PSExcel

IMPORTANT: This project is no longer maintained. Please consider Doug's excellent ImportExcel example, which is frequently updated by Doug and the community.

This is a rudimentary PowerShell module for working with Excel via the EPPlus library, with no dependencies on Excel itself.

• Thanks to Doug Finke for his ImportExcel example - hadn't seen EPPlus before this!
• Thanks to Philip Thompson for his expansive module illustrating how to work with EPPlus in PowerShell
• Thanks to the team and contributors behind EPPlus for a fantastic solution allowing .NET Excel interaction, without Excel.

Caveats:

• This covers limited functionality; contributions to this function or additional functions would be welcome!
• Minimal testing. Contributions welcome!
• Naming conventions subject to change. Suggestions welcome!

Functionality

• Export random PowerShell output to Excel spreadsheets
• Import Excel spreadsheets to PowerShell as objects
• No dependency on Excel being installed

Instructions

# One time setup
    # Download the repository
    # Unblock the zip
    # Extract the PSExcel folder to a module path (e.g. $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\)

    #Simple alternative, if you have PowerShell 5, or the PowerShellGet module:
        Install-Module PSExcel

# Import the module.
    Import-Module PSExcel    #Alternatively, Import-Module \\Path\To\PSExcel

# Get commands in the module
    Get-Command -Module PSExcel

# Get help for a command
    Get-Help Import-XLSX -Full

# Export data to an XLSX spreadsheet
    Get-ChildItem C:\ -File |
        Export-XLSX -Path C:\Files.xlsx

# Import data from an XLSX spreadsheet
    Import-XLSX -Path C:\Files.xlsx

Examples

Several examples are available on the accompanying blog post and the embedded Gist.

Some highlights:

Export and import data

#Create some demo data
    $DemoData = 1..10 | Foreach-Object{

        $EID = Get-Random -Minimum 1 -Maximum 1000
        $Date = (Get-Date).adddays(-$EID)

        New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{
            Name = "jsmith$_"
            EmployeeID = $EID
            Date = $Date
        } | Select Name, EmployeeID, Date
    }

# Export it
    $DemoData | Export-XLSX -Path C:\temp\Demo.xlsx

# Import it back
    $Imported = Import-XLSX -Path C:\Temp\Demo.xlsx -Header samaccountname, EID, Date

Verify that it exported:

Check the data we imported back:

Fun with formatting

Freeze panes:

# Open the previously created Excel file...
    $Excel = New-Excel -Path C:\temp\Demo.xlsx

# Get a Worksheet
    $Worksheet = $Excel | Get-Worksheet -Name Worksheet1

# Freeze the top row
    $Worksheet | Set-FreezePane -Row 2

# Save and close!
    $Excel | Close-Excel -Save

Format the header:

# Re-open the file
    $Excel = New-Excel -Path C:\temp\Demo.xlsx

# Add bold, size 15 formatting to the header
    $Excel |
        Get-WorkSheet |
        Format-Cell -Header -Bold $True -Size 14

# Save and re-open the saved changes
    $Excel = $Excel | Save-Excel -Passthru

Format the first column:

#  Text was too large!  Set it to 11
    $Excel |
        Get-WorkSheet |
        Format-Cell -Header -Size 11

    $Excel |
        Get-WorkSheet |
        Format-Cell -StartColumn 1 -EndColumn 1 -Autofit -AutofitMinWidth -AutofitMaxWidth 7 -Color DarkRed

# Save and close
    $Excel | Save-Excel -Close

Create tables

Why format the columns yourself? Create a table (thanks to awiddersheim!):

# Add a table, autofit the data.  We use force to overwrite our previous demo.
    $DemoData | Export-XLSX -Path C:\Temp\Demo.xlsx -Table -Autofit -Force

Pivot tables and charts

This is straight from Doug Finke's fantastic ImportExcel module:

# Fun with pivot tables and charts! Props to Doug Finke
    Get-ChildItem $env:USERPROFILE -Recurse -File |
        Export-XLSX -Path C:\Temp\Files.xlsx -PivotRows Extension -PivotValues Length -ChartType Pie

Notes

Note that while some of these examples leverage PowerShell version 3 or later language, the module itself should work with PowerShell 2, and all Pester tests run against both PowerShell 2 and PowerShell 4.