Create desktop flows with Copilot

Power Automate for Desktop (PAD) is the application used to build, run, and manage desktop flows on a Windows PC. Copilot in Power Automate for Desktop brings natural language capabilities to desktop automation—helping you build desktop flows from descriptions and refine them through conversation.

Copilot capabilities in Power Automate for Desktop

Copilot in Power Automate for Desktop is accessible through the Copilot Chat panel in the PAD application. It can:

• Generate desktop flow actions from a natural language description, with recording placeholders for browser or UI tasks that you need to complete.
• Add actions to existing flows based on conversational prompts.
• Answer product questions about desktop flows—for example, explaining what a specific action does or how to accomplish a task in PAD.
• Summarize actions and subflows to help you understand what your desktop flows do.

Creating a desktop flow with Copilot

To create a desktop flow using Copilot, open the Power Automate for Desktop console. Enter your prompt in the Copilot area on the Home page. Alternatively, select the Copilot button in the upper-right corner of the console and select flow creation mode in the side panel.

Describe the automation process you want to build. For example, a Contoso employee responsible for daily pricing updates might describe:

"Open Excel and read the pricing data from the sheet named Price Updates. For each row, open the pricing portal website, log in, navigate to the product by entering the product code, update the price field with the value from Excel, and save the change. After processing all rows, close Excel and the browser."

After you submit the prompt, Copilot generates a flow and opens it in the designer for review. The pricing example includes browser and UI tasks, such as signing in and updating fields. Copilot inserts recording placeholders for those tasks rather than generating a complete working browser automation.

Complete each placeholder with the standard recorder or manually authored UI actions. Review all generated actions and provide any missing required parameters, such as the Excel file path. Then test the flow before you use it.

Complete browser and UI steps with the standard recorder

The standard recorder captures mouse and keyboard interactions with desktop and web application UI elements. Use it to complete the browser and UI steps that Copilot leaves as recording placeholders.

To complete those steps:

1. Start the recorder from a recording placeholder. To record steps independently, select Recorder in the flow designer toolbar.
2. Select Record and perform the required actions in the application or web page.
3. Select Done to convert the recorded steps into desktop flow actions. When you start from a placeholder, the recorded actions replace it.
4. Review the recorded actions, edit them as needed, and test the flow.

For example, record how you locate a product in the pricing portal and update its price. Review the recorded actions and configure them to use the product code and price from the current Excel row instead of fixed values. See Record desktop flows for more information.

Modifying desktop flows with Copilot

After you create a desktop flow with Copilot, the standard recorder, or manual action authoring, Copilot can help extend it by adding actions. Open the flow in the PAD designer, open the Copilot panel, and select Add a step that or the corresponding skill from the drop-down menu. Describe the actions to add:

• "Add a variable to track the count of rows processed and display the total in a message box at the end."
• "Add a message box that displays Pricing update complete."

Copilot adds supported actions at the end of the flow or beneath a selected action. Review the generated actions and complete any missing parameters or recording placeholders before you test the flow. Use the designer to remove or reorganize actions manually.