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Kofax

Desktop Automation robot cannot select icons on desktop after pressing Win+D keys

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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:

clipboard_ec1c98f4c6daa9280cee48dd99243e271.png

After Win+D is pressed, the icons are hidden in another pane (with className WorkerW):

clipboard_ee1de89ab9ea0fcf7d7ea4b7a532bbbc7.png

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