Introduction

Credentials that bots need to interact with (logins and passwords) are stored in the Windows Credential Manager. The data is synchronized, so if you add a credential to the "Credentials" tab in Studio Pro or Bot Runner then it will be also displayed in the Windows Credential Manager and vice versa.

Managing credentials

First method - the "Credentials" tab in Studio Pro or Bot Runner

Both Studio Pro and Bot Runner support adding a credential that will be used in a bot:

1. To manage credentials, open the "Credentials" tab in Studio Pro or Bot Runner:
   
   1. In Studio Pro, press "Settings" - "Credential Management".
   2. In Bot Runner, open the program interface and switch to the "Credentials" tab.
      
2. On the tab, press "Add login and password". A form will appear like on the screenshot below:
   
   
3. In the form, fill the following parameters:
   1. Service - a name of the credential. Specify a suitable name so that you could easily identify it when working on the bot.
   2. Login - specify the user name.
   3. Password - specify the password.
4. Press "Add". If a credential with the identical "Service-Login" pair already exists, you will receive a message with a question about whether the existing data needs to be overwritten. If no duplicates exist, then the form will be closed once the "Add" button is pressed, and the corresponding credential will be displayed in the list of credentials.

Second method -Windows Credential Manager

This method is a bit more complicated because of the number of actions required but it still should be taken into consideration. It involves interaction with the Windows Credential Manager:

1. Click on the search button in the taskbar and enter "Credential Manager". This is the fastest way to open the credential manager.
2. Switch to the "Windows Credentials" tab.
3. Press "Add a generic credential". You'll see the following form:

4. In the form, fill the field in the following way:

   1. Internet or network access: Electroneek Robot/*service name*@*login*
   2. User name: *service name*@*login*
   3. An example is provided on the screenshot below:
5. Press "OK" and restart Studio Pro or Bot Runner. If you then navigate to the "Credentials" tab, you will see the added credential there.

Using credentials

Usually, credentials are used in two ways:

1. Working with activities requiring authorization, such as Read emails from the "Email" section.
2. Accessing third-party systems through the desktop or web interfaces.

In the first case, you just need to select the desired credential in the corresponding parameter of the activity. See the description of the activity if you want to know more details about it.

In the second case, you need to make use of activities from the "Credentials" section in Studio Pro. For example, you may want to use the Get password activity. This activity returns the password depending on which service name was selected but it doesn't save it to a variable automatically for security purposes. Nevertheless, this password can be passed from this activity to the next one, for example, Input to the desktop app, in the "Value" parameter of which you need to specify the "Save the previous step result option". In this case, the password won't be displayed anywhere, yet it will be typed into the specified UI element securely. An example of a similar portion of code is provided below: