web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content

Notifications

Announcements

Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Power Platform Community / Forums / Power Automate / Unattended Power Autom...
Power Automate
Answered

Unattended Power Automate Desktop Flow keeps overwriting Excel-Template

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by 33
Hi All, 
 
I built a Power Automate Desktop Flow which, among other things, opens an Excel template file on a SharePoint, writes a data table into the Excel template, saves the file with a different file name and then closes Excel. When running the flow in attended mode on my PC everything is fine and the Excel template file remains unchanged, just as it should be, because the Excel file with the data table is saved with a different file name so that the Excel template file on the SharePoint is not changed/overwritten. 
 
Now comes the strange part: When running the very same flow on a virtual machine in unattended mode (scheduled execution), the Excel file with the data table is also saved with a different file name but at the same time it overwrites the original Excel template file on the SharePoint. So it does both - creates a new file but also overwrites the Excel template file. 
 
I cannot figure out why it does that in unattended mode, because, as mentioned before, the flow is identical to the one that I execute in attended mode on my PC. Has anyone experienced similar behavior and can suggest a solution to this issue? 
 
Many thanks in advance.
I have the same question (0)
  • Verified answer
    eetuRobo Profile Picture
    4,383 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at
    Make sure the Excels AutoSave on that file template is off with the unattended machine/user. Maybe add "Take a screenshot" -action when the template Excel is open and focused to see if that toggle is on.



    Then also make sure that the "Close Excel" -action which closes the template is set to "Do not save document"


    If these doesn't solve it then please share screenshot of the flow.
    Also maybe consider changing the flow so that you just download the template excel to your local folder and modify it then. So that you never actually modify the original template
     
  • Saibot861 Profile Picture
    33 on at
    @eetuRobo Sometimes the answer can be so simple ;-). It was indeed the AutoSave function that caused the template file to be overwritten. This option was turned off on my laptop, but activated on the VM. Thank you very much for your help.
     
    Regards
     
     

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Forum hierarchy changes are complete!

In our never-ending quest to improve we are simplifying the forum hierarchy…

Kudos to our 2025 Community Spotlight Honorees

Congratulations to our 2025 community superstars!

Leaderboard > Power Automate

#1
trice602 Profile Picture

trice602 392 Super User 2025 Season 2

#2
David_MA Profile Picture

David_MA 270 Super User 2025 Season 2

#3
Expiscornovus Profile Picture

Expiscornovus 210 Most Valuable Professional

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard