thanks for the quick reply.
I for the moment abandoned Power Automate and tried Power Rename and got stuck again.
the difference was the error message in Power Rename was invalid character in the new file name.
Since it was coming from an excel file I did not think to verify the new names, I was focused on the old names
Duhhh...... slashes verses dashes in date format embedded in new file name
I replaced all "/" with "-" and went back to Power Automate and it ran successfully.
all 85 files.
If I were to give a critique, Power Automate although "cannot find the path" is an accurate statement, it would have been nice for the new names to be checked for format, and I was provided that error message.
It would have been even nicer if I just realized the invalid date format and saved 3 hours of slamming my head against the wall.
Anyways I provide this detail for anyone else that run into this and forst check for invalid characters in the new names coming from an excel file
Again thanks for your quick reply, and sorry for the time sink.
Mark