Hey @omkaraditya02, on latest versions of AYX server and MS server the options to open an "non-interactive session" of excel are limited. I recently ran into the same issue where scripts stopped working after upgrades. The problem is that when your flow and script run scheduled, it is the service account operating excel, which is seen as non-interactive. We worked around it (talk to IT about this) by making the service account being seen as an external user, thereby fooling both MS and AYX server and allowing scheduled interaction with excel. Other things to keep in mind looking at your code; keep in mind that excel might already be open on the server, in which case your code is not able to open it.
We run the refresh in python, you may want to use and edit this and let us know how it worked for you:
from ayx import Package
Package.installPackages(['pypiwin32'])
import win32com.client as win32
import os
import time
import pythoncom
# === CONFIGURATION ===
FILE_PATH = r"D:\TEMP\test.xlsx" # Input file (source)
OUTPUT_PATH = r"D:\TEMP\test_refreshed.xlsx" # Output file (after refresh)
VISIBLE = False # True = Excel visible (debug), False = hidden
WAIT_TIMEOUT = 300 # Max wait time in seconds (here: 5 minutes)
POLL_INTERVAL = 5 # How often to check Excel availability (in seconds)
# ======================
def get_excel_instance():
"""
Get an Excel Application instance.
If Excel is already running, attach to it.
If not, create a new instance.
"""
try:
excel = win32.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application")
print("📎 Attached to existing Excel instance.")
except Exception:
excel = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch("Excel.Application")
print("🆕 Started new Excel instance.")
return excel
def wait_for_excel_idle(excel, timeout: int = WAIT_TIMEOUT, poll_interval: int = POLL_INTERVAL):
"""
Wait until Excel is idle (not calculating or busy).
"""
waited = 0
while True:
try:
# This call will fail if Excel is busy with a modal dialog / long calc
_ = excel.Ready
if excel.Ready:
return True
except Exception:
pass
if waited >= timeout:
print("⚠️ Timeout: Excel is still busy.")
return False
print("⏳ Waiting for Excel to become available...")
time.sleep(poll_interval)
waited += poll_interval
def refresh_excel(file_path: str, output_path: str, visible: bool = False):
"""Open Excel (existing or new), refresh workbook, save under new name."""
if not os.path.isfile(file_path):
raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {file_path}")
excel = None
wb = None
try:
pythoncom.CoInitialize() # Ensure COM initialized for this thread
excel = get_excel_instance()
excel.Visible = visible
excel.DisplayAlerts = False
if not wait_for_excel_idle(excel):
raise RuntimeError("Excel was busy too long. Script aborted.")
# Open workbook
wb = excel.Workbooks.Open(file_path)
# Refresh connections
connection_count = wb.Connections.Count
print(f"🔄 Connections found: {connection_count}")
for i in range(1, connection_count + 1):
conn = wb.Connections.Item(i)
try:
print(f"Refreshing: {conn.Name}")
conn.Refresh()
except Exception as e:
print(f"❌ Could not refresh {conn.Name}: {e}")
excel.CalculateUntilAsyncQueriesDone()
# Save as new file
wb.SaveAs(output_path)
print(f"✅ File saved as: {output_path}")
except Exception as e:
print(f"❌ Error: {e}")
finally:
if wb:
wb.Close(SaveChanges=False)
wb = None
if excel and not VISIBLE:
excel.Quit()
excel = None
pythoncom.CoUninitialize()
if __name__ == "__main__":
refresh_excel(FILE_PATH, OUTPUT_PATH, visible=VISIBLE)
