Editor's note: this tutorial was originally published in 2019 and updated with new content in January 2021 and April 2022.
There’s never been a more exciting time to be a robotic process automation (RPA) developer. You have plenty of tools to create rewarding automation experiences for users on virtually any platform.
Let’s look at a few ways you can discover, build, engage with, manage, and govern your UiPath automations from Macs.
Discover what to automate with UiPath Automation Hub from your Mac
Automation Hub is the easiest way for your team to crowdsource automation ideas and manage the entire automation lifecycle. You can access Automation Hub from any internet browser.
Get started at www.uipath.com/AutomationHub.
Kickoff and engage with your robots from your Apple Mac with UiPath Assistant, Apps, and Action Center
UiPath Assistant
UiPath Assistant is a digital sidekick to help employees with their day-to-day work. It makes it easy and fun for employees to collaborate with robots, while providing automation leaders with central oversight and control. Assistant is available on macOS, enabling every Mac user to easily access automation right from their desktop.
Employees can:
1. Access, manage, and run cross-platform automations developed by their CoE in UiPath Studio
2. Create reminders to run automations at a specific time
3. Access Mac-compatible ready-to-go automations from the UiPath Marketplace and your internal Automation Store
4. Launch automation-powered apps
5. Share new automation ideas with the CoE via UiPath Automation Hub
6. Pin and group their favorite automations in Assistant feed, as well as create keyboard shortcuts to run them instantly when needed
UiPath Apps
With UiPath Apps you can build frontends where business users can kickoff robots from their device of choice, including Macs and phones. Robert Love, a UiPath Developer and Program Manager for our Academic Alliance program, called Apps a gamechanger because it “turns the RPA devs who historically felt like backend developers into frontend developers....and everyone wants to feel like a frontend developer."
Apps can be as simple as a data entry form or a sophisticated multi-step process that interacts with unattended automations. They are built on top of various cloud and on-premises applications including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and legacy systems without APIs.
Check out how to build your own apps:
UiPath Action Center
Let’s say you want your users to be able to take a specific action as your robot is running. Use UiPath Action Center to hand off the process from robot to human. And back again. Like Automation Hub, Action Center can be accessed from Macs!
Collaborate with your robots from anywhere with Action Center!
*Please note only Chrome is currently supported for applications within UiPath Automation Cloud™.
UiPath Chatbots
About one-third of our workforce uses Apple Macs, and one of the most popular ways Mac users engage with automations is through UiPath Chatbots. Our internal center of excellence (CoE) created an automation that's accessible through Slack.
Like many companies, we have a host of Slack channels, and keeping track of the latest, most-relevant discussions can be time consuming.
With automation, Mac users can ask a chatbot for a digest of their unread Slack channels. They can customize the digest with respect to channels, number of reactions, comments, etc. In the background, an unattended robot pulls together a summary for the user with all topics in the last 24 hours that fit the criteria.
Start building your own Druid Chatbots today!
Build automations with UiPath Studio from your Mac
You can also access UiPath Studio on Macs. Some clients looking to automate tasks on Mac with UiPath Studio use the following solutions. Please leverage them at your own discretion.
DISCLAIMER: UiPath Studio is built on Windows Workflow Foundation and requires Microsoft Windows to run. Thus, while the following options provide you with a way to access automations built in Windows environments, it is not possible today to natively run UiPath Studio on Mac OS X-based systems.
1. Dual boot
With a Dual boot solution, the Mac has both OS X and Windows installed, allowing either operating system to be executed. Switching from one to another requires a reboot.
2. Remote desktop virtualization
Remote desktop virtualization solutions operate in a client/server computing environment.
Application execution takes place on a remote operating system which communicates with the local client device over a network using a remote display protocol through which the user interacts with applications. All applications and data used remain on the remote system with only display, keyboard, and mouse information communicated with the local Mac device.
Popular Remote desktop solutions include:
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3. Virtual Machines
A virtual machine creates a computer within a computer. It allows an entire version of Microsoft Windows to run in a window on OS X just as any application would. A user can switch from native OS X applications to the Windows virtual machine without requiring a reboot.
Popular virtual machine technologies include:
*The information in this article is provided "as is" without any warranty, express or implied. Use the information and tools discussed in this article at your own risk and discretion.
Run Automation Cloud Robots from your Mac
Automation Cloud Robots are SaaS robots hosted in the UiPath Automation Cloud that let you run automations quickly without building or managing your own unattended Robot Infrastructure.
Manage your Automations with UiPath Orchestrator from your Mac
So, you’ve built all these robots, but how do you manage them? UiPath Orchestrator and Automation Ops can be accessed via your Mac browser, too!
Measure automations with UiPath Insights from your Mac
Finally, once you discover, kickoff, and manage your automations on Macs, you will want a way to measure your automations’ impact.
UiPath Insights gives you the RPA analytics you need to keep your automation program on track.
Want to tell us how you are automating from your Mac?
Let us know in the Forum!
Joe Edwards is Community Product Marketing Manager at UiPath.
