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Each bot can use its own computer on the RelayHub server: a web browser, and a desktop with office apps. You can watch it live, take control to do a step yourself, and give control back. The computer is separate from your own computer: the bot never sees your screen.

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What the computer has

  • A browser for websites: look things up, fill in forms, download files.
  • A desktop with LibreOffice Calc (spreadsheets), LibreOffice Writer (documents) and LibreOffice Impress (presentations). The desktop has no file manager and no terminal.
The bot asks before it uses a new website or the desktop. To click or type, the bot finds the button, link or field in a picture of the screen, and after each step it compares the pictures before and after to see what changed. When it is not sure which element you mean, it does not click and looks again. See Permissions and approvals.

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Commands on the bot’s computer

A bot with a desktop can run commands and short Python programs on its computer to search, count, sort or change data, for example to find every line one person said in a long transcript. A command has no internet access and cannot see the browser’s sign-ins. A long result of any step is a file in the outputs folder of the computer, so the bot searches it with a command instead of reading it page by page. A command can run for up to 13 minutes. A long command runs in the background while the bot does other steps, and the bot checks it later or stops it. The activity log names each background command by a short code, for example “Ran count lines in the background (run a1b2c3)” and “Checked run a1b2c3: exit code 0”, so you can tell two commands apart. When a task finishes or you stop it, any command that the task left running stops too. Up to three commands run at the same time on one computer. Commands use the permission Write and run code. Set it to Ask me first or Never in Permissions if you do not want this. A bot with a desktop reads the files of its computer directly, in any folder, for example its Documents folder or /tmp: text by line, pictures, PDFs, and Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. It cannot read the browser’s sign-ins. Reading files uses the permission Use the desktop apps.

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Watch the bot

The Now tab of the Details panel shows the computer only for a task that used it, or while the bot asks you to take over. It shows a small live picture with a sentence, for example “The bot is browsing example.com” or “The bot is using its desktop”. Before the first use it says “The bot has not opened a browser.” To see the full view, click Open live view in the Now tab, or Live view on the status control at the top of the page. Click Close live view or press Esc to close it. On the desktop, Actual size shows the desktop at its real size.

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Take control and give it back

1

Take control

Click Take control. The bot finishes its current action first, then the view shows “You are in control. The bot waits until you give control back.”
2

Do the step

Use the browser or the desktop with your mouse and keyboard, for example to sign in or to solve a check that asks if you are a person.
3

Give back control

Click Give back control. The bot continues from where you stopped. On the desktop, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift to move the keyboard out of the desktop first.
When the bot needs you to do a step, it says “The bot asks you to take over.” To show the bot a place on its desktop, use Point. See Point at a place.

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Restart the computer

When the bot’s computer or its browser does not work, for example when the browser does not start, restart the computer:
1

Open the live view

Click Open live view in the Now tab, or Live view on the status control at the top of the page.
2

Restart

Click Restart computer. While a task runs, the view asks first: click Restart to continue, or Cancel to keep the computer.
The computer closes, and the view says “You restarted it, so the bot gets a new computer at its next step.” The thread shows the line “You restarted my computer. My next step runs on a new computer.” A running task continues on the new computer. The files in the bot’s home folder and the programs it installed stay. Open pages, open apps and running commands do not stay. While you have control, Restart computer does not show: give control back first. You can also write to the bot “restart your computer”. The bot restarts its own computer when you ask, or when its computer stays stuck after a second try.

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Sign-ins on the computer

The bot does not ask you to sign in on its computer to Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Docs, Outlook mail or OneDrive when you connected that account in Connections. It also does not hand you a password field when it can ask for the password on a card. See Connections and saved logins.

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On a phone

On a phone, the live view shows the picture only. Pinch with two fingers to zoom in, up to four times, and drag with one finger to move a zoomed picture. You cannot take control on a phone: the view says “To take control, open this bot on a computer.” Open the bot on a computer, then click Take control there.

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When the computer closes

  • A computer that nobody uses for 15 minutes closes. The bot opens a new one when it needs it.
  • Each person can have 3 computers open at the same time. When all are in use, the computer of one of your other bots can close so that this bot can use one. The view then says “It ended so another bot could use a computer.”
  • When you pause a bot, its desktop closes.
  • When you or the bot restart the computer, it closes, and the bot gets a new one at its next step.