Recording automations

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated June 16, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Recording Automations

    The Recording Automations feature in the RPA Desktop Design Studio enables ServiceNow customers to capture user actions on desktop or web applications and convert them automatically into automation flows. This capability supports both attended and unattended automations and eliminates the need for manual automation creation using connectors or components. The recorder works with applications compatible with the Universal App Connector.

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    Key Features

    • Element Highlighting: Differentiates various UI elements during recording, allowing users to perform default or sub-actions on each element.
    • Recorded Actions Pane: Displays captured actions organized by application screens, showing action types and target elements for easy review and editing.
    • Automation Flow Generation: Automatically generates a complete automation flow saved as an activity within the automation project and listed under Global Objects for further enhancement.
    • Screen Match Rules Configuration: Allows customization of screen and element matching criteria through the Universal App Connector to improve automation accuracy.
    • Enhanced Element Interrogation: Automatically populates element names during recording, using either the element’s actual name or its type when unavailable.
    • Rearranging and Editing Actions: Enables users to reorder recorded actions and screens in the Recorded Actions pane and edit action types or element details without re-recording.
    • Automatic Launch Application Component: Adds an application launch component to the automation flow automatically, streamlining flow creation.

    Benefits

    • Facilitates easier automation creation for low-code users by reducing complexity compared to manual connector or component use.
    • Saves time and effort by automating the flow generation from recorded user interactions.

    Important Considerations

    The recorder feature supports only applications that can be interrogated by the Universal App Connector. For known issues and limitations, customers should refer to the official documentation on RPA Desktop Design Studio recording automations.

    Practical Use

    ServiceNow customers can use the recorder to capture actions on UI elements such as text boxes, buttons, and hyperlinks, and save these as automation flows. The flows can be refined through the Design surface by adding components or adjusting configurations, enabling rapid development and deployment of automations that integrate desktop and web application tasks efficiently.

    Capture your actions from your desktop or web applications and convert them into an automation flow by using the recorder option in the RPA Desktop Design Studio application. You can record attended and unattended automations by using this capability. When you record an automation, you don't have to create it manually by using connectors or components.

    Important:
    The recorder feature supports the applications which can be interrogated using the Universal App Connector.

    Highlighting an element

    When you use the recorder, you can highlight the different elements in an application. These highlights enable you to differentiate the different type of elements. You can then perform the required action for each element. Each element has a default action and a list of sub-actions.

    Figure 1. Highlighting an element by using the recorder
    Highlighting an element when using the recorder.

    Recorded actions pane

    The action that you perform on each element is captured in the Recorded actions pane. The recorded action in the Recorded actions pane displays the type of action and the element on which the action is performed. The recorded actions are also listed according to the application screens.

    Automation flow generation

    When a recording is saved, the RPA Desktop Design Studio application generates an automation flow as an activity to the automation project. The recording is also automatically configured as an object and listed under the Global Objects option in the Project Explorer pane. You can improve the generated automation flow from the Design surface by adding further components.

    Configuring the screen match rules

    The screens and elements of the recording are also configured as objects to Global Objects. You can configure the screen match rules and the element attributes based on your preference, by using the Universal App Connector. For more information on how to use the Universal App Connector, see Universal app connector.

    Enhanced element interrogations

    Populate element name

    When you record an action in the application, the element name is automatically filled in the Recorded actions pane. The element name is captured from the target application. In the following example, while recording the SendKeys action, the element name "Location" is automatically filled, followed by "with text" and the keys or text value that is inputted by the user during the recording phase. If no default element name is available in the target application, the type of element is used as the name.

    Figure 2. SendKeys Action type
    SendKeys action on element name "Location".

    Rearrange recorded actions

    You can move and position your recorded actions and screens in the Recorded actions pane. You can also rearrange recorded elements in the Recorded actions pane. The recorded screen segment is split when a recorded action from a screen segment is dropped on to a different screen segment.
    Figure 3. Rearranged elements in the Recorded actions pane
    Rearranged elements in the Recorded actions pane.
    For example, when you record two actions of the QUOTES SYSTEM application, (DoubleClick and Click) and two actions of the Badge Tool application (Focus and GetText). Then, the list of actions are displayed in the Recorded actions pane, in the order in which they are recorded.
    Figure 4. Actions in the Recorded actions pane before rearranging
    Actions in the Recorded actions pane before rearranging.
    When you move the Focus action from the Badge Tool application to the top of the list and above the QUOTES SYSTEM application. Then, the list of actions are displayed as follows in the Recorded actions pane, after the hierarchy is rearranged. The recordings of the QUOTES SYSTEM application are split.
    Figure 5. Actions in the Recorded actions pane after rearranging
    Actions in the Recorded actions pane after rearranging.

    When you save the recording, the automation is generated accordingly. The automation flow is generated based on the new sequence of actions in the Recorded actions pane.

    Editing a recorded action

    Instead of deleting and re-recording an action, you can update the action type or element details by editing the recorded action, using the Edit action icon, in the Recorded actions pane. For example, you can edit the "GetText" action type on "About" element name in the following image.
    Figure 6. Edit a recorded action
    Edit action on the Recorded actions panel.
    After selecting the edit action, you can change the action type to "SetText" or element name to "Tools" from "About" and select Update, as shown in the following example.
    Figure 7. Update the recorded action after editing
    Select the Update button after editing the recorded action.

    Launch application

    In the design canvas, the component to launch an application is now added automatically to the automation flow that is generated by the recorder.

    Benefits of creating automations with the recorder

    Using a recorder to create an automation provides the following benefits:
    • Low-code users can create automations more easily. Manually creating an automation with a connector or component is complicated.
    • There's less time and effort needed to create an automation with the recorder.

    Limitations

    For information on the known issues and limitations for recording automations, see Known issues and limitations of RPA Desktop Design Studio for recording automations [KB1225708].