- Release Notes
- Getting Started
- Tutorials
- Automation Projects
- Creating Automations
- Automation Basics
- Object Repository
- Automation Best Practices
- Tutorial: Creating a Pivot Table
- Tutorial: Iterating Through Rows in a Table
- Tutorial: Comparing Excel Files and Emailing Reconciliation Errors
- Tutorial: Extracting Data From Automated Emails and Moving It to a Desktop Application
- Tutorial: Filtering Data in Excel
- Tutorial: Formatting Cells
- Tutorial: Adding Information About the Files in a Folder to an Excel File
- Tutorial: Adding Your Own Formulas to the Project Notebook
- PowerPoint Automation
- Data Automation
- Common Activities
- Google Workspace Automation
- OneDrive & SharePoint Automation
- Troubleshooting
Indicating a Target
In most cases, all you have to do to define a target is point to it on your screen and click. The methods required to identify the target and any suitable anchor are detected and their properties are automatically generated.
To indicate a target:
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Click Indicate target on screen inside an application/web activity.
The target selection mode is opened. As you start moving the mouse, all the recognized UI elements are highlighted. The Selection Options window appears on the screen with information about the target identification status and additional options.
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Place the mouse pointer on the desired element, make sure it is highlighted, and then click it.
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If the target element is identified, it is highlighted in green.
- If an anchor was also automatically selected, it is highlighted in blue.
- If an anchor was not automatically selected, you can click a nearby element that helps identify the target (for example, a label or a title) to add it as an anchor.
- To add an additional anchor, hover
the target element, select Add Anchor
in the hover menu, and then click the
element to add as anchor.
-
If the target was not identified because there are too many other similar elements on the screen, the element is highlighted in red and the similar elements are highlighted as duplicates in yellow. Click another element on the screen to add it as an anchor.
- If the selection is valid, the target and anchor are highlighted in green and blue respectively.
- If the target and anchor are
highlighted in red, the selection is still invalid. Hover the element you indicated
as target and click Add Anchor
in the hover menu to add a second anchor.
Repeat this to add a third anchor if necessary.
-
-
To complete the target identification, click Confirm in the Selection Options window. You can also confirm by clicking
in the target hover menu or by pressing
Enter on your keyboard.
The target is configured and the activity displays a screenshot of the target and any anchors that were added.
Additional options are available in the Selection Options window to help you indicate elements:
-
If an element is not visible on your screen or the application is not in the correct state, you can press F2 on your keyboard to pause element selection while you set the application to the correct state.
This is useful for elements that require an additional action to appear on screen, or disappear easily from it. For example, if you want to indicate specific elements in drop-down or hover menus, you can pause selection while you click the drop-down or move the mouse pointer on the hover menu to activate them.
- Switch to Image selection mode. Press F3 on your keyboard to change to image-based identification only, and then use your mouse to select a visible region from the application window to use as target or anchor.
-
Change the UI Framework. By default, a proprietary framework is used to access the target application window. If a target is not detected, try to change the framework by pressing F4 on your keyboard. Select AA (Active Accessibility) for older applications or UIA (Microsoft UI Automation) for newer applications. After you select a target, the option to change the UI Framework is no longer available.
