Error 70 Permission Denied trying to kill a workbook

sharky12345

Well-known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
3,404
Office Version
  1. 2016
Platform
  1. Windows
I'm having some real issues trying to kill a closed workbook - my routine has a main workbook and what I'm trying to achieve is the following;

1) Get the main workbook name and store it for use later
2) Save the current (main) workbook as a temporary file
3) Kill the original main workbook so I can open another (updated) workbook and save it as the original main file name

This is what I have so far:

VBA Code:
SavedFileName = ActiveWorkbook.Name
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
ThisWorkbook.SaveAs filename:=ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm"
Application.EnableEvents = True
SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm", vbHidden
SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName, vbNormal
Kill ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
DoEvents

The workbooks are stored in a network folder and there are NO permission issues as the 'temp' file is deleted without an issue in another routine later. I am getting a persistent 'Error 70 Permission Denied' on the following line:

VBA Code:
Kill ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName

I have tried various things to no avail - can anyone spot where the issue is?
 

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the first thing that comes to mind, which also makes perfect sense, is the fact that you are trying to issue a statement which has a purpose of deleting an actual file. And the file you are trying to delete is still open at the time you are requesting the KILL statement to be executed. This same error would be thrown by windows itself if you pressed the DELETE button on a file in windows explorer, but had the file open when you attempted it. Here's the MS doc ref on the statement: Kill statement (VBA)
 
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That does make sense - I thought, (probably incorrectly), that saving the original file as something else and leaving it open would in effect close the original file but I guess not. So can anyone show me how to ensure that the original file is actually closed so I can delete it?
 
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I've never used SetAttr(), but are you sure that these 2 lines aren't causing the problem?
Code:
SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm", vbHidden
SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName, vbNormal
:if that 2nd code line is indeed what's causing the problem, then try to delete it and see if it works. I have a suspicion it will.
 
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The first line causes no issues and never has - I have tried simply having the following but this gives the same error:

VBA Code:
Kill ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName
 
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this worked perfectly for me:
Code:
Function t()
Dim savedFileName As String
savedFileName = ActiveWorkbook.Name
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
ThisWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm"
Application.EnableEvents = True
'SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm", vbHidden
'SetAttr ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & SavedFileName, vbNormal
Kill ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & savedFileName
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
DoEvents

End Function
as I suspected, the SetAttr() function is the problem. Why are you even including it?
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but as well as trying to delete an open file, are you not trying to delete the file that is currently running the code?
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but as well as trying to delete an open file, are you not trying to delete the file that is currently running the code?
that's an irrelevant point because the file is being saved as another file before the kill statement is executed.
 
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Whilst doing some research on this issue I read a post on another site which said you had to use SetAttr and vbNormal so I tried that.

I'm not trying to delete the current file as the following saves it as a temporary file leaving the original as it was, (in theory):

VBA Code:
ThisWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=ThisWorkbook.Path & "\Temp.xlsm"
 
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I'll try again Adam with the SetAttr commented out to see what happens....I'll report back
 
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