Desktop Automation robot cannot select icons on desktop after pressing Win+D keys
Symptoms
Desktop Automation robot presses Win+D to show desktop but afterwards it cannot select icons anymore.
Cause
The root cause of this behavior is the way Windows handles icons when Win+D is used.
Win+D key combination is a shortcut for hide /unhide desktop.
Before the keys are pressed the icons on the desktop are listed under the "Program Manager" pane:
After Win+D is pressed, the icons are hidden in another pane (with className WorkerW):
Because of this the DA robot can't identify the icon elements to show them in the automation tree.
Resolution
If the goal of using Win+D is to minimize all windows and show desktop, Kofax recommends using Win+M instead. This key combination doesn't hide icons in another pane so they are available later in the robot automation tree as well.
Applies to:
Product | Version |
---|---|
RPA | 10.0 and later |