# Refresh a Power Query While Data Sheet are Open and in Use



## snaplink22 (Apr 17, 2020)

Hello,

I created a power query to pull data from three different workbooks with various tabs and tab names.  When I attempt to refresh the sheet that the power query is in, while the source data workbooks are open, I get this error:

[DataSource.Error] The process cannot access the file (xxx _location _xxx) because it is being used by another process.

My query is pulling all the data successfully from the other data sheets, but these data sheets will be open all day and in use by others throughout the day.  Is it possible to refresh my query and get updated results, with the understanding that any updates would require the changes made to the data sheets be saved first.?


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## Matt Allington (Apr 17, 2020)

This used to work, but it doesn’t work now (for some reason). I don’t believe it is currently possible. If the file is on OneDrive, you may be able to connect to a copy of the file instead (just a thought)


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## snaplink22 (Apr 20, 2020)

Thank you for your response Matt.  Do you know of any other functions in native Excel that can perform what I'm looking to do?


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## snaplink22 (Apr 20, 2020)

snaplink22 said:


> Thank you for your response Matt.  Do you know of any other functions in native Excel that can perform what I'm looking to do?


Following up my reply, I can have it update through Refresh if it's just one workbook/tab though.  Why would connecting multiple workbooks/tabs cause it not to refresh?  They're all stored in the same file location.


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