Which Power Automate Flow Type Opens a Website and Reads Data?
HOTSPOT
You work for a restaurant. The chef prepares the menu based on the availability of produce at the farmer’s market. Every Friday evening, you open the farmer’s market website to view the list of vendors who will attend the market on Saturday morning, copy the list into an email, and send it to the chief.
You need to use Power Automate to replace this manual task.
Select the answer that correctly completes the sentence.
Community Insight
The exam tests the difference between desktop flows (UI/RPA) and cloud flows (connectors/triggers); the trap is letting the 'every Friday evening' scheduling detail override the actual browser-reading action.
This PL-900 hotspot asks which Power Automate flow type replaces manually opening the farmer’s market website and reading the vendor list. The correct completion is Desktop flow, because browser UI automation requires RPA rather than a cloud-only flow.
Many learners select a scheduled cloud flow because the scenario mentions a weekly Friday deadline, but that trigger only schedules the automation—it does not open the farmer’s market website or read its rendered vendor list.
Community Discussion (6 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The blank must be completed with Desktop flow because the task requires browser UI automation: opening the farmer’s market website and reading the vendor list are actions performed on a rendered web page, not through a published API. Power Automate desktop flows use RPA to launch a browser, navigate to the URL, scrape or copy the vendor data, and then hand that data to a cloud flow that sends the email. This matches the sentence to complete and the explanation from zurichusermicrosoft: "It's desktop because question is about opening website and reading the data". FreddyKruger1 reached the same conclusion: "'desktop' matches the verbs earlier in the sentence". Scheduling the task for Friday evening is a separate design detail and does not change the flow type needed for the UI interaction.Why Other Candidate Answers Are Wrong
A cloud flow or scheduled cloud flow by itself cannot reliably open an arbitrary website, interpret its rendered layout, or read the list as a human would; cloud flows depend on connectors, APIs, or HTTP calls and would need structured endpoints. Choosing "scheduled cloud flow" because the scenario says "Every Friday evening" confuses the trigger with the action. Cooljoy7777 noted that interacting directly with a browser UI "requires Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which is handled by a desktop flow." If the exam blank is asking for the flow that performs the website read, any cloud-only option is incorrect. A scheduled cloud flow can trigger the desktop flow, as VijayUs26 described, but it is not the component that opens and reads the site.Community Comment Notes
The comments show strong consensus around desktop flow for this hotspot. amit_ax asked which flow is used "to open the website and read the data" and concluded that "Desktop flow" is correct. yukikaze_503 simply asked "Why not desktop?" implying that desktop is the obvious fit. zurichusermicrosoft specifically warned that the Friday timing does not override the action requirement, and FreddyKruger1 added that the verb pattern in the sentence points to desktop. VijayUs26 provided the complete architecture: a cloud flow triggers a desktop flow to open the website.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
When a PL-900 scenario describes opening a website, clicking, copying from a screen, or reading rendered content, choose Desktop flow. When it describes timed recurrence, sending email, or working through connectors, choose Cloud flow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a scheduled cloud flow open the farmer’s market website and read the vendor list without a desktop flow?
No. Cloud flows rely on API or connector data; reading a rendered website UI requires a desktop flow’s RPA browser actions.
How does the Friday evening schedule fit if the answer is a desktop flow?
A scheduled cloud flow can run every Friday and trigger the desktop flow, which opens the site, reads vendors, and passes data for the email.
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