Learn Power Automate Desktop: A Complete Beginner’s Course

Name: Learn Power Automate Desktop: A Complete Beginner’s Course
Rating: 4.7 (105 reviews)

Master the fundamentals of Power Automate Desktop with hands-on practice and best practices to build your first workflow

Created byAnders Jensen

Last updated 4/2026

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Learn to create automation workflows in Power Automate Desktop from scratch
Understand how to use variables, loops, and error handling to build robust automations
Automate tasks with Excel, PDFs, and Outlook to simplify everyday processes
Master web automation and data scraping techniques to extract and process information efficiently

Course content

13 sections • 70 lectures • 6h 25m total length

Welcome0:31
Begin this Power Automate Desktop beginner course by following along with guided exercises, pausing or rewinding as needed. Post questions in the video comments to receive instructor answers.

Install Power Automate Desktop and browser extensions2:36
Install Microsoft Power Automate Desktop by downloading MSI installer, enable browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, then sign in with your Microsoft account to connect to Power Automate Cloud.
Power Automate Desktop Overview1:13
Explore the Power Automate desktop editor, create your first flow named 'My first flow', drag and drop actions to automate, and run it to launch edge to amazon.org.
Download your lesson files0:05
Install the Contoso Invoicing Demo App3:26
For the 'Applications' lessons, we're using the demo application, Contoso Invoicing App from Microsoft.

Intro to the Recorder4:06
Clean up and configuration2:36
The Recorder part 23:47
Extend a power automate desktop flow to fill a web form with extracted data, clean the euro and kilowatt per hour text, and extract the price from a data table.
Refine the flow3:58
Record and refine an end-to-end web form flow in Power Automate Desktop, inserting date and price, replacing placeholders with variables, and validating the submit action.

Intro to variables and prepare data1:43
Explore how variables act as value containers and how to prepare data for your flow using address.txt and addresses.csv with headers for house number, road, state, and country.
Text variables8:48
Working with lists8:18
Numericals3:54
Booleans - True/False2:02
Learn how booleans drive decisions in Power Automate Desktop by using true/false variables, with practical examples like a house number above 500, plus debugging with breakpoints to inspect flow.
Leverage DateTimes5:49
Learn to use a date time variable in a Power Automate Desktop flow, write text to file, and prefix file names with a formatted date time to avoid overwriting.
DataTables3:58
Read a csv from the project path into a data table named address table, set headers and comma delimiter, then iterate with for each to display each address.
DataRows7:32

The If and Else if actions9:22
Loop condition7:10
Build and manage a customers data table in Power Automate Desktop by creating the table, adding name and phone number columns, inserting rows in a loop, and displaying results.
Advanced loop conditions, part 19:17
Advanced loop conditions, part 28:13
Learn to implement advanced loop conditions to validate a phone number with a boolean flag, a loop count, and three attempts, including error handling and text-to-number conversion.

Read Excel data8:06
In this lesson you will read data from an Excel timesheet.
The data will be loaded into Power Automate Desktop so it can be processed and analyzed.
You will learn how to:
launch Excel and open a workbook
read data from a worksheet into a data table
ensure the correct worksheet is selected
work with column headers in Excel data
store and inspect Excel data in variables
This creates the foundation for processing and validating Excel data in your flow.
Find unique rows2:04
In this lesson you will identify unique employees from the Excel data.
The data will be processed to remove duplicates so each employee is only handled once.
You will learn how to:
extract a column from a data table into a list
work with lists in Power Automate Desktop
remove duplicate items from a list
prepare data for looping and further processing
This ensures efficient processing by avoiding duplicate work in your flow.
Prepare Excel report6:37
In this lesson you will create a structured Excel report for the processed data.
The report will contain separate sheets for valid data and error records.
You will learn how to:
create a new Excel workbook
rename worksheets dynamically
add new worksheets to a workbook
write headers to Excel sheets
structure data across multiple sheets
This creates a clear and organized report for both valid results and errors.
Error handling 114:06
In this lesson you will begin handling errors in the Excel data.
The data will be validated to identify missing or incorrect values.
You will learn how to:
loop through data using nested loops
filter a data table based on specific values
work with individual rows in a data table
create and use helper variables
detect missing values in Excel data
This allows you to identify problematic records before processing the data further.
Error handling 23:17
In this lesson you will complete the error handling logic for the Excel data.
The data will be validated and categorized based on different types of errors.
You will learn how to:
extend conditional logic with multiple error checks
validate numeric values against business rules
handle missing and incorrect data inputs
assign meaningful error messages
write error records to a dedicated Excel sheet
This ensures that all data issues are captured and clearly documented in your report.
Process data5:24
In this lesson you will process the Excel data for each employee.
The data will be evaluated to separate valid entries from those containing errors.
You will learn how to:
loop through grouped data per employee
combine validation and processing logic
use conditional statements to control the flow
separate valid and invalid data during processing
prepare data for both reporting and error handling
This ensures that all data is correctly processed before being added to the final report.
Dynamic file naming3:34
In this lesson you will create a dynamic file name for your Excel report.
The report will be saved with a unique name based on the current date and time.
You will learn how to:
get the current date and time
convert datetime values to text
format datetime values for file naming
build dynamic file paths using variables
save Excel files with custom names
This ensures that each report is saved uniquely and avoids overwriting existing files.
Make the report nice1:31
In this lesson you will improve the visual appearance of your Excel report.
The report will be formatted to make it easier to read and understand.
You will learn how to:
resize columns automatically in Excel
apply autofit to improve layout
enhance readability of generated reports
refine the presentation of data
improve the overall user experience
This makes your report more professional and easier to work with.
VBScript6:30
In this lesson you will enhance your Excel report using VBScript.
The report will be further formatted and enriched with features not available in standard Power Automate Desktop actions.
You will learn how to:
run VBScript from Power Automate Desktop
extend functionality beyond built-in actions
create tables in Excel using scripting
sort data programmatically
generate charts based on report data
This allows you to take your automation to the next level with advanced Excel customization.

