How to share and export of Power automate desktop in production environment

[Anonymous]

How do we move power automate desktop bots from one machine to another machine?

Also how we can achieve production movement of Power automate desktop from dev to UAT and then production etc?

We have not found the way to share desktop flow with other users or environment.

Please guide on above 2 points.

here is a screenshot.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous There is no easy way to share Desktop Flows yet. It is in the works. You can move flows between environments using Solutions

[Wedge]

What does this mean? How do you move a Desktop Flow to another environment using Solutions?

[miketran13]

Hey,

You can export the Desktop Flow and move it to the another environment by using Solution. 

I've done it many times. First of all, you just need to create a new Solution for your flows, then add all flows you want to export to the solution. Then you just can export the solution as a .Zip file and import it to the new environment.

Thanks and hope it can help you. 

Mike

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[GanCW]

What is Solution and where do I find this drop down that has Solution ?

[miketran13]

Hi,

See below for more information:

Solutions are the mechanism for implementing application lifecycle management (ALM) in Power Apps and other Power Platform products, such as Power Automate. For detailed information about the solution concepts and how solutions are used for application lifecycle management, see Overview of ALM with Microsoft Power Platform in the Power Platform ALM guide.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/overview-alm 

Thanks and hope it can help you. 

Mike

---------------------------------

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[Shashankpuli]

Thank you .. it helped me 

[GanCW]

You can share desktop flow only from the Power Automate website

Refer to the PAD documentation here ->

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/manage

[r96359]

Hi @miketran13 , 

I tried the process you described on how to transfer a desktop flow using Solutions. I created a new solution, added the desktop flow, exported solution as a zip, then imported the solution to another users computer. When looking at the zip file, the json file within /workflows/ didn't seem big enough to represent the desktop flow as it's 6k.

The end result is that the zip imported successfully but the desktop flow cant be found under her Solutions or under Desktop Flows.

I did notice that she was able to see the Solution I created before any importing but the desktop flow was not showing. After the successful import, again the desktop flow was not listed in the solution.

Your help is appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Hi @r96359 ,

After adding desktop flows to your solution, did you click on Publish all customizations from top banner.

[r96359]

Hi @Anonymous I just tried that and it resulted in an error message. It seems that Publish All affects areas that I don't have permission to.

Any way to just publish my solution?

Error:

Publishing all customizations failed. SecLib::CheckPrivilege failed. User: xxxxxxx, PrivilegeName: prvWriteEntity, PrivilegeId: xxxxxxxxx, Required Depth: Basic, BusinessUnitId: xxxxxxx, MetadataCache Privileges Count: 3612, User Privileges Count: 972

[r96359]

Hi All,

I moved my post to a new message as it's not exactly the same issue and I want to give someone the solution credit. Thanks!

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Automate-Desktop/Migrating-Power-Automate-Desktop-Flow-fro...

[GanCW]

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Sharing the flow on the web will allow the other user to see the flow and run it from the web.  To run the flow from the desktop, the user will need to Save As and give it a new name. 

In the older version it could take a few days before the saved flow appear on PAD. With the latest version you just need to logout and log back in to see the saved flow on PAD.

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[Anonymous]

Export Power Automate Desktop Flow

• Select all (CTRL+A) actions in a subflow.
• Copy (CTRL+C) them.
• Paste (CTRL+V) them into a text document.
• Save (CTRL+S) and share the text file with anybody you want.

Save each subflow in different file.

Import Power Automate Desktop Flow

• Open the shared file. Select all and copy them.
• Create a new flow in Power Automate Desktop.
• Paste (CTRL+V) copied text into the subflow.
• 😎 

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

I shared my desktop flow with my colleague using share flow under "My flows" button. It said the flow shared successfully. My colleague has installed Power automate desktop and when he checks under the desktop flows, my shared flow is not displayed.

Please guide me on how to check my shared flow in my colleague's system. should we have to click on 'Start a free trial"  or 'Launch app' ?

Thanks,

Radhika

[GanCW]

You colleague should see the flow immediately in Power Automate website.

Power Automate desktop (PAD) however can take anywhere from a few hours to day to sync up with PA when new flows are shared or created.

As a workaround you can force PAD to refresh the flow list by logging out and in of PAD. 

[Anonymous]

Now, my colleague can able to see my shared flow, thanks!. 

I have another clarification, actually two things

1. I gave a co-owner access to him and he edited the code and saved, but in my PAD, it is not reflecting. So, we can do changes in the code but it will not reflect in each other's code. Is that right?

2. Is there any option to see the flows that I shared with someone? because I cannot able to see what are the flows I shared and if I don't have any option to change the access. First I gave only run access and then I have to change the access to co-owner for the same flow to the same person. How to do that?

[GanCW]

1. Changes should appear but can take time.

2. To see what flow you have shared you need to go into Power Automate website. You can't see this on PAD.

[Anonymous]

1. Can you tell me approximately how long?

2. I got it, thanks!

[mspowerautomate]

Hi,

Those who need more info may want to check out this video or this article talking about 3 ways to share desktop flows. They are quite detailed. Hope this helps!