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# App Automation

> For the full documentation index, see: https://docs.mulesoft.com/llms.txt

App Automation lets you address elements directly through their XPaths. The appearance and
coordinates are not relevant, in contrast to the Mouse Action and Pattern Search action steps. The
advantage of this approach is that App Automation works even if the position or design of the target
application changes on the desktop.

In addition, App Automation makes it easier to create workflows, by recording clicks and keyboard
inputs to generate action steps automatically.

## Generating Action Steps

There are two ways to generate action steps automatically.

- **RPA Manager**

  During the design phase on RPA Manager, you can record a process with a sequence of clicks and
  keyboard inputs by using RPA Recorder, which is available for download in the RPA Manager UI (for
  more information, see [RPA Manager Overview](https://docs.mulesoft.com/rpa-manager/)).

  After you finish the recording, you can upload it to RPA Manager, together with the generated
  process, and move the process to the Build phase. You can then download and open the process in
  RPA Builder. All the recorded information for generating the action steps automatically is now
  available.

- **RPA Builder**

  If the _App Session_ does not contain any elements yet, use the wizard to start a local recording,
  which you can then use to generate App Automation action steps automatically. After you click
  **Start Recording** in the wizard of the App Session and complete the recording, click **Finish**.
  Click **OK & generate** in RPA Builder to generate the action steps, which are added to the App
  Session automatically.

## Example

The following example calls Microsoft Excel, opens a new Excel workbook, and inserts text in the
first row. The example shows the corresponding clicks and keyboard inputs, together with an example
of a filled wizard for a **Click App Element** action step:

![Example](/mulesoft/current/en-us/rpa-builder/latest/_images/toolbox-app-automation-image1.png)

You can now edit the generated workflow, for example, adding additional action steps or renaming
existing ones.

The red highlighting in the wizard preview immediately shows you where the click was executed.

## Supported Applications

The following types of applications are supported:

- Win32

- Windows Forms

- WPF

- UWP

## Common Properties (App Automation)

The _App Automation_ action steps also contain the _common properties_ of the other action steps.
See [Common Properties](https://docs.mulesoft.com/rpa-builder/latest/common-properties) for a description.

The following are properties common to all _App Automation_ action steps:

- **Identify Element**

  The wizard contains the _Identify Element_ button in all action steps of the App Automation. This
  button sets the wizard to _a Capture Mode,_ which lets you hover the mouse over a certain element
  and capture it by pressing _F2_.

  When you hover the mouse over an element and press _F2_, the following happens:

  - A frame is drawn around the element.

  - The Element XPath and Window Title are filled with the values of the selected element.

  - The preview shows a screen shot with the selected element. The element is marked with red
    crosshairs.

  - If the selected element does not match the action step, a warning is displayed below the
    preview. This is the case, for example, if an element that does not support text entry is
    selected in a _Set Text to App Element_ action step. In this case, the frame is displayed in red
    instead of green.

- **Element _XPath_**

  XPath is short for XML path language and is used to identify and address elements. Use the
  _Identify Element_ to read the XPath or specify it manually.

- **Window Title**

  The name of the window to use.

- **Use Regular Expression (Regex)**

  When you select this option, the Window Title is interpreted as a Regex expression.

- **Preview**

  You see a preview of the selected element here. It only appears if the element was selected using
  _Identify Element_ or the if action step was generated automatically.