Handle pop-ups with word--> export to pdf

[Jeroen_Van_Loon1 (Jeroen Van Loon)]

I have a challenge converting word documents (.docx) to .pdf using the ‘Export to PDF’ activity.

Generally it works fine, except when the word document contains certain conditions, such as the ‘track changes’ or signatures enabled. Saving as PDF triggers a pop-up in word if one of these conditions apply.

Here’s the challenge: Since the save as pdf activity is not completed, no follow up action can be automated. So I can’t detect the popup and click it, etc. Word waits for the next human/bot interaction, and UIPath waits for Word to complete the export. A staring contest which goes on endlessly. The ‘export to pdf’ activity offers no timeout options and throws no exceptions to capture either.

Does anybody have a solution for this? A workaround is performing the export completely through the regular UI, but this has other disadvantages in my encvironment, which I hope I can avoid.

Versions:
Studio 19.10.3.0
UiPath.Word.Activities 1.3.4

Basic code:

• Word application scope (source document path)
• Do: Export to pdf (target document path)

[ptrobot]

Have you checked out the Parallel activity?

If you need an example on how to use the Parallel activity:

Full Screen Custom Input

Here’s a workaround. Create two sequences, one for showing the Custom Input Form and another to maximize the Custom Input Form window. In your main workflow, use a Parallel activity and invoke the two workflows previously created. Make sure that the property Isolated is checked on the two Invoke Workflow activities. See the attached file for an example. [image] [image] CustomFormMaximize.zip (11.0 KB)

[tim.r.spicer (Tim Spicer)]

Can you go into more detail on how a parallel activity could resolve this issue? I don’t understand how that could solve this problem.