Convert xlsb to xlsx - Multi-sheet Microsoft Excel File

Question

I have a multi-sheet excel file saved in a .xlsb format that I wish to covert to .xlsx to utilize the openpyxl library - code already written to support the same workbook that used to be .xlsx until macro-enabled, and wouldn't save in .xlsm.

I have managed to convert from .xlsb to .csv, but cannot convert any further and have hit roadblocks with various libraries due to various formatting errors.

As my file has multiple sheets (all tables) I only need to copy and paste the text on every sheet (keeping the sheet names) and get it to a .xlsx format.

For simplicity sake, imagine all I need to do is: get sheet names, access a sheet, determine max row/column, loop: copy and paste cell values, write to .xlsx with sheet name. With the starting file being .xlsb.

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

xlsb can be read by newer versions of Microsoft Office Excel, OpenOffice Calc, or LibreOffice Calc.

So all you have to do now is open the file in one of those programmes and export it to xlsx.

CSV -> xlsx

This can be done easily with pandas, a python package.

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv("/path/to/file.csv")
df.to_excel("/path/to/result.xlsx")

xlsb -> xlsx

Pandas 1.0.0 added the support for binary excel files.

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_excel("/path/to/file.xlsb", engine="pyxlsb")
df.to_excel("/path/to/result.xlsx")

In order to use it you must upgrade pandas, and install pyxlsb and 'openpyxl':

pip install pandas --upgrade
pip install pyxlsb