Weekly

Save a dated copy of a workbook weekly

Every Friday a copy of your workbook is saved with the date in its name.

Runs: Weekly
Apps: Microsoft Excel
AI: Not needed
Access: Files.ReadWrite

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every Friday at 5pm, save a copy of Budget.xlsx to OneDrive Snapshots named Budget-<date>.xlsx.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A workbook that runs a business, whether it is a budget model, a client tracker or a price list, gets edited by many hands. One day somebody deletes a column, pastes over a formula or sorts a range without its neighbors, and nobody notices until a week later when the totals are wrong. OneDrive has version history, but finding the right version and proving which one was correct is slow, and it expires.

Once a week, ClickRuntime makes a copy of the workbook in OneDrive or SharePoint and names it with the date, such as Budget 2026-10-19, then emails you a confirmation that the copy exists. The original is untouched and the copies build up as a series of weekly snapshots.

It is useful for finance teams, project managers and small businesses whose workbook is effectively a database.

What you get out of it

A known good version always exists
If something breaks, you open the copy from last Monday and compare. You are not hunting through version history hoping the right state was captured. That removes guesswork when a number looks wrong on a Tuesday morning.
Mistakes are found by comparison
Having last week's workbook next to this week's lets you see what changed. That is the fastest way to trace a broken formula or a missing row to the week it happened.
Records for audits and reviews
Dated snapshots show what the numbers were on a given week. That helps when a client disputes a figure or an auditor asks how a budget looked at quarter end.
No reliance on someone remembering
Manual backups happen when people think of it, which is usually after a problem. A weekly schedule means the copy exists in the quiet weeks and the busy ones. A schedule does not forget.
Experiments become safer
Staff can try a new layout or a big restructure knowing they can return to last week's file. That makes people more willing to improve the workbook rather than leave it as it is.
Confirmation tells you it worked
The email tells you the copy was made and its name. If you stop receiving it, you know the backup failed, before you need to depend on it. A missing email is a prompt to look.

How it works

What happens, step by step

Every Friday, ClickRuntime makes a copy of your Excel workbook in OneDrive.
The copy is saved next to the original, with the date in its name, such as "Budget 2026-10-16.xlsx".
You get a short email confirming the copy was saved.

Before it runs live

Connect Microsoft Excel

What you get

RunsWeekly

Save a dated copy of a workbook weeklytoday, 9:00Succeeded

Email · Workbook copy savedSaved Budget 2026-10-16.xlsx next to the original.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Microsoft Excel steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

weekly_dated_copy_of_a_workbook.pyexample

from datetime import date
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, notify

ITEM_ID = "01ABCDEF..."

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    name = f"Budget {date.today()}.xlsx"
    res = http.post(f"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/drive/items/{ITEM_ID}/copy",
                    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('microsoft', 'work')}"},
                    json={"name": name})
    if res.status_code != 202:
        raise RuntimeError(f"copy failed: {res.status_code}")
    notify.email_me("Workbook copy saved", f"Saved {name} next to the original.")
    return {"copy": name}

FAQ

Common questions

Where is the copy saved?

It is saved in OneDrive or SharePoint, in the folder you pick, with the date added to the file name. Keeping copies in their own folder stops them cluttering the place where people work. Ask for a different folder any time.

Will old copies pile up and use storage?

Yes, each weekly copy takes space. You can ask for copies older than a number of weeks to be removed, or keep them all if storage is not a concern and you want a long history.

Does the copy include formulas and formatting?

The copy is a full duplicate of the file, so it keeps formulas, formatting, sheets and tables exactly as they were at the time. Links to other workbooks work the same as in the original.

What permissions does it need?

Files.ReadWrite. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run each time it runs (weekly). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Daily