Power Automate Desktop adds UI element capture and local AI calls in June update
Reviewed by Helen Jones
Version 2.69, released in early-access environments in the US and Canada, introduces two new actions. One captures a UI element into a variable so it can be reused in later steps. The other runs a locally installed large language model without sending data outside the machine. Both features require the early-access ring and prior configuration of a local LLM. No general release date was announced.
Until now, desktop flows either scraped screen coordinates or required brittle selectors that broke on every minor UI change. Reusing a captured element and running models locally removes two recurring failure points for makers who already run desktop flows. The change matters only to the small slice of users already maintaining desktop machines with local models. For the majority still struggling with cloud-flow ownership, run-history alerts, and connector limits, the update changes nothing about daily reliability or licensing risk.
Analysis
Ignore the early-access announcement. Continue building any new process as a cloud flow until the features reach general availability and you have a documented owner plus failure alerts for the desktop machine.
Source note
Pulse published by Collab365 Spaces, reviewed by Helen Jones on . Cite as "Power Automate Desktop adds UI element capture and local AI calls in June update", Collab365 Spaces. 1 source referenced.