What Is GUI Automation?
GUI automation is a way to mimic user actions, like mouse and keyboard input, to automate processes involving clicks, field inputs, image recognition, and scrolling. While not considered the most elegant method for automation, sometimes the only way to enter into and extract information from an application is through its user interface.
For users faced with this challenge, Automate provides a complete set of tools for intelligent GUI automation. With Automate's no-code, drag-and-drop approach to task development, and the Automate Recorder, a best-in-class step recording tool, automating complex tasks has never been easier.
Automate Complex Tasks In Minutes, Not Days
How Does GUI Automation Work?
With Automate, you get an all-in-one, easy-to-use solution with drag-and-drop task building that is both robust and intuitive to create solutions for any project without writing a single line of code.
- Drag-and-drop task building enables tasks to be constructed rapidly
- Enable macros across multiple applications including Excel, Access, Outlook and Word
- Great for application integration and automatic report generation
- Add new functionality to your old applications: email, FTP, scheduling, file sharing
- Expand tasks to do even more using Automate's library of actions and activities
Streamline GUI Automation with the Automate Recorder
The Automate Recorder offers a best practice approach for GUI automation, so you can quickly and easily build, accelerate, and distribute automation for desktop and browser-based applications. Purpose built for practical use, the Automate Recorder empowers UI-driven automation without writing any code, and provides the right balance of flexibility and power for real-world recordings.
Through the step recorder interface, user actions, such as keystrokes and mouse clicks, are converted into automation actions within your Automate workflow. From there, you can update, edit, and manage recordings easily. Add programming logic, including loops and conditional logic, and incorporate non-UI automation, like calling an API.
Benefits of GUI Automation
Create automation tasks with pre-programmed actions and graphical workflow designer
Cleanse and transform files for processing quickly and easily
Tasks can move from screen to screen to choose from buttons and drop-down menus
Increase accuracy by slashing data processing errors to near-zero level
GUI Automation Use Cases
Monitoring Websites for Response Times
Automation bots can run every few minutes to log into a website, search for a keyword, and log the load time for each of the pages. The user can set a threshold for that load time in the task, and if the threshold is missed, notification is immediately sent to the owner of the site so it can be repaired as soon as possible.
GUI automation can also be used for testing changes to websites. The task can spin through screens with no errors and much faster than a human.
Data Backups & Event Log File Management
A utilities and energy provider, TransAlta, used robotic process automation to manage event log files but also needed a way to back up information. In the past, it could only be backed up by a highly-experienced operator interacting with the GUI for the backup application. Now, a GUI automation bot mimics user actions, saving the team precious time and providing TransAlta peace of mind that their data is safe and secure.
Multi-Step Business Processes
Marketing company Vestcom needed automation to help in producing customized shelf-edge marketing solutions. Every week, new labels needed to be created for customers with product information, like UPC number, item description, and pricing. This data came through FTP, SFTP, VPN, and email. Then the data was transferred to a production server, cleansed, and transformed into print-ready files.
With GUI automation, Vestcom was able to completely automate the data pulling, uploading, and application automation, all enforced with business rules, saving them 200 hours per week.
We needed to automate our processes to keep our labor costs under control, minimize the potential for human error, and ensure we meet our customers' expectations.
Ron Evans, Director of Data Center Operations, Vestcom International
Get Started with GUI Automation
Automate is an intuitive IT automation platform designed to help businesses of any size increase efficiency and maximize ROI throughout the organization. Try it free for 30 days.