Answered

Wait for file

(1) Share

Report

Posted on by MayShmulevich

Hi guys,

I have a file that is automatically download from a website. The file name contains 2 parts: the first part is a fixed word ('file') and the second part is the time when the file was downloaded, for example: 'file_10.01.23_12_23'.

I want to create a flow on which the file is downloaded from website and then the next action is launch it in excel. The problem is that sometime the file is heavy and it takes too much time to download while the flow continue to work and then it misses the file when I ask him to 'get the files in folder'.

Somebody has an idea how can I make the flow wait for until the file is created and just then keep the next action?

For now, I just added the "Wait" action, but sometimes the file is too heavy and even the wait is over before it downloaded.

Thank you for your help!

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

I have the same question (0)

All responses (9)

Answers (1)

Highboy 1,183 Super User 2024 Season 1 on at

Like (0)

Report

Use the Action "Wait for file"

You can use it with or without a timeout.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MayShmulevich 19 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi, thank you for the reply! The problem is that I need to specify the full path, and I can not predict the name of the file, as the first time I download it is in the flow (the file name is not fixed). Any idea?

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MayShmulevich 19 on at

Like (0)

Report

I forgot to say that I did tried the "Wait for shortcut key", but its also not ideal, as I want the flow to run by himself

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

Like (4)

Report

Get Files

Set OldNumber to Files.Count

Run the Flow

Set NewNumber to Files.Count

Loop While OldNumber = NewNumber

Get Files2 (sort by date modified newest to oldest)

Set NewNumber to Files2.Count

End (Loop) 'this will end when there is one more file then there was previously.

*now you can continue your loop with Files2[0] as the latest downloaded file.

Best of luck!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
MayShmulevich 19 on at

Like (0)

Report

Such a great solution, thank you very much!!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
RMsolutions 4 on at

Like (0)

Report

hey everyone,

I am having the same problem here but @MichaelAnnis solution is not working for me, but it looks logically perfect

maybe I am making a mistake

I have a Flow where after several clicks and criteria entering, pressing download button and waiting

the file is donwloaded always directly to downloads folder and it takes 5-300s depending on the criteria values

as always, the are lots of files in downloads folder, random files

here is part of the flow

the downloaded file is always a string&date.xlsx

I tried Wait for file with file location in C:\Users\rober\Downloads\%DLfile%, where DLfile is a variable set at the beginning as 'string*'.xlsx - doesnt work, but this was an addition to the flow with the loop

what the flow on the printscreen reallly does

1. runs fine, clicks the download button and then web browser waits until the processing of data ends and the the downloads windows appears, but when I opened the download folder, as soon as the flow run to step 23 and starts the loop, it didnt wait until the file is downloaded, just moves the last file that existed before the flow ran

2. then the flow finishes, the last file that existed before the flow ran was moved and the fresh downloaded file is in the downloads folder and appers depending to the size of the file in 5-300s or so

inside get files is * the sort created DESC

the flow doesnt wait for the file to be downloaded, it ignores the loop completely

what am I doing wrong?

thank you

RM

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

SaiRT14 1,990 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report
try the following:

Trigger: Start download from the website.

Do Until:

Action: List files in the download folder.

Condition: Check if a file with "file_" in its name exists.

Delay: Add a short delay within the loop to avoid frequent checks.

Excel Action: Once the Do Until loop confirms the file, open it in Excel.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
eetuRobo 4,204 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (1)

Report

@RMsolutions
Your Set variable OldNumber and NewNumber are just being set to be string of text: "Files.count"
If you want to have the number of files the syntax is %Files.Count%

It should look like this:

The wait for file should work. Are you sure the value in Wait for file -actions File path -field was correct? Check the DLfile variables value when you run it and see if that actually has correct filename in it. For example if the file you are downloading is named "slovensko&31-10-2024" then you would do it like this:

If you need to use the while loop then you should have Get files in folder -action before you download anything so you can get the "OldNumber" -variable value. Otherwise your download might have been quicker than expected and the file would have been downloaded before the While loop and there for it would stay in infinite loop.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
RMsolutions 4 on at

Like (0)

Report

@ eetuRobo

thank you

it was a mindless mistake setting as string

I solved it yesterday with looking at the variable values and there was a string...

well I do have the get the files at the start so I get the variable oldnumber first, the problem were the strings

but the wait for file isnt working at all, I simply can not set a variable as fixed directory/string*.xlsx

it is not working

maybe bad syntax but cant find a good one with google

thank you very much

Was this reply helpful? Yes No