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"Unable to get the file path when value is created using file stream connection" error

  • February 12, 2026
  • 7 replies
  • 0 views

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I’m trying to have my bot download a file.

I cannot use the Download File action because I need to provide a custom header. Instead I use the Rest Web Services: Get File Stream action.

I use the URI “https://www.cte.iup.edu/cte/Resources/PDF_TestPage.pdf”, and store the download in my “TheFile” variable. (Although this URI doesn’t actually need the aforementioned custom header, my actual for-realsies URI would.)

Then I use the Utils: Copy File action with a Source as “$TheFile$” and a Destination as “myDownloadedFile.pdf”.

When I run this, it throws an exception when trying to execute the Utils: Copy File action. The exception says "Unable to get the file path when value is created using file stream connection".

Am I doing something wrong? Or why doesn’t this work?

7 replies

Aaron.Gleason
Automation Anywhere Team
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  • Automation Anywhere Team
  • February 12, 2026

@AugustZellmer2 It sounds like you’re making this too difficult.

In the REST Web Services: GET method action, there is the opportunity to save the downloaded file onto your local drive.

You can specify whatever filename you want for the downloaded file. 


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  • Author
  • Cadet | Tier 2
  • February 12, 2026

Selecting that option on the REST Web Services: GET Method action doesn’t download the file. It doesn’t error either; it just doesn’t do anything for me. Am I missing something? 🤔

 

 

 

 

(I also tried it without the custom header I’m trying to use. It still didn’t download the file.)


Tamil Arasu10
Most Valuable Pathfinder
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  • Most Valuable Pathfinder
  • February 12, 2026

Can you please enable the capture failure response, this option to log the failure responses which helps to find the issue.


Aaron.Gleason
Automation Anywhere Team
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  • Automation Anywhere Team
  • February 12, 2026

@AugustZellmer2 Yeah, I’ve seen that in certain web server configurations.

Really, you only have a few options since you need a custom header. (That excludes the Browser: Download file action because it doesn’t support custom headers.) That leaves things like a Python or Powershell script to download the file. Using the Invoke-WebRequest command in Powershell comes to mind as it supports custom headers and the ability to save files.

Invoke-WebRequest "https://www.cte.iup.edu/cte/Resources/PDF_Sample.pdf" -Headers @{ "got_receipt" = "true" } -OutFile "PDF_Sample.pdf"

Hope that helps.


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  • Author
  • Cadet | Tier 2
  • February 12, 2026

Can you please enable the capture failure response, this option to log the failure responses which helps to find the issue.

I enabled it. Where does it log the failures to?


Aaron.Gleason
Automation Anywhere Team
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  • Automation Anywhere Team
  • February 12, 2026

@AugustZellmer2 It goes to the output variable. I don’t think you’ll see anything in the failure response. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the binary PDF contents in the output variable though!


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  • Author
  • Cadet | Tier 2
  • February 12, 2026

@AugustZellmer2 Yeah, I’ve seen that in certain web server configurations.

Really, you only have a few options since you need a custom header. (That excludes the Browser: Download file action because it doesn’t support custom headers.) That leaves things like a Python or Powershell script to download the file. Using the Invoke-WebRequest command in Powershell comes to mind as it supports custom headers and the ability to save files.

Invoke-WebRequest "https://www.cte.iup.edu/cte/Resources/PDF_Sample.pdf" -Headers @{ "got_receipt" = "true" } -OutFile "PDF_Sample.pdf"

Hope that helps.

Okay, I’ll write some script to do it. Thanks for your input!