Launch Outlook Fails when outlook is already running

[kishoremj]

Hi Friends,

Greetings!!!

I am working on outlook automation through power automate desktop. The Launch outlook action is working without any issue when the outlook in my system is not running. It fails when the outlook is already opened in my system.

Is there a way to override and use the already opened outlook instance? or open new outlook instance irrespective of outlook already opened?

Thanks and Regards,

Kishore.

[VJR]

Hi @kishoremj 

Unfortunately there is no action for Outlook to attach to an already opened instance, just like "Attach to Excel".

I dont know if there is an alternative way.

But you can close the already open instance by using "Terminate Process" and passing Outlook exe.

And then launch a new instance from PAD.

[Highboy]

If Outlook is opend by the same user that runs the script, it works just fine.
Using it all the time, when testing on our server to save time.

[Anonymous]

Terminating Outlook doesn't seem to be reliable option. Any other way of doing it?

[Henrik_M]

That is already how it should work. If you're experiencing problems with that, you need to contact support...

[VJR]

@Anonymous , Agreed with @Henrik_M it works without any issues but if it is not then it is time to report the issue.

As a best practice we do close all applications used in the usecase and then launch them once in the beginning when the process starts.

[Lawrenceiow]

I was having this problem until I noticed that the account I had opened Outlook with was not the same as the account I was using Power Automate Desktop with. Making sure both accounts were the same fixed the problem for me (using Office 2019 and Power Automate 2.20)