I had to use Application/Browser option to use my gmail account because Outlook automation was not reliable

Wow - such a relief to get this part done - even if I had to use a temporary workaround until my Outlook issues are worked out.

I tried to use Outlook, but my browser version can be reeeeeeally slow, and when I used the desktop version I got a message that I had to use the browser version…

So for now, I used the use Application/Browser option to use my gmail account instead and it worked like a charm. :slight_smile:

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Hi Ann,

How did you use a google account?

I can inly find a ‘Send outlook mail’ function? Is there a ‘Send gmail’ available?

Hi Nishan,

I did not use a specific activity that is for google. I used the Use Application/Browser activity, just like we used to access the Find Unicorn Name website. This allows me to use any type of email account, including yahoo or any others.

I also had to use Click and Type into and some of the other individual actions. This is a workaround and not as simple and elegant as using the single activity Send Outlook email, but it works.

The nice thing about using the Send Outlook email activity is that you don’t have to worry about trying to anchor all of the different targets - for the From box, To box, Subject, Body, Send button, etc, which can definitely be a challenge when using the non-specific Use Application/Browser activity.

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Dear Ann,

Thanks so much for your response and for the trouble taken to explain in detail.

That’s quite a innovative workaround. Let me try that too.

Best Regards,
Nishan

Hi Ann_Bell
I used your workaround for Yahoo as I’m not using Outlook and it worked like a charm! Thank you so much.

Sure thing Nishan! Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m giving too much detail, so I’m glad to hear it may help.

That’s fantastic! Great to know it worked for someone else. :slight_smile:

Is there an alternative for using Outlook in these tasks? We use gmail so can this be used as I dont have outlook?

Hi @tim.wilcox

See above (I moved your question to this topic).

Hello, thanks for the workaround. I was able to get the bot to send an email, but it did not attach my file… did I miss a step?

I see I read the instructions wrong, I thought I was sending an attachment instead of just signing the email… will try again!

Hi Ann,

I was trying out your suggestion. But getting the following error (This activity cannot be added inside a Use Application / Browser activity). Did you come across this?

Hi Nishan,

That’s a great point! Actually, for this project, I switched over to my personal PC instead of my work PC and was able to use the Outlook resource without any issues, so I did not run into this issue.

BUT - since I was curious if I would get that error, I tested it out, and sure enough I do - it seems that you can’t nest an Application/Browser activity inside another Application/Browser activity, so you have to click on the plus symbol that is located outside of the previous Application/Browser activity…

Hope this helps.

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Hi Ann,

Thanks so much for that. Much appreciated.

I figured out the issue when I moved to the next chapter !!

Once again many thanks for the support.

By the way, hope you are keeping safe. Hearing not so good news in US these days, due to COVID.

All the best !!

Nishan

Fortunately, my family and I have been well so far. Hopefully this will die down soon. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts!