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PAD opens excels file and turns auto-save off....?

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Posted on by Murphys110

I have a file with auto-saved turned on, and I'm using "run application" to open it this file during a flow. When opened by PAD, however, the auto-save is turned off.... When I open the file myself, auto-save remains on. I've confirmed that PAD is opening the correct file from the correct folder (Sharepoint synced).

Is there anything I can do...?

Thanks in advance.

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Power Automate Desktop

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Make sure when you make your button, you edit the UI element and change the window to "contains" "Excel" otherwise it will only work for the workbook you made it in instead of all Excel windows.

Good luck!

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VishnuReddy1997 2,656 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Murphys110 ,

Unfortunately, there are no documented settings within PAD to directly control auto-save behavior for opened files.
Instead of run application for opening an excel you can go with excel activities such as Launch excel,Close excel,Save Excel etc.

(Note:- if you got your solution you can mark as solution and gives kudos)

Thanks & Regards
Vishnu Reddy

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Murphys110 on at

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Thanks Michael, and I may use that solution to toggle that switch... for now I'm just really curious as to why it would open "off" when it was saved "on", and only happens when PAD opens the file...

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Murphys110 on at

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Thanks Vishnu, and I didn't know about "launch excel" (is that a newer feature?).. for now I'm just really curious as to why it would open "off" when it was saved "on", and only happens when PAD opens the file...
I did try the launch excel to see if the issue persists, and it does... odd...

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VishnuReddy1997 2,656 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Murphys110 ,

Launch excel is not a new action.You have lot of in built excel activities as shown in below image.

I have written a sample how to launch excel,read excel and close excel by saving it.Please find the below flow.

Code:
Please copy the below code to your flow.
Excel.LaunchExcel.LaunchAndOpenUnderExistingProcess Path: $'''C:\\Users\\OneDrive\\Desktop\\Power Automate Desktop\\Practice\\Excel\\input.xlsx''' Visible: True ReadOnly: False Instance=> ExcelInstance Excel.ReadFromExcel.ReadAllCells Instance: ExcelInstance ReadAsText: False FirstLineIsHeader: True RangeValue=> ExcelData Excel.CloseExcel.CloseAndSave Instance: ExcelInstance

(Note:- if you got your solution you can mark as solution and gives kudos)

Thanks & Regards
Vishnu Reddy

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Murphys110 on at

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Thanks again. Using your code to open the file still produced the same odd result (auto-save turned off). When I then toggle the switch to turn it back on, i'm prompted to select my one-drive login, and it then saves the file in the main directory folder and not the original sub-folder location..... thoughts?

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Srini007 3,327 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Murphys110

It's better to use Excel actions instead of using 'run application', As @VishnuReddy1997 suggest try Launch excel action and check

If you find this reply helpful, please consider giving it a LIKE AND

If this reply answers your question or solves your issue, please ACCEPT AS SOLUTION

Cheers,

Srini

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Murphys110 on at

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Thanks Srini. I did try that different method of opening the file with PAD flow, but with the same result (auto-save turned off). When I then toggle the switch to turn it back on, i'm prompted to select my one-drive login, and it then saves the file in the main directory folder and not the original sub-folder location..... thoughts?...

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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Seems to me like you are opening your local version and not the onedrive version. If you open the onedrive version, the folder will already be connected and the autosave should turn on. If you are opening a local version, the onedrive is not linked which is why it's prompting you to link the onedrive when you switch it to true.

Try the launch excel action again, but point the folderpath/filename.ext directly at the onedrive version.

Good luck!

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Murphys110 on at

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I wondered the same, but path is correct. After restarting the remote machine, the problem didn't recur... so I'm moving on. Thanks for your help!

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