Delete Excel file if exists - handle error if open

[Terry_Marr]

I’m trying to delete an excel file if exists. The error that I’m encountering is if it is already open, it is “in use by another process”, so can’t delete it.

What is the proper way to try to delete it if it exists, and if there’s a IO error, then close it or shut down Excel and try to delete the file again?

[pikorpa (Piotr Kołakowski)]

Hey @Terry_Marr
Please check this topic but basically you can place that ‘kill process’ activity right before the activity where you are trying to access that file.

Error message: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process

The error message “The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process” typically indicates that a file is locked or in use by another application or process, preventing your process (in this case, your UiPath automation) from accessing or modifying it. This error is not directly related to UiPath but is a general Windows file system error. The file you are trying to access may be opened and locked by another application or process. This could be a different software…