Updated: May 31, 2023 (July 10, 2022)
Analyst ReportRemote Automation of Office Brings Pitfalls
- Office applications can be used as components of line-of-business workflows
- While remote UI automation is possible, driving Office through other means is preferable
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise applications have not been optimized to work with remote process automation (RPA), and controlling them through their UI can bring unexpected issues. Microsoft advises that automation that includes Office apps use a programmatic approach (through the apps’ APIs or by manipulating the files outside of Office) whenever possible. However, some automation can be achieved only through RPA because of missing API features or the relative cost of reimplementing existing line-of-business assets like Word templates and Excel models.
Potential Issues with RPA
The Microsoft 365 Unattended license is offered to allow customers to reach licensing compliance when utilizing RPA, but Microsoft warns that unexpected behaviors encountered when using Office applications without a human user present are not defects and will not be fixed. Potential issues can generally be classified into three buckets:
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