Task Builder Actions Panel

The bottom portion of the Actions panel contains an intuitive search dialog that enables you to define search criteria and provide more efficient and effective searches. It supports dynamic search filtering, allowing you to enter all or part of an action's name and view only actions that contain matching text.

To find an action/activity

1. Click inside the Search dialog or press CTRL+SHIFT+F on your keyboard.
2. Enter all or part of an action's name. The list is updated as you type each letter. The list is updated as you type each letter.
3. To empty the Search dialog of its contents, do one of the following:
• Click the "X" button located on the right side of the Search dialog (this button only appears when the Search dialog is populated with characters).
• Press ESCAPE on your keyboard.

By default, the Actions view displays all available actions in ascending alphabetical order and associated activities (or sub-actions) are hidden from view. Alternately, all actions can be viewed in descending alphabetical order and expanded to display all activities individually. All options that assist in locating and administering Automate Desktop actions as well as customizing the Actions panel are contained in a shortcut menu that you can open by right-clicking a specific action or an empty portion inside the window Actions panel.

The Favorites folder can be used as a placeholder for a collection of preferred actions and activities. Favorites can be created and managed by the user themselves. When an activity is defined as a favorite, a copy of that activity is added to the Favorites list. That way, users won't need to spend time searching through the long list of available actions. They can simply select the activity from their Favorites list. Users can also reorder their favorites by title or create folders/subfolders to consolidate common favorites into specific categories, forming a more organized development environment. Actions and activities can be added to your favorites by way of the Actions panel or Steps panel. Once added, any favorites can be incorporated into task steps by way of drag and drop or by a double-click action.

To add an action or activity from the Actions Panel to Favorites

• Drag the desired action from the Actions panel onto the Favorites folder or any subfolder.

OR

• Right-click the desired action and select Add to Favorites from the shortcut menu.

To add steps from the Steps Panel to Favorites

• Drag the desired steps from the Steps panel onto the Favorites folder or any subfolder. To select more than one step, hold down CTRL during selection.

OR

• Right-click the desired steps and select Add to Favorites from the shortcut menu.

For those who use specific activities that contain commonly used properties or settings, such activities can be saved in the Snippets folder. Snippets provide an easy way to implement frequently used code into a task. Instead of re-entering the properties for a specific activity or series of activities every time they're added as task steps, users can save existing steps as a snippet and simply drag and drop the snippet wherever it is needed in any task. A snippet can consist of one or more steps. Once a snippet is added to a task, its contents act as normal steps (that is, they can be reorganized or deleted or their properties can be modified as needed). Users can reorder their snippets list by title or create folders/subfolders to consolidate common snippets, thus, creating a cleaner development environment.

To add one or more steps from the Steps Panel to Snippets

1. Drag the desired steps from the Steps panel onto the Snippets folder or any subfolder or simply right-click the desired steps and select Add to Snippets from the shortcut menu. To select more than one step, hold down CTRL during selection.
2. Enter a unique name for the new snippet.

The Recent folder is populated with the most recently used actions and activities. The Frequent folder is populated with the most frequently used actions and activities. Similar to Snippets and Favorites, these folders are designed to make it easier and more convenient for you to find what you want by placing the actions and activities that you mostly use in a convenient location. By default, the number of items displayed in the Recent and Frequent folders is 10.

Right-clicking an action located inside the My Actions panel will display a shortcut menu with the following options.