What's New in the AWM?

The Advanced Workflow Module uses components from Fortra's Automate Desktop, which is bundled in the EFT installer. This topic discusses changes from Automate 10 (the previous version bundled in the EFT installer) and Automate 2024.

IMPORTANT: Before installing Automate 24.x or Automate Desktop 24.x, confirm your version of Windows is compatible with .NET Framework 4.8.

New Features

  • 64-bit installer (As of version 11.7.1, Automate is only available as a 64-bit installer.)

  • Dataset

    • Adds the ability to create and manipulate datasets, as well as manage the rows and columns within them.

  • JSON Object

    • JSON Decode - convert a JSON-encoded string into Automate variable engine objects.

    • JSON Encode - convert an Automate variable engine object into a JSON-encoded string.

Enhancements

  • Added support for Windows Server 2022

  • Azure Action Enhancements

    • The Azure Action has been updated to support TLS 1.2.

  • SharePoint Action Enhancements

    • SharePoint activities can now pull over information from multi-choice Lookup, User, and Group columns to populate datasets.

    • Added Azure AD Delegated and Interactive authentication types to support multifactor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) with SharePoint Online-based connections.

    • Added SharePoint App Only and Azure AD App Only authentication types to support modern authentication with SharePoint Online.

    • Removed support for SharePoint 2007 and 2010 from the SharePoint action and SharePoint Browser.

    • Added the "Preserve internal column names" parameter to the SharePoint (Get files, Get Folders, and Get list item(s)) activities which provides the option to prevent SharePoint columns from being renamed in datasets.

    • SharePoint activities now correctly fail if user credentials are not valid.

    • The SharePoint (Get folders) activity no longer displays the "Error VirusStatus column already exists" error message during runtime for SharePoint 2019 and Online-based connections.

    • The SharePoint (Upload file(s)) activity now provides the option to set metatags while uploading files and retrieve uploaded file IDs.

    • The SharePoint Condition no longer displays a "not supported" error when set to "Evaluate condition immediately."

    • The SharePoint Trigger now properly fires tasks and workflows.

      • NOTE: The SharePoint trigger has been updated to use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The default TCP port is 9705. If you need to change this port number, please contact Fortra Support.

  • Variable Action Enhancements

    • Added the ability to add a variable to the Watchlist by right-clicking on it from the Variables pane in the Task Builder.

    • Numeric-type variables are now handled and stored in decimals to provide higher precision.

    • The Variable (Create) and Variable (Set) activities now dynamically resize the "Initial value" and "New value" fields, based on input data.

    • The Variable (Create) activity now provides the option to secure a variable which will encrypt the value of a variable while editing a task.

    • Secured variables value will still be viewable in plaintext during runtime execution.

    • Constant Values can now be assigned while creating a Task Variable.

    • The Variable Engine has been optimized to improve overall system performance.

      • IMPORTANT: IMPORTANT: The optimizations to the Variable Engine now require all expression functions to contain () (for example, %Now()%).

  • Welcome tab

    • Added new Welcome tab to the Task Administrator in Automate Desktop and the Server Management Console in Automate Plus/Ultimate to provide quick access to important Automate community aspects — all in one place.

    • In the event the Task Administrator in Automate Desktop or the Server Management Console in Automate Plus/Ultimate become disconnected, the Welcome page will display a Connect button that allows the connection to be re-established.

  • User Interface Enhancements

    • Rebranded the Automate and Automate Desktop user interfaces and company logos from HelpSystems to Fortra.

    • The user interface for Automate has been updated to provide an improved user experience.

    • Automate Desktop now displays the Automate Desktop product name in the user interface.

    • Task Builder now allows the option to automatically save tasks with an associated file every two minutes.

    • Added new UI Automation accessibility engine to support greater discoverability and ease of use when interacting with controls in desktop applications, such as Microsoft Excel.

    • Data value highlighting

    • Dockable panels

    • Variable inspector

    • Simplified event and function editing

  • FTP Action Enhancements

    • The FTP (Logon) activity now supports an SSL/TLS (implicit) connection with TLS 1.0 disabled and TLS 1.1 and 1.2 enabled.

    • FTPS connections now work with TLS 1.2.

    • FTP - Logon activity now supports ECDH and ECDSA algorithms/ciphers.

    • FTP - Logon activity now supports AES (CTR,CBC) algorithms/ciphers.

    • The FTP (Upload file(s)) activity now provides the option to use multi-threaded uploads.

