Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hello everyone,

I am developing a flow in Power Automate Desktop that fills out a form containing a dropdown list with multiple values, from which one value must be selected.

The problem is that the UI element detector identifies the dropdown list as a button. As a result, the action used to set the value of a dropdown list does not work in this case.

How can I solve this problem?

Thank you.

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

Hi @gikido,

This is a common PAD issue with custom-styled dropdowns that aren't native HTML select elements. They're often built with divs and buttons which PAD correctly identifies as buttons rather than dropdowns.
Workarounds in order of reliability:
1. Click the dropdown button to open it, then use a second action to click the specific option by its text. Use Click UI element on the button first, wait for the list to appear, then Click UI element again on the option you want.
2. If the dropdown has a text input associated with it, use Set text on field instead of Set drop-down list value.
3. Use JavaScript to set the value directly: Run JavaScript function on web page with the selector and value. This bypasses UI detection entirely and works for most custom dropdowns.
4. If it's a Windows app (not browser), try Send keys after clicking the dropdown to type the value or use arrow keys to navigate to the option.
What type of app is this a browser-based form or a Windows desktop application? That determines which approach is best.

Best regards,

Valantis

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