>>>I have a nice little Excel graph created using VFP code. It works great the first time. But the remaining Excel table won't allow VFP to overwrite the previous xls table produced using COPY TO. The message I get is 'Access Denied' when the overwrite is being attempted.
>>>
>>>Using VFP code, how do I get past the access denied situation and overwrite the old Excel table so the next chart may be produced?
>>
>>How did you create the first Excel file, using automation?
>
>I used the Visual FoxPro COPY TO command to copy a VFP table to an Excel xls file:
>
>Here is the code: COPY TO Graphtable TYPE XL5

Normally after the copy command the XLS file is not in use, so you should not receive an Access denied error when you copy the second time over the same file. Unless another process opens that file in the meantime.
Did you try to
IF FILE("Graphtable.xls")
ERASE Graphtable.xls
ENDIF
Before doing the copy?
Also what might help, while you are getting the Access denied error, check which procedure locks the file. You can use a program like Unlocker to check which process is locking a certain file.