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update links using win32com where excel is linked with multiple sources

I am using win32com.client to open Excel with
excel = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
workbook = excel.Workbooks.Open(filename,UpdateLinks=False, ReadOnly=True)
Sometimes this generates an alert with the following text:
"This workbook contains one or more links that cannot be
updated." & options are: "Continue", and "Edit Links").
This stops the script until I handle the dialogue box manually which is not preferred.
I want to continue as if "Continue" had been
clicked, or to suppress the whole dialogue box, I can't find a way to do this.
Searching the Stackoverflow forums, I've seen the following suggestions:
excel.DisplayAlerts = False
excel.AskToUpdateLinks = False
I've tried each of these (immediately after the excel variable is
assigned) and neither has the desired effect, separately or together.
As suggested in other forums I have also tried to open excel & save & then again reopen with python, which is also not working.
wb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(Path to file,UpdateLinks = False)
ws = wb.Worksheets('XYZ')
wb.Close(SaveChanges=1)
excel.Visible = False
excel.ScreenUpdating = False
excel.DisplayAlerts = False
excel.AskToUpdateLinks = False
wb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(Path to file)
ws = wb.Worksheets('XYZ')
Does anyone know a solution that works? anything will do either break link or continue.
Thank you in advance

excel.AskToUpdateLinks = False
As far as I know, the above turns off the prompt and automatically update external links as a file is open. Try use below:
excel = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
excel.DisplayAlerts = False
workbook = excel.Workbooks.Open(Path to file,UpdateLinks=0)

Getting file exists overwrite alert when trying to refresh and save .xlsm file via python even with DisplayAlerts set to False

I am trying to refresh a macro enabled excel file through a python script. I have used win32com.client package for launching an excel instance and refreshing the file and trying to save it. I have also set DisplayAlerts = False. I am getting an alert like:
A file named 'F:\User\output\testfile.xlsm' already exists. Do you want to overwrite it?
I am not getting this alert for other xlsm files that I am trying to refresh even though there are files present with the same name in the destination folder. Here is a sample of the code I used to refresh the files:
import win32com.client as win32
xl = win32.DispatchEx('Excel.Application')
xl.DisplayAlerts = False
xl.Visible = False
xl.Interactive = False
xl.EnableEvents=False
wb = xl.Workbooks.Open(os.path.join(excel_path),ReadOnly=False, IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended =True)
xl.DeferAsyncQueries = True
wb.RefreshAll()
xl.CalculateUntilAsyncQueriesDone()
xl.DeferAsyncQueries = False
wb.SaveAs(output_filepath,ReadOnlyRecommended =False)
wb.Close(False)
xl.Quit()
Can anyone help me figure out why am I getting the alert only for that particular file?
Thanks in advance.

win32com: work with excel file by opening it in background

So I use following code to open an existing excel file. Even though I make visible to False, but this always open the excel file UI. However I want to run it in the background. How can I do that?
import win32com.client as win32
excel = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch('Excel.Application')
wb = excel.Workbooks.Open('my_sheet.xlsm')
excel.Visible = False

I now use one of MS Excel's alternative Kingsoft Spreadsheet. My snippet below used to run the application in the background.
from win32com import client
xApp = None
for aname in ('Excel', 'eT', 'KeT'):
try:
xApp = client.Dispatch(aname + '.Application')
except client.pywintypes.com_error:
continue
else:
break
if xApp is None:
print('No app found')
raise SystemExit # Application is unavailable.
else:
# do something
wb = excel.Workbooks.Open('my_sheet.xlsm')
On older version of MS Excel (before 2013) and KS Spreadsheet (before 2014), the above code worked fine, even without explicitly setting xApp.Visible to False. However, on recent version of Spreadsheet, it would launch a small UI window when quitting the application.

dynamically read and/or overwrite an excel file with python without the overwrite alert appearing

