I
Ian Noone
I am having an issue with using task scheduler to update an Excel 2010 spreadsheet, specifically in asking that the job be run if the user is not logged on. The scheduled job is being run on a server with Windows Server 2016, each night just after midnight. No-one is logged on directly to the server at that time. When I check the task the following morning, it shows that it ran but none of the spreadsheets involved were updated - the data is the same and the last changed date/time has not changed to match the scheduled date/time.. If I change the run time and manually log on the server just before the new run time, the job executes correctly, presumably because I am logged on at the scheduled time. I've researched the problem and found some info that says that Office apps cannot be run "in the background". However, when the scheduled job runs while I am logged on, it seems to be running in a background or batch mode anyway. I don't see any visible signs or messages that it is running - so that indicates to mean that it is running in a background. So its hard to see why it can't run when no-one is logged on.
Regardless, I'm looking for a work-around. The job needs to run automatically - without needing any user intervention.
I also looked into trying to schedule a job to automatically log on the user just before the start time but can't find anything to do that.
The scheduled job itself is a vb script file which cycles back the previous 7 days and updates several daily excel files(workbooks) with totals and then summarizes that data in another Excel spreadsheet(workbook).
I've created similar scripts to build empty data-entry worksheets for future dates or purge old worksheets prior to a specific date but none of those jobs actually run Excel (ie. - start it and run a macro). Initial tests doing an actual Excel spreadsheet update were successful but they were run with the user logged on. I only found the issue when trying to run the job with the user not logged on.
I'd appreciate any suggestions on this. If my description of the task or process is confusing I'll gladly provide more details if needed.
I originally asked this question in the Microsoft Community forums but have received no replies in the past 2 days.
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Regardless, I'm looking for a work-around. The job needs to run automatically - without needing any user intervention.
I also looked into trying to schedule a job to automatically log on the user just before the start time but can't find anything to do that.
The scheduled job itself is a vb script file which cycles back the previous 7 days and updates several daily excel files(workbooks) with totals and then summarizes that data in another Excel spreadsheet(workbook).
I've created similar scripts to build empty data-entry worksheets for future dates or purge old worksheets prior to a specific date but none of those jobs actually run Excel (ie. - start it and run a macro). Initial tests doing an actual Excel spreadsheet update were successful but they were run with the user logged on. I only found the issue when trying to run the job with the user not logged on.
I'd appreciate any suggestions on this. If my description of the task or process is confusing I'll gladly provide more details if needed.
I originally asked this question in the Microsoft Community forums but have received no replies in the past 2 days.
Continue reading...