How to batch process and refresh multiple excel files in parallel?

Hi all,

I'm looking for an efficient way to automate the refreshing of 116 Excel files located in a single directory.

• Each of the 116 files runs a data query to an ERP that takes 40-60 seconds to complete.
• My current scripts (in Python, PowerShell, and VBA) process the files sequentially. This means the total time is roughly 116 files * 1 minute/file ≈ 2 hours, which is too slow.

My manual process is much faster (20-40 minutes total) because I process files in batches:

1. I open a batch of about 14 files at once.
2. I trigger "Refresh All" on each of them. Since the queries run in the background, by the time I've triggered the last file, the first ones are nearly done.
3. I then go through the batch, saving and closing each file.
4. I repeat this for the next batch until all 116 files are done.

How can I create a script (ideally in Python or PowerShell) that mimics this parallel, batch-based approach? I need a solution that can manage multiple files concurrently to be faster than my manual method, instead of processing them one by one. The script must wait for all data queries to finish refreshing before it saves and closes the files in a batch.