance with the Launch Access action. This instance acts as the input for other actions, so you can perform tasks on the Access database you want. The following actions are available:

• Launch Access
• Close Access
• Read Access table
• Run Access query
• Run Access macro

The new Copilot side panel in Power Automate for desktop improves the user experience by giving detailed explanations of automation flows and subflows. Users can go to the Copilot side panel, select the right skill from the skill picker, and ask questions like "What does the subflow do?" or "What do actions from 3 to 12 do?". This feature gives clear insights into automation processes, making it easier to troubleshoot and maintain complex automation. With this feature, teams can quickly find and fix issues, so they keep operational efficiency and meet SLA compliance.

In the Power Automate for desktop console, you can switch between the default color mode and dark mode. When you select this setting, the console and flow designer use a dark theme. Find this functionality in the console settings.

When users allow it, the feature uses AI to find elements on the screen during execution. The feature uses the repaired selector in future runs. You can disable this optional feature if you prefer.

• Self-healing happens when the feature can't find a UI element during execution.
• You can use self-healing only for UI and web automation scenarios. It works for both desktop and web UI elements.
• With self-healing, Power Automate for desktop detects UI elements on the screen.
• When the feature gets a UI element and its selector, you confirm the healing and save it.
• You can turn off this feature.

The new Get Credential action in Power Automate for the desktop enables you to securely retrieve and use credentials directly within your desktop flows. During the preview phase, this action supports credentials that you create through CyberArk. You can access these credentials in the specified section of the Power Automate portal. This feature keeps your credentials secure and follows best practices for data protection.

1. Create a credential:

   • Credentials in Power Automate now support certificate-based authentication (CBA).
   • The experience with CBA credentials mirrors the experience of using passwords stored in Azure Key Vault.
   • The credential doesn't store any certificate value.

2. Use credentials with CBA:

   • CBA supports Windows session credentials for desktop flow connections.

In addition to the connectors that were previously available, Power Automate now directly provides the following connectors for desktop flows:

• Adobe Acrobat Sign
• Asana
• Azure Container Instance
• Azure Data Explorer
• Azure Data Factory
• Azure DevOps
• Azure Monitor Logs
• Azure Resource Manager
• Azure VM
• Box
• Content Conversion
• Docusign
• Dropbox
• Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
• Dynamics 365 Customer Voice
• Excel Online (OneDrive)
• Fin & Ops Apps (Dynamics 365)
• GitHub
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive
• Google Sheets
• Google Tasks
• Microsoft 365 message center
• Microsoft Bookings
• Microsoft Entra ID
• Microsoft To-Do (Business)
• MSN Weather
• Office 365 Groups
• Office 365 Groups Mail
• Office 365 Users
• Outlook.com
• Planner
• Power Apps for Admins
• Power Apps for Makers
• Power Automate for Admins
• Power Automate Management
• Power BI
• Power Platform for Admins
• Power Query Dataflows
• Project Online
• Project Roadmap
• Salesforce
• Shifts for Microsoft Teams
• Smartsheet
• Trello
• Viva Engage
• Webex
• X

The next phase unlocks all connectors for direct use within desktop flows. This enhancement reduces logical loops, minimizes flow creation time, and supports all action capabilities for Power Platform connectors.

You can now seamlessly integrate a hosted machine group (HMG) with your own virtual network (VNet). With this integration, you can run desktop flows and execute RPA jobs that need access to on-premises networks. When you use your own VNet, you get secure and reliable connectivity between the hosted machines and the on-premises networks.

Record with Copilot in Power Automate for desktop enables you to create desktop automations by sharing your screen and describing the task you want to automate, just as if you were explaining it to someone. Record with Copilot captures your voice, mouse, and keyboard inputs. It processes these inputs and converts them into a desktop flow that you can review, edit, and save before running. With this feature, automation is accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise, and the process of creating desktop flows is much faster.

To provide storage-level encryption for virtual machines in the Power Automate hosted RPA offering, use your own encryption keys. When you use your own keys, you get full and transparent control and management of your encryption keys in Azure Key Vault.

The actions pane now includes the following dedicated Excel actions:

• Get table range
• Set range color
• Copy worksheet
• Append range
• Look up range
• Read cell formula
• Auto fill range

These new actions give you capabilities that weren't available before. With these actions, you can enhance your desktop flows that involve Excel, one of the most common categories for automation.

Users can use credentials stored in CyberArk Central Credential Provider to connect to Windows sessions on desktop flow machines. Power Automate doesn't store credentials. Instead, it gets them during runtime. This feature supports rotating passwords without needing to update the connection.

The fallback automation mechanism provides a reliable solution for UI and browser automation actions. Set up a fallback mechanism for UI automation actions in case the mechanism can't find the UI element through the specified selectors. This mechanism falls back to image recognition or other techniques, such as screen understanding. To enable the feature, turn it on at the action level or the flow level. From the respective setting, enable the feature and set up your preferred fallback options. This feature improves the efficiency and accuracy of automation processes. It offers a reliable and flexible solution for UI and web automation, helping businesses streamline their operations and improve their bottom line.

The actions pane now includes dedicated actions for data tables. These actions include:

• Clear Data table
• Delete column on Data table
• Filter Data table
• Sort Data table
• Add column in Data table
• Join Data tables
• Merge Data tables
• Remove Duplicate rows in Data table
• Remove Empty rows in Data table
• Output Data table to text
• Generate data table from text

With these actions, you can manage data table variables without using workarounds for your use cases.

This setting is off by default. When you turn on the setting, you can set the maximum duration for the flow. Use a format of hours, minutes, and seconds.

The automation center is available in the Power Automate portal. It offers a comprehensive automation monitoring experience that uses the power of AI.

Copilot can answer cloud flow run history questions, such as:

• How many runs last month did another cloud flow trigger?
• Who initiated flow runs during the last month?
• How many flows failed yesterday?

Copilot in the automation center gives you a versatile experience. With it, you can ask about cloud flow and desktop flow activities, manage work queues, and explore different Power Automate features.

Copilot can answer questions like:

• Which flows have the highest run count in the last week?
• What are the top five flows from yesterday based on completed runs?
• How are flow run statuses distributed?

Copilot in the automation center gives you a versatile experience. You can ask it about cloud flows, desktop flows, work queues, and other Power Automate features.

Copilot answers work queue questions, like:

• How many items are on hold?
• How many items might breach the SLA?
• What's the average handling time for each processor and queue?

The automation center in the Power Automate portal gives you a comprehensive monitoring experience enhanced by AI. Copilot in the Automation Center lets you ask about cloud flows, desktop flow activities, work queues, and different Power Automate features.

Copilot can help with questions like:

• How do I add a condition in Power Automate Desktop?
• Can cloud flows handle approvals and decision-making processes?
• Where are deleted flows located in Power Automate?

With top-level automation monitoring, you get an end-to-end view of your automation status. The dedicated work queue monitoring area helps you track SLA attainment, average processing time, and work queue details.

The automation center includes a multiskilled copilot that users can ask questions about cloud flow and desktop flow activity, work queues, and features of Power Automate.