Read Drop Down list values in Excel

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1

Hello,

I am automating a process that is required to read the values available in a drop down list in a cell in an Excel workbook and continue processing with those values. I did some searching and I was not able to find anything in the native Excel App Integration library provided in UiPath Studio CE. How should I go about automating this task?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Sean

1 Like
2

Hi
—use a START PROCESS activity and pass the filepath of excel file as input to Filename property
—this will open the file in foreground
—then use a GET ACTIVE WINDOW activity and inside that activity use a SEND HOT KEY activity with key as ctrl+g

—now use a TYPE INTO activity and mention the cell position for example “C12” and another send hot key activity with key as enter

—this will take us to the cell we want to
—then we can use Send hot key activity with down key in drop down list value selection

Cheers @sean.finn

3

Thank you for the suggestion! I am running into an error when trying this: “Start Process: Application could not be opened”

Also, could you explain a little more of what you mean by

—then we can use Send hot key activity with down key in drop down list value selection

Will this allow me to scrape all of the values in the drop down and store as string array?

Thank you

4

Fine before using Start Process activity use a KILL PROCESS activity and mention as “EXCEL” in ProcessName property
Then use excel application scope

And for this

I though you would like to select a particular value from that drop down
if possible can I have a view on that drop down option from excel screen is it from a particular column or from a particular cell

@sean.finn

5

Using the KILL PROCESS activity has solved the initial problem, I am now able to navigate to the particular cell and select it.

The final step then

“—then we can use Send hot key activity with down key in drop down list value selection”

does not allow me to view the drop down list.

My apologies if I was unclear, please see the uploaded photo for a better idea. My goal is to be able to “read in” all of the options seen in the drop down list and store them somewhere, ideally an array of strings, to be able to continue processing. It seems counter intuitive, but the values in the actual drop down are dynamically changing and that is why I must be able to read the options before continued processing.

Thank you!!

EDIT: this is one cell (D8) within the Excel workbook

dropdownexample|169x142

6

Did find children activity helped us here
@sean.finn

7

@Palaniyappan Negative, I have tried implementing “Find Children” and selecting the cell with the drop down and I am unable to have the options returned. I believe that particular activity is designed to look for children in HTML elements anyway so I wouldn’t have expected it to work, but at this point I will try anything!

8

Hi, have you found the solution for this problem? Currently I’m facing the same issue with yours. Thanks in advance.