    • Added the ability to adjust SFTP pipeline length, block transfers, and upload/download block size.

    • Added the ability to manually adjust the "Upload buffer size (bytes)" setting for SFTP in the FTP (Logon, Download file(s), and Upload file(s)) activities.

    • Added the ability to suppress additional operations for SFTP transfers.

    • The FTP action now supports TLS 1.3 and the following TLS 1.3 ciphers:

      • TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
      • TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
      • TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256

    • The FTP action now supports the following SFTP ciphers:

      • EA_3DES was renamed to EA_3DES-CBC
      • EA_AES128 was renamed to EA_AES128_CBC
      • EA_AES192 was renamed to EA_AES192_CBC
      • EA_AES256 was renamed to EA_AES256_CBC

  • OCR Action Enhancements

    • Added support for the Turkish language for all OCR activities.

    • Added support for the Tesseract engine to improve accuracy and provide more reliable results.

    • Added JPEG image format support to all OCR activities.

    • Added support for the Hebrew language to all OCR activities.

    • Added support for the Japanese language to all OCR activities.

  • File System Action Enhancements

    • The File System (Move) activity's Source and Destination parameters now support over 260 characters.

    • Added the ability to encode/decode a file using Base64 encoding by way of the new File System (Base64 encode/decode) activity.

    • The File System (Get information) activity now provides the ability to include checksums for all files.

    • The File System (Dataset to CSV) activity now supports enclosing dataset cell values in double quotes (") in CSV files.

    • Improved the performance of the File System (Dataset to CSV) activity.

  • Terminal Action Enhancements

    • Added the ability to select the terminal window resolution for TN3270 and TN5250 emulations to the Terminal (Connect) activity.

    • Added the ability to attempt to automatically signoff from a terminal before disconnecting for TN3270 and TN5250 emulations to the Terminal (Connect) activity.

    • Added the ability to change font sizes for TN3270 and TN5250 emulations to the Terminal (Connect) activity.

    • Terminal - Connect activity supports public key authentication method.

  • Image Action Enhancements

    • The Image action now supports .tif and .jpeg file formats.

  • Compression Action Enhancements

    • Added the ability to verify if compressed files are valid and not corrupted by way of the new Compression (Verify) activity.

  • HTTP Action Enhancements

    • Added the ability to modify existing data or a file on the specified server by way of the new HTTP (Patch) activity.

    • The HTTP (Post) activity now provides the ability to submit HTTP Post requests that do not contain a body.

    • The HTTP (Get) activity now accepts the "Create and Populate Dataset" field as a valid action output without an associated variable or output file.

    • Added the ability to create predefined HTTP connections using the new HTTP (Define) activity. Users can define HTTP connection and authentication information in a single place and then reuse it through a task in various HTTP steps.

    • Added support for additional authentication means (OATH 2.0, Bearer Token, API Key).

    • Corrected numerous issues involving JSON decoding.

  • Exchange Action Enhancements

    • Added support for Exchange Online with Modern Authorization to the Email Server Settings.

    • Added support for Exchange Online with Modern Authorization to the Email Default Task Agent Properties.

    • Added support for Exchange Online with Modern Authorization to the Email Default Properties.

    • The hot key for each Exchange activity is now unique.

    • The Exchange (Get object(s)) activity now returns an empty dataset and no longer fails if no objects exist.

    • The Exchange Action as well as all other Actions and Automate/Enterprise components that employ exchange functionality have been updated to support TLS 1.2.

  • PDF Action Enhancements

    • Added the ability for the PDF (Insert) activity to perform an insert at the last page of a PDF document.

    • Added new annotation management activities (Add annotation, Delete annotation(s), and List annotation(s)).

    • Added the ability to insert an image as a new page in a PDF in the PDF (Insert) activity.

    • Corrected numerous issues with the PDF action.

    • The PDF (Get attachment(s)) activity now provides the option to overwrite existing file attachments with the same name or individually save them with unique file names.

    • The PDF (Extract) activity now provides the option to extract contents into a single, multi-page TIFF file.

    • The PDF (Create) activity now provides the option to change page orientation.

  • Email Action Enhancements

    • The Email (Send Message) activity can now create a dataset to capture information regarding each email sent.

  • Dialog Action Enhancements

    • The Dialog (Open File) activity now provides improved file and folder browsing navigation.

  • BASIC Script Action Enhancements

    • The BASIC Script (Execute) activity's Embedded text box has been increased in size.

  • Web Service Action Enhancements

    • Web Service action has been updated to support TLS 1.2.