How can I use a shortcut for the workbook path in an Excel Application Scope?

[Bryan_Schmiedeler]

Our use case is that there are certain files in O365 [OneDrive, Teams, Sharepoint] that we need to run automations on. Tried using the packages that UIPath offers but there Excel activities are limited. Tried making copies and sharing the files on a different server and then syncing them, but this is resulting in syncing failures and other problems. WE WANT TO ACCESS THE FILES DIRECTLY.

I think I have hit upon a solution. A user shares the file with the UIPath developers group, then copies the Sharepoint URL of the document.

Then I create a shortcut on UIPath servers, with the following format.

“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE” + " " +

Now when I double click the link it opens the file in Excel on the server I am on and I can directly update the file. If a user is also open in the file on One Drive/Teams/Sharepoint then I can see that and they can see me (or the robot). This is exactly the use case we want to have.

I celebrated until I wanted to incorporate this into a new automation.

I added the path to the link to the workbook path parm in the Application Scope Activity, like so:

However, when I run this the BOT opens the EXCEL application file (at least it appears to!).

Again, if I double click the link everything works perfectly, using the shortcut (or .lnk) it doesn’t.

Is there a way to just open the link by double-clicking and then passing the workbook object to an application scope?

Bryan