This guide assumes you have xlwings already installed. If that’s not the case, head over to Installation.

1. Scripting: Automate/interact with Excel from Python

Establish a connection to a workbook:

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> wb = xw.Book()  # this will create a new workbook
>>> wb = xw.Book('FileName.xlsx')  # connect to an existing file in the current working directory
>>> wb = xw.Book(r'C:\path\to\file.xlsx')  # on Windows: use raw strings to escape backslashes

If you have the same file open in two instances of Excel, you need to fully qualify it and include the app instance. You will find your app instance key (the PID) via xw.apps.keys():

>>> xw.apps[10559].books['FileName.xlsx']

Instantiate a sheet object:

>>> sht = wb.sheets['Sheet1']

Reading/writing values to/from ranges is as easy as:

>>> sht.range('A1').value = 'Foo 1'
>>> sht.range('A1').value
'Foo 1'

There are many convenience features available, e.g. Range expanding:

>>> sht.range('A1').value = [['Foo 1', 'Foo 2', 'Foo 3'], [10.0, 20.0, 30.0]]
>>> sht.range('A1').expand().value

Powerful converters handle most data types of interest, including Numpy arrays and Pandas DataFrames in both directions:

>>> import pandas as pd
>>> df = pd.DataFrame([[1,2], [3,4]], columns=['a', 'b'])
>>> sht.range('A1').value = df
>>> sht.range('A1').options(pd.DataFrame, expand='table').value
       a    b
0.0  1.0  2.0
1.0  3.0  4.0

Matplotlib figures can be shown as pictures in Excel:

>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
>>> fig = plt.figure()
>>> plt.plot([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
[<matplotlib.lines.Line2D at 0x1071706a0>]
>>> sht.pictures.add(fig, name='MyPlot', update=True)
<Picture 'MyPlot' in <Sheet [Workbook4]Sheet1>>

Shortcut for the active sheet: xw.Range

If you want to quickly talk to the active sheet in the active workbook, you don’t need instantiate a workbook and sheet object, but can simply do:

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> xw.Range('A1').value = 'Foo'
>>> xw.Range('A1').value

Note: You should only use xw.Range when interacting with Excel. In scripts, you should always go via book and sheet objects as shown above.

2. Macros: Call Python from Excel

You can call Python functions from VBA using the RunPython function:

Sub HelloWorld()
    RunPython ("import hello; hello.world()")
End Sub

Per default, RunPython expects hello.py in the same directory as the Excel file. Refer to the calling Excel book by using xw.Book.caller:

# hello.py
import numpy as np
import xlwings as xw

def world():
    wb = xw.Book.caller()

To make this run, you’ll need to have the xlwings add-in installed. The easiest way to get everything set up is to use the xlwings command line client from either a command prompt on Windows or a terminal on Mac: xlwings quickstart myproject.

For details about the addin, see Add-in.

3. UDFs: User Defined Functions (Windows only)

Writing a UDF in Python is as easy as:

import xlwings as xw

def hello(name):
    return 'Hello {0}'.format(name)

Converters can be used with UDFs, too. Again a Pandas DataFrame example:

import xlwings as xw
import pandas as pd

@xw.arg('x', pd.DataFrame)
def correl2(x):
    # x arrives as DataFrame
    return x.corr()

Import this function into Excel by clicking the import button of the xlwings add-in: For further details, see VBA: User Defined Functions (UDFs).