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CreateFile "File already exists", when it does not

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Posted on by J_2

Hi all,

Interesting one. I've got a flow that creates a document, however it is erroring out saying the file already exists, when it does not.

A file with the name [DIR]/[FILE].docx already exists. It was last modified by [MyUserAccount]. on [Time] -0700.

The file does NOT exist before the flow runs, and it is created properly in the Sharepoint directory. There is only one instance of CreateFile in the flow.

Has anyone else encountered this? Many thanks for any insight!

Full flow below:

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,479 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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@J_2

you are saying it doesnt exist. If true, then it means the file wont be in the environment + path because it failed.

Is the file there? Please show the environment you are deving and running the flow in as well as the error itself.

1. Make sure you aren't accidentally looking in the wrong place (happens to the best of us)

2. Make sure to validate the environment and full path of the file, versus the Input ./ outputs of the CreateFile so that you can see them next to each other.

If the flow says it exists, it exists.

If I have helped you, I would really appreciate if you please Mark my answer as Resolved/Answered, and give it a thumbs up, so it can help others

Cheers

Thank You
Michael Gernaey MCT | MCSE | MCP | Self-Contractor| Ex-Microsoft
https://gernaeysoftware.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgernaey

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J_2 15 on at

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Unfortunately, in this case, the files did not already exist.

The Folder of TrainingRecords/Records was completely empty prior to running the flow. After the flow ran, the file was created successfully in the expected directory. The modified time was "A few seconds ago", as in the screenclip above).

The issue was that it returned an error saying the file already existed, despite having just been created by the flow.

To remove all scope for accidental duplication, the flow also appended the current time (down to the second) to the filename, which should have alleviated the issue of files already existing.

In the end, I removed the "CreateFile" module, and re-added it with the exact same settings - And now its working absolutely fine. Was very strange....

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