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Power Automate Desktop error when opening Excel file using URL

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Posted on by RAC 10

I have a few flows using POD that open an Excel file and the path is a url. The url is to a JotForm excel file. In the past the files opened without issue. However, I updated POD yesterday and now the files will not open and I get an error: Failed to open Excel document '' (Workbooks retrieval error). Current Version is 2.17.169.22042. Any idea what may be causing the issue? 

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Power Automate Desktop
  • VJR Profile Picture
    VJR 7,635 on at

    Many community users are reporting the "Failed to open Excel document" error but the one in the brackets is a different message. There are different solutions like re-installating office, windows updates, closing excel properly, killing excel, etc. Could you please search in the forum that can give you a right answer after trying those.

    This is particularly happening after the PAD update.

  • RAC Profile Picture
    RAC 10 on at

    The process worked for months and the moment after the most recent Power Automate update, they all started failing. However, I did come up with a workaround that seems reliable. Instead of using Launch Excel to open an Excel using an URL, I started using Download from the Web to get the file and put the file on my organization's server. Prior to downloading, I delete the file from the previous date to ensure that I get the most up to date file. I then use Launch Excel to continue and now all is well. Hopefully, this will help others in the same situation.

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