Prepare the project, part 12:52
Prepare the project, part 2 (subflows)2:31
Learn to organize Power Automate Desktop projects with subflows, create an initialization subflow, set and pass a project path variable, and run subflows from the main flow.
Unzip files4:50
Build a subflow to unzip zip files, initialize the main flow, and iterate each file to extract and delete archives, with error handling.
Handle error files8:32
Learn to handle error files in Power Automate Desktop by building a subflow, listing and looping through files, validating size and extension, and moving errors to a failed folder.
Process the success files3:45
Organize success files by creating extension folders (dot removed) inside the process subfolder, then move each file into its extension folder, overwriting when needed.
Create a log and variable gymnastics8:42
Dynamic file naming3:01

Basic web automation8:53
Use power automate desktop to automate a web form: launch a browser, populate fields (fruit, country, amount), submit, and loop over excel data with error handling and logging.
Combine web automation with Excel6:09
Expand your Power Automate Desktop flow by reading Excel data, initializing variables, and using subflows, then for each row populate fields and click the web link.
Iterate Excel5:03
Create a log4:59
Automate logging by adding a status header to an Excel worksheet, then read and write status back to column D for rows using a helper row number and a subflow.
Advanced error-handling8:47
Learn error handling in Power Automate Desktop by validating country and amount and managing web form errors. Improve reliability with status checks, on-error routing, and Excel logging in web automation.

Prepare the data1:19
Learn advanced web extraction to automate government job searches across the United States using Power Automate Desktop, including creating and naming a web extraction flow and handling file paths.
Navigate and speed things up11:47
Create a dynamic selector6:12
Learn to create dynamic selectors in Power Automate Desktop, enabling state and job title searches through variable-driven web automation with dynamic clicks and text input.
Web extraction4:10
Extract multiple pages (next button)10:14
Create a dynamic multi-page web extraction flow in Power Automate Desktop using a custom next-page clicker, a loop, and dynamic selectors. Merge each page into a master dataset while testing.
Parameterized web scraping9:13
Explore parameterized web scraping with power automate desktop, reading job titles and states from Excel, looping through rows to perform searches and extract results for export.
Save extractions to Excel10:06
Learn how to save extraction results to Excel by creating and naming worksheets, writing headers, and recording data from multiple searches into a structured xlsx workbook.

Requirements

No prior experience with Power Automate Desktop or RPA tools is needed
Basic familiarity with Windows and commonly used applications like Excel is helpful but not required
Access to a Windows PC
A willingness to learn automation concepts and follow step-by-step instructions

Description

Learn Power Automate Desktop and start building automation workflows step by step. This beginner-focused course introduces you to Microsoft Power Automate Desktop, guiding you through the essential tools and techniques needed to create effective workflows from the ground up. Hands-on practice will teach you how to automate tasks, manage data, and follow professional best practices.

The course features 12 practical use cases and 60 lessons covering various topics. You’ll start with the basics of automation, working with variables and logic, and gradually progress to creating workflows for file and email management, Excel tasks, and web data extraction. You’ll also learn how to handle errors, validate inputs, and structure your workflows to ensure they are efficient and reliable.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid foundation in Power Automate Desktop and the confidence to automate everyday tasks or kickstart your journey in RPA development.

Key topics include:

Using variables, conditions, and loops to create dynamic workflows.
Setting up automations for file management, Excel, and PDFs.
Automating web interactions, extracting data, and processing emails.
Applying error handling and validation to improve workflow performance.
Following best practices to build workflows that are scalable and easy to manage.

Whether you’re entirely new to automation or looking to enhance your technical skills, this course is the perfect way to learn how to use Power Automate Desktop effectively and confidently.

Who this course is for:

Individuals who are completely new to Power Automate Desktop and want to learn automation step by step
Beginners curious about building workflows to save time and reduce repetitive tasks
Professionals in non-technical roles looking to automate everyday tasks and improve productivity
Students or newcomers to RPA who want to learn foundational automation skills

Learn Power Automate Desktop: A Complete Beginner’s Course

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction1 lecture • 1min

Getting Ready4 lectures • 7min

Record your actions4 lectures • 14min

Variables8 lectures • 42min

If and Loop4 lectures • 34min

Excel9 lectures • 51min

File Handling7 lectures • 34min

Browsers5 lectures • 34min

Applications6 lectures • 37min

Web extraction7 lectures • 53min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: