Opening

This group opens an existing spreadsheet and loads it into the workflow, so the instructions that follow can change it. Without it a workflow could only start from the empty workbook made by Create spreadsheet.

Prerequisite: none. This is an entry-point instruction: it does not need a document to exist in the workflow beforehand — it brings one in by reading a file from disk. A workflow that edits an .xlsx you already have begins here instead of with Create spreadsheet.

These concepts are explained here once.

• The file to open (the source): the .xlsx file that is read from disk. If it is left empty, the instruction does nothing and no document is loaded.
• ⚠ Name and Path (the destination to save to) — leaving both empty overwrites the file you opened: where the opened workbook will be written when you save it later. Leave them both empty and it saves over the file you opened; fill them in and it is a save as. Whatever you leave empty is taken from the source, so a File path on its own keeps the original file name, and a File name on its own keeps its folder. The file name is inherited whole, extension included: opening notes.log and leaving the destination empty writes over notes.log itself. A File name you type is a name without extension, so that one takes the format’s own.
• Document: the Document key names the opened document so later instructions can target it. If you leave it empty, the opened workbook becomes the current document.
• Dynamic values @name: every field in this group is a text field, so all of them accept a saved value: type @ followed by its name and the value is substituted when the workflow runs.
• Nothing is written when the file is opened. The workbook is read into memory and only reaches the disk when a save instruction runs, at the destination given by File name and File path.
• A file protected with a password cannot be opened. The workflow stops and says so. Open the file in a spreadsheet app, save a copy without the password, and use that copy. A workbook saved in the older format (.xls) is refused in the same way: save it as .xlsx first.

• Open spreadsheet

Open spreadsheet

Opens an existing spreadsheet (.xlsx) from disk and makes it the document the workflow works on. The sheets it already contains keep their names, so the instructions that follow can target them by name.

When to use it: to work on a workbook that already exists — add rows to a data sheet, recalculate a report, chart figures someone else produced — instead of building one from scratch.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
File to open	The .xlsx file to read from disk (accepts @name)	(empty)	Yes
File name	File name the opened workbook will be saved under; empty = the name of the file you opened (accepts @name)	(empty)	No
File path	Folder the opened workbook will be saved to; empty = the folder of the file you opened (accepts @name)	(empty)	No
Document key	Names the opened document so later instructions can target it. Empty = current document (accepts @name)	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if File to open is empty, nothing happens and no document is loaded. The file is copied into memory as it opens, so the original is never held open while the workflow runs, and it is rewritten only if the destination points back at it — which is what leaving File name and File path empty does. If the file does not exist, or is not a valid spreadsheet, the workflow stops with an error. If the name in Document key is already in use by another open document, the workflow stops rather than discarding that document.

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