This is an oldbug without a solution. I faced exactly the same one 4 years later. UiPath cannot choose correctly the Excel type in the Save As option (let’s suppose you choose XLSB, for instance) and retains the previous type when you save (let’s suppose XLSX, for instance).
Now, can this be solved? Yes, I found a workaround:
Click on the arrow at the end of the type (do not click anywhere else):
I’m trying to understand this.
How would Excel (or UiPath Automation) know what the “Save As” file-type is going to be unless you do one of the two things:
Select the drop-down and choose the Save As type and then type just the name of the file without the extension
Or
Do the opposite - type the name of the file with the extension (without) choosing anything from the drop-down.
So, how is Excel expected to know what the Save As type must be even before we decide?
In my opinion, the second process is easier because you will need to know what you are going to be saving the file as before initiating the Save As action in Excel. Besides, it is a single step process as you can skip selecting the file type from the drop down entirely.
If you go to save as, the logical action is to click and choose from the UiPath dropdown what you want (XLSB, for instance). But as reported 4 years ago, this is not working because it never changes the extension to the correct one. In the end, it saves the file in the previous format again (XLSX, for instance).
However, the workaround that I shared is working as expected when you click in the arrow and choose manually the option from the extended dropdown.
You might be wondering, who would do this long process you suggested? People who have less experience in the IT world or when you want to choose a very specific option that is easy to convert with programming without paying 3rd party NuGets.
Did you test it until the end? Because it looks exactly the same as my animated gif that didn’t work and is the one that is not working as expected.
In theory, it changes the extension but when you do click in Save as the final step, it saves in the wrong type regardless of how many times you run the bot. If you have a CSV, it will keep saving as CSV even if you choose XLSB or XLSX. I spent a significant amount of time until I thought about the arrow option which is working as expected.
yes, yes im sorry for my mistake i was watching my automations and that realy dont work, i forget how i did it, i save the file as xlsx and then move changing the format from xlsx to xls
In conclusion, it’s not working, right? The arrow is the only correct way, then, this is an UiPath bug. If you agree that it’s a bug, please vote for the idea; therefore, it can be fixed by the UiPath team.
Yes I think to add, I wish you could rename an .xls to .xlsx without having to open the application and saving through UI.
I work with Alteryx as well and sometimes you need to even save a downloaded xlsx as xlsx by opening the Excel file in application. Then the input tool gets recognized.
at the end of the type (do not click anywhere else):
yes, yes im sorry for my mistake