The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. (32)

[JoshuaGostick]

I'm getting the error: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. (32) when trying to output to a file in Alteryx Designer even when the file is not being used by any user or process. Alteryx appears to think that the file is locked despite being able to open the file using a text editor, editing the file and saving it without any issues (all whilst Alteryx Designer is still open).

This error has not only occured when running an Output tool, but also when trying to save and replace a csv file directly from a Browse tool. 

I have also encountered this issue with .yxdb, .csv and .xlsx files.

Re-running the workflow does not fix this error and will keep resulting in the same error message even when output is a yxdb file. The only way around this so far has been to delete the output file and creating a new one.

Finally, I have used the Block Until Done tool but unfortunately this has not solved the issue.

Has anyone else encountered a similar issue to this and have any insights on how to fix this?

Thanks,
Josh

[ggruccio]

Hi @JoshuaGostick,

Not sure if I've seen the exact error, but for one reason or another I have received similar....unable to save file to that location etc.

I've resorted to creating an output with a different name - output2 or outputb....then changing the file name in File Explorer and deleting the file I wanted to overwrite.

Not a perfect solution, but a workaround if you need output quickly.

[JoshuaGostick]

Hi @ggruccio,

Thank you for this. This definitely helps when fixing individual outputs. Unfortunately, this issue becomes trickier when there are scheduled workflows that are dependent on the output of preceding scheduled workflows.

Thanks,

Josh

[itahir04]

Hi Josh,

So is there any solution to this issue?

I am getting the same error. I have a schedualed workflow and my output file is stored on a network drive.

Suddently I am getting this error that "The process ca not access the file.....".

If keep changing th eoutfile then how do we schedual?

Any idea?

Thanks,

Rana

[JoshuaGostick]

Hi @itahir04,

Yes, we did eventually solve the issue!

It ended up being quite a specific issue so I'm not sure how useful it will be for you, but it might help you look at other potential causes you may not have considered.

When we were creating output files from Alteryx, we would sometimes upload those files on to Box. However, even after it said in Box that the file has successfully been uploaded, Alteryx seemed to have continue to assume that the file was locked. This therefore meant that Alteryx couldn't overwrite the file and would produce the 'the process cannot access the file...' error.

Some solutions to this issue include simply closing box after the files are uploaded, or moving the output file into a folder separate to the one Alteryx was outputting to and upload the file to Box from there. It was quite a bizarre issue and I'm still not sure exactly why it was happening but at least we can now successfully overwrite all our files.

I'm afraid I'm not sure if your issue is the same as mine but hopefully this will provide some help or ideas.

Thanks,

Josh

[itahir04]

Hi Josh,

The file was stored on a network drive and was opened by another user.

Really approciate you looking into this.

Thanks,

Rana

[Tyler_Rooks]

To whoever this may help, another source of this error could be if you have "Use AMP Engine" checked (under Runtime config)

[mdflight]

Some work flows run fine with several updates to same file, others will not write to any Excel tabs unless the Runtime configuration is set to NOT  use AMP engine (unchecked).
Thanks all!! Community is a lifesaver.

[mdflight]

Version 2022.1.1 

[SSimunov1]

Thank you - this was helpful!