For some reason the following code runs fine but the file overwrite alert keeps coming up even though I have set xl.EnableEvents = False, the code won't execute further unless I manually click the overwrite file popup. Does anyone know how to fix this?
The code opens an excel file which contains a string which allows the excel file to connect to the bloomberg api, I used this solution here to get this to work. As long as the file is open for enough time the data is pulled into the file and then saves and exits. It takes around ~35 seconds to get the data and the pandas table starts displaying the content I'm requesting
The problem is the popups! - I need to see when the string '#N/A Requesting Data...' is no longer in the file and can't see a way to do it without periodically saving the file. A solution that allows me to see the file contents dynamically without having to save would be great.
The solution here didn't work for me to stop the popups, I could probably make a new file each time and then delete them all at the end but this seems a bit clunky. This question extends this problem here if anyone wants to see the code and the problem in a more full context.
WB = 'C:/path/to/my/file.xlsx'
location = "EGLL"
def run_VWA(WB, location):
"""open the excel file, allow enough time to pull the data, then close and save"""
bb = 'C:/blp/API/Office Tools/BloombergUI.xla'
xl=win32com.client.DispatchEx("Excel.Application")
xl.Workbooks.Open(bb)
xl.AddIns("Bloomberg Excel Tools").Installed = True
wb = xl.Workbooks.Open(Filename=WB) #opens workbook in readonly mode.
xl.Visible = False
xl.EnableEvents = False
xl.DisplayAlerts = False
total=0
colstring='#N/A Requesting Data...'
while total < 40:
wb.Save()
df = df_from_excel(WB, location)
if colstring not in df:
break
time.sleep(3)
total+=3
wb.Close(SaveChanges=1)
xl.DisplayAlerts = True
xl.Quit()
#Cleanup the com reference.
del xl
return
Any help with this is much appreciated, I have very limited experience with the win32com library.

After a good few hours digging I've found how to solve this dynamically without the need for saving the file each iteration. If anyone else comes up against this problem most of the solution was found here. Many thanks assylias for some useful pointers.
def run_VWA(WB, location):
"""open the excel file, allow enough time to pull the data, then close and save"""
bb = 'C:/blp/API/Office Tools/BloombergUI.xla'
xl=win32com.client.DispatchEx("Excel.Application")
xl.Workbooks.Open(bb)
xl.AddIns("Bloomberg Excel Tools").Installed = True
wb = xl.Workbooks.Open(Filename=WB) #opens workbook in readonly mode.
xl.Visible = False
xl.EnableEvents = False
xl.DisplayAlerts = False
count=0
while True:
readData = wb.Worksheets(location)
allData = readData.UsedRange
if allData.Rows.Count > 1 or allData.Columns.Count > 1:
print('rows: {}'.format(allData.Rows.Count))
print('cols: {}'.format(allData.Columns.Count))
break
print(wb)
print(count)
time.sleep(3)
count+=3
wb.Close(SaveChanges=1)
xl.DisplayAlerts = True
xl.Quit()
#Cleanup the com reference.
del xl
return

Release excel workbook after write operations through a script

I am using a python script to write data into the excel workbook. Now, I want to release the pointer. I dont want to close the workbook because of some other reasons. I just want to release the pointer. I searched on google but no answer. Can anyone please help?
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xl = Dispatch('Excel.Application')
xl.ScreenUpdating = True # performance
xl.Visible = 1
xl.DisplayAlerts = True
wbs = xl.Workbooks
return xl, wbs
Then i am using wb to refer to workbook's different sheets.
wb = xl.Workbooks.open(filename)

Variables will be released as they go out of scope. In the example below, the variable xl is released when the get_workbook function is exited. If you need to explicitly remove a variable, use the del statement.
from win32com.client import Dispatch
def get_workbook(path):
xl = Dispatch('Excel.Application')
xl.Visible = 1
return xl.Workbooks.open(path)
wb = get_workbook(r'c:\temp\test.xlsx')
sheet = wb.Worksheets.Item(1)
sheet.Range('A1').Value2 = 'test'
del wb, sheet