It is likely that in the near future, we’ll be seeing cloud flows appear in Power Automate Desktop. Then, in Power Automate (web) you can build your cloud flow as usual, and use the Desktop flow connector to connect to the flows you’ve built in Power Automate Desktop. You can simply install the on-premise data gateway on your computer. This means you can build a flow that combines DPA (digital process automation), RPA (robotic process automation) and AI. In Power Automate (web), you can connect to flows created in Power Automate Desktop- enabling you to bring together your modern, cloud based systems with everything else you might do on your computer. Power Automate Desktop and Power Automate were made to work together. If it’s not available or can’t be created as a connector (no API), try recording your flow in Power Automate Desktop. If you are unsure if you should be using Power Automate (web) or Power Automate Desktop, it’s a good idea to think about the system you want to connect to. You have access to 500+ cloud connectors, templates, and you can automate the tasks you do across all these more modern system. This is likely the tool you are already familiar with. Power Automate, as accessed in the web, is where you can build cloud flows and business process flows.

Every time you need to perform the task, you can simply hit the “play” button and watch the task run on its own, ultimately saving you valuable time. Each click on the screen, what text you enter in, keyboard strokes, can all be recorded and modified based. Using Power Automate Desktop, you can record the actions you take performing these tasks.

Interacting with email messages from IMAP or Exchange server.

Could be something you use for invoice processing, sales orders, managing HR or customer information.

Entering details into / performing tasks on a legacy system (an old-school application you have on your desktop with no API to connect to other, modern systems).

Think about tasks you do on your desktop of perhaps a website. It is a tool to enable robotic process automation (RPA). And if you’re on Windows 11, it even comes pre-installed for you. Power Automate Desktop is a program that is free to install for Windows 10 users. But what is the difference between the two? Power Automate and Power Automate Desktop (PAD) are both no-code/low-code tools used for working smarter by automating your repetitive, manual tasks.

Power automate desktop flows