Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi All,

I am new to PowerAutomate , i am learning the PAD , and following the tutorial from microsoft website , Here is the Link -> Exercise - Create and run a simple flow - Training | Microsoft Learn in this flow, it is using Launch Excel and Get first free row/column of excel, but after completing the flow, i am getting an error. i have checked the file is not locked , even though the read-only property is not selected, the excel is launching the file, the file is opened in foreground, what i am suspecting is that i don't have paid version of M365. Is there any other way of doing it. Thanks.

Categories:

Power Automate Desktop

Hi @CU31051217-0,

I think its not M365 license issue.Please try to Terminate Process and the start launching the excel. So it will close background excel application. This will work.

If the above one does work Please follow below methods.

✅ 1. Excel is opened outside PAD already

If the file is already open (even briefly), PAD may open it in read-only mode.

Fix:

Close all Excel instances completely

Kill background Excel processes:
- Open Task Manager → End all EXCEL.EXE
Run your PAD flow again

✅ 2. File is opened as Read-only by PAD action

Check your Launch Excel action settings:

🔧 In “Launch Excel”:

Ensure:

❌ Read-only is NOT checked

✅ "Make instance visible" is fine

✅ 3. File is in a protected location (Downloads / Teams / OneDrive temp)

Files from these locations can open in Protected View, which behaves like read-only.

Fix:

Move file to a local folder like:
```
C:\Users\<yourname>\Documents\PAD\
```

Right-click file → Properties → click Unblock (if visiblle)

✅ 4. Another flow or process is locking the file

Sometimes PAD itself creates locks if previous run crashed.

Fix;

Restart your machine (quickest reset)

Or delete leftover ~$filename.xlsx temp fill

✅ 5. Excel instance mismatch in PAD

This happens if:

You launch Excel in one action

But later actions reference a different instance

Fix:

Make sure all actions use the same Excel variable (e.g. %ExcelInstance%)

✅ 6. Workbook is opened without write permissions

Check your Launch Excel action mode:

Correct setup:

Launch Excel:
→ Open the following document
→ Path: your file
→ Instance: New instance
→ Read-only: FALSE

Community site session details

How to write in Excel using Powerautomate desktop flow.

✅ 1. Excel is opened outside PAD already

✅ 2. File is opened as Read-only by PAD action

✅ 3. File is in a protected location (Downloads / Teams / OneDrive temp)

✅ 4. Another flow or process is locking the file

✅ 5. Excel instance mismatch in PAD

✅ 6. Workbook is opened without write permissions

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Community site session details

How to write in Excel using Powerautomate desktop flow.

✅ 1. Excel is opened outside PAD already

✅ 2. File is opened as Read-only by PAD action

✅ 3. File is in a protected location (Downloads / Teams / OneDrive temp)

✅ 4. Another flow or process is locking the file

✅ 5. Excel instance mismatch in PAD

✅ 6. Workbook is opened without write permissions

Helpful resources

News and Announcements

Quick Links

Season of Sharing Community Challenge Launch!

Kudos to our 2025 Community Spotlight Honorees

Congratulations to the May Top 10 Community Leaders!

Subscribe to this forum!

Select categories

Leaderboard > Power Automate

Featured topics

Product updates