We often don't think about what tools we have available as an Robotic Process Automation developer, especially as they are often low code developers. Yet using right tool can have bug impacts on your productivity, check out my recommendations below.
Pre-Build
Design
Primary: Visio, Secondary: Whimsical
Although similar these 2 actually exists in parallel in my work stream. The breadth of icons/templates in Viso is hard to beat, but whimsical is excellent for speed. When drafting I love how quickly I can create a flow of steps. The UI is modern and simple, there is a great free allowance, and key features like exporting and sharing are included.
Whimsical
https://www.microsoft.com/viso
https://whimsical.com/
Data
Primary: Power BI, Secondary:Flourish
Again these have slightly different use cases for me so I use both. Power BI is all about the data connections and live dashboards, where Flourish is for one off visuals for a presentation. So when building a business case for an RPA project I like to use Flourish, but post deployment tracking I like Power BI. But they both can do either. Flourish has a good free tier, with only selected templates/chart styles not available.
Flourish
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-gb/
https://flourish.studio/
Build
API
Primary: Postman, Secondary: Hoppscotch
Postman has always been the go to API tool, with environments and variables it has all the features. Additionally a lot of platforms accept postman exports. Hoppscotch is an almost mirror of Postman but online (and yes I know there is now a Postman web version but its not quite there yet). The UI is more modern and in my opinion better, and in some cases I've had better compatibility. If you like Postman, you like this too, just without the overhead of installing it.
Hopscotch
https://www.postman.com/
https://hoppscotch.io/
Coding
Primary: Vs code, Secondary: Notepad++
There is nothing that really comes close to vs code, its breadth of addins, slick interface and modern UI make it hard to beat. It even has a impressive web version too. But there is an old favourite, Notepad++. Its simple (if not dated UI) just works, and its lightweight design makes it ideal for quick development.
https://vscode.dev/
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Emails
Primary: Vs code, Secondary: Topol
An often integral part of RPA is sending automatic emails, and creating content rich emails can often be a challenge. I currently fall back on vs code to write my html email templates. But I have just started using Topol.io, its not as quick as Vs code, but great for really complex templates, it has nice WYSIWYG UI and the free tier has everything you need.
Topol
https://vscode.dev/
https://topol.io/
JSONs
Primary: JSON Crack, Secondary:JSON Formatter
Reading JSON outputs isn't always the easiest, but with JSON crack its easy. This site not only allows you to view JSONs in clear way, it has a unique node view that creates an interactive map (great for presentations). Though when working in the browser (especially Power Automate) then JSON Formatter is king. Its a chrome add in (think available for FireFox too), which auto formats JSONs. So when ever you open an api response or Power Automate Output Download you get the response in a clear, pretty view.
JSON Crack
https://jsoncrack.com/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/json-formatter
Regex's
Primary: regex101, recommend: Regoio
Regex101 is the most flexible and feature rich regex creator that I keep going back to. It has a great UI that allows novices to build regex's, and the error/validator covers everything. If you want something simple with a good cheat sheet then my second choice is Regoio.
Regex101
Regoio
https://regex101.com/
https://regoio.herokuapp.com/
Post Build
Documentation
Primary: Confluence, Secondary:Tettra
With excellent integration with Jira (Atlassian owns both) and fantastic search indexing confluence is great for documenting your automations. Tettra is the new kid on the block, with modern UI and lots of new features. Still not as robust as Confluence but offers something different.
https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence
https://tettra.com/
Guides
Primary: Articulate 360, Secondary: Scribehow
Articulate is an all singing all dancing LMS system that can create in-depth training guides. Very much overkill for RPA but a great tool. But I have recently discovered Scribehow, which is a totally different approach. Instead of complex training documents that can take a long time to create, Scribehow is a screen recorder that auto uses basic ai to create a guide. You can then edit the output to get exactly what you want. For technical documents its great. The free tier is ok, with basic features and the ability to record a web browser, though for desktop and some good features you will need to pay.
Scribehow
https://articulate.com/360
https://scribehow.com/
Useful
Tinywow is the swiss army knife of the internet, with every micro task, want to convert image type, compress image, convert JSON to XML, pdf splitter, yep it can do it all and its 100% free.
Photopea is a free online version of Photoshop, simple as that
beta.dreamstudio.ai is amazing, heard of openai Dalle 2 (AI that creates amazing images from text input)? This is a very good approximation of it, with free credits and even an api. You need test images this is all you need.
Lumen5 is a high quality online video editor with a good free tier that should cover most of your needs. Ideal for editing screen recordings and demonstration videos.
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