Intermittent Excel output failures with AMP enabled: “Unable to create backup”

[Zaim0608]

Hi Alteryx Community Team, I have encountered some trouble and need some suggestion if applicable. Thank you for your time and help in advance!

Here is some heads-up for my current use case.

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Environment

• Alteryx Designer: 2023.2.1
• Engine: AMP enabled (must remain enabled)
• Workflow Type: Standard workflows
• Execution Mode: Manual run in Designer
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
• Storage Location: Network drive

Context / Use Case

I have multiple workflows in the same workspace. All outputs are Excel (.xlsx):

• Some workflows output multiple worksheets into the same workbook (e.g., Report.xlsx with Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3).
• Other workflows output single-sheet Excel files.
• AMP engine must remain enabled due to performance/policy.

Symptom: The workflows that write multiple sheets into one workbook intermittently fail.
Single-sheet outputs usually succeed.

Errors Observed (intermittent / alternating)

• “Unable to create backup” (when overwriting an existing .xlsx)
• On subsequent runs (without changes), I may get:
  • “The process is being run in the background” (suggesting the file is locked/in use)

These errors occur intermittently—sometimes a re-run succeeds, sometimes it fails again.

What I’ve Already Tried

1. Block Until Done within the workflow — did not resolve (especially when multiple branches write to the same workbook or when multiple workflows overlap).
2. Closed Excel & checked locks — Verified no Excel.exe running and ensured the workbook wasn’t open elsewhere.
3. Permissions — I have the permission on the network folder; can manually create/overwrite files there.

    

Typical Pattern That Fails

• Within a single workflow:
  • Branch A → \\NetworkShare\Folder\Report.xlsx → Sheet “Sales”
  • Branch B → same file → Sheet “Summary”
  • Branch C → same file → Sheet “Detail”
• Or across multiple workflows where more than one workflow writes to the same workbook in overlapping time windows.
• With AMP enabled, branches/workflows can write in parallel, leading to collisions.

Observed effect:

• Run #1 → “Unable to create backup”
• Run #2 → “Process is being run in the background”
• Run #3 → May succeed or fail again (non-deterministic)

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Question:

Any known issues or fixes for this issue? Is there any suggestion or other best practices to prevent this error?

[AncientPandaman]

did you try control container?

https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/developer/control-container-tool.html 

[Lada_R]

I had the same issue. I switched to version 2025.1 and started to use Control Containers (unfortunately not available for 2023).

Block Until Done is applicable for the writing from the same branch only. Unless you are able to put all the branch under the Block Until Done :) 

I also saw in the community that others are using artificial delays like 'Wait a second' Macro but I do not have my own experience with it.

One more thing, if you are having error only with backups, can you ignore it? If your main output is fine, who cares about backups XD