If a workflow is using information from 2 ".xls" files and 2 ".xlsx" files, how many Excel Application Scope activities are required?

To determine the number of Excel Application Scope activities required for a workflow using two ".xls" files and two ".xlsx" files, it’s important to understand how the Excel Application Scope operates within Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

The Excel Application Scope activity is used to define a scope in which actions are carried out on an Excel file. Each distinct Excel file (regardless of its format, whether ".xls" or ".xlsx") generally requires its own Excel Application Scope. Since the workflow is working with four separate files — two in the ".xls" format and two in the ".xlsx" format — you need one Excel Application Scope for each file.

Therefore, to handle two ".xls" files you would need two separate Excel Application Scope activities, and similarly, for the two ".xlsx" files, you would also require two separate Excel Application Scope activities. When you add these together, you arrive at a total of four separate activities needed: two for the ".xls" files and two for the ".xlsx" files.

This reasoning leads to the conclusion that four Excel Application Scope activities are necessary to adequately manage the data in the four different files used in the workflow.