Universal Recorder for object-based automation

Use the Universal Recorder to record interactions, such as click, read (data extraction), and write (data entry), with user interface (UI) objects on the desktop, taskbar, or in an application or browser window.

The earlier Automation Anywhere RPA products such as Version 11.3 have three separate recorders to capture objects from various environments. Automation 360 combines the capabilities of these three recorders into the Universal Recorder to streamline the recording process.

Using the Universal Recorder

You can use the Universal Recorder in the following ways:

To record a process consisting of multiple steps, use the Universal Recorder video camera icon, which is located on the top-left of the workbench.
Depending on where you want to add newly captured actions in an existing Task Bot, use one of the following ways:
- To add newly captured actions below an existing action, select the existing action and then start recording.
- To add newly captured actions before the existing actions that are available inside another action, select the other action and then start recording. For example, if you want to add newly captured actions before the existing actions that are available inside a loop action, select the loop action and then start recording.
Note: If you do not select any action, then the newly captured actions are added at the end of the Task Bot by default.
See Record a task with the Universal Recorder.
To record a single interaction that you want to add into an existing Task Bot (for example, if you missed a step when recording a task), use Capture action from the Recorder package.
See Using the Capture action.

For a common use case, see Example of entering data into a web form from a spreadsheet.

The Universal Recorder is also used within actions to capture coordinates (Mouse > Click action) or a local file path (Application > Open program/file action).

Background processing

Background processing enables an automation that involves interacting with an application in the foreground (such as mouse clicks) to run in the background. We recommend that you use the option to run in background to increase the visibility of the target object and improve bot accuracy. The following actions support background processing:

Click
Set Text
Get Text