How to read an excel file in C# without using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel libraries

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I highly recommend CSharpJExcel for reading Excel 97-2003 files (xls) and ExcelPackage for reading Excel 2007/2010 files (Office Open XML format, xlsx).

They both work perfectly. They have absolutely no dependency on anything.

Sample using CSharpJExcel:

Workbook workbook = Workbook.getWorkbook(new System.IO.FileInfo(fileName));
var sheet = workbook.getSheet(0);
...
var content = sheet.getCell(colIndex, rowIndex).getContents();
...
workbook.close();

Sample using ExcelPackage:

using (ExcelPackage xlPackage = new ExcelPackage(existingFile))
{
  // get the first worksheet in the workbook
  ExcelWorksheet worksheet = xlPackage.Workbook.Worksheets[1];
  int iCol = 2;  // the column to read

  // output the data in column 2
  for (int iRow = 1; iRow < 6; iRow++)
    Console.WriteLine("Cell({0},{1}).Value={2}", iRow, iCol, 
      worksheet.Cell(iRow, iCol).Value);

  // output the formula in row 6
  Console.WriteLine("Cell({0},{1}).Formula={2}", 6, iCol, 
    worksheet.Cell(6, iCol).Formula);

} // the using statement calls Dispose() which closes the package.

EDIT:

There is another project, ExcelDataReader, that seems to have the ability to handle both formats. It is also easy like the other ones I’ve mentioned.

There are also other libraries:

  • NPOI: Port of the Apache POI library to .NET:
    Very powerfull, free, and open source. In addition to Excel (97-2010) it also supports Word and PowerPoint files.

  • ExcelLibrary:
    It only support Excel 97-2003 (xls) files.

  • EPPlus:
    An extension to ExcelPackage. Easier to use (I guess).

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