App#

class App(visible=None, spec=None, add_book=True, impl=None)#

An app corresponds to an Excel instance and should normally be used as context manager to make sure that everything is properly cleaned up again and to prevent zombie processes. New Excel instances can be fired up like so:

import xlwings as xw

with xw.App() as app:
    print(app.books)

An app object is a member of the apps collection:

>>> xw.apps
Apps([<Excel App 1668>, <Excel App 1644>])
>>> xw.apps[1668]  # get the available PIDs via xw.apps.keys()
<Excel App 1668>
>>> xw.apps.active
<Excel App 1668>
Parameters
  • visible (bool, default None) – Returns or sets a boolean value that determines whether the app is visible. The default leaves the state unchanged or sets visible=True if the object doesn’t exist yet.

  • spec (str, default None) –

    Mac-only, use the full path to the Excel application, e.g. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Excel or /Applications/Microsoft Excel

    On Windows, if you want to change the version of Excel that xlwings talks to, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and Repair the Office version that you want as default.

Note

On Mac, while xlwings allows you to run multiple instances of Excel, it’s a feature that is not officially supported by Excel for Mac: Unlike on Windows, Excel will not ask you to open a read-only version of a file if it is already open in another instance. This means that you need to watch out yourself so that the same file is not being overwritten from different instances.

activate(steal_focus=False)#

Activates the Excel app.

Parameters

steal_focus (bool, default False) – If True, make frontmost application and hand over focus from Python to Excel.

New in version 0.9.0.

alert(prompt, title=None, buttons='ok', mode=None, callback=None)#

This corresponds to MsgBox in VBA, shows an alert/message box and returns the value of the pressed button. For xlwings Server, instead of returning a value, the function accepts the name of a callback to which it will supply the value of the pressed button.

Parameters
  • prompt (str, default None) – The message to be displayed.

  • title (str, default None) – The title of the alert.

  • buttons (str, default "ok") – Can be either "ok", "ok_cancel", "yes_no", or "yes_no_cancel".

  • mode (str, default None) – Can be "info" or "critical". Not supported by Google Sheets.

  • callback (str, default None) – Only used by xlwings Server: you can provide the name of a function that will be called with the value of the pressed button as argument. The function has to exist on the client side, i.e., in VBA or JavaScript.

Returns

button_value – Returns None when used with xlwings Server, otherwise the value of the pressed button in lowercase: "ok", "cancel", "yes", "no".

Return type

str or None

New in version 0.27.13.

property api#

Returns the native object (pywin32 or appscript obj) of the engine being used.

New in version 0.9.0.

property books#

A collection of all Book objects that are currently open.

New in version 0.9.0.

calculate()#

Calculates all open books.

New in version 0.3.6.

property calculation#

Returns or sets a calculation value that represents the calculation mode. Modes: 'manual', 'automatic', 'semiautomatic'

Examples

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> wb = xw.Book()
>>> wb.app.calculation = 'manual'

Changed in version 0.9.0.

property cut_copy_mode#

Gets or sets the status of the cut or copy mode. Accepts False for setting and returns None, copy or cut when getting the status.

New in version 0.24.0.

property display_alerts#

The default value is True. Set this property to False to suppress prompts and alert messages while code is running; when a message requires a response, Excel chooses the default response.

New in version 0.9.0.

property enable_events#

True if events are enabled. Read/write boolean.

New in version 0.24.4.

property hwnd#

Returns the Window handle (Windows-only).

New in version 0.9.0.

property interactive#

True if Excel is in interactive mode. If you set this property to False, Excel blocks all input from the keyboard and mouse (except input to dialog boxes that are displayed by your code). Read/write Boolean. NOTE: Not supported on macOS.

New in version 0.24.4.

kill()#

Forces the Excel app to quit by killing its process.

New in version 0.9.0.

macro(name)#

Runs a Sub or Function in Excel VBA that are not part of a specific workbook but e.g. are part of an add-in.

Parameters

name (Name of Sub or Function with or without module name,) – e.g., 'Module1.MyMacro' or 'MyMacro'

Examples

This VBA function:

Function MySum(x, y)
    MySum = x + y
End Function

can be accessed like this:

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> app = xw.App()
>>> my_sum = app.macro('MySum')
>>> my_sum(1, 2)
3

Types are supported too:

Function MySum(x as integer, y as integer)
    MySum = x + y
End Function
>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> app = xw.App()
>>> my_sum = app.macro('MySum')
>>> my_sum(1, 2)
3

However typed arrays are not supported. So the following won’t work

Function MySum(arr() as integer)
    ' code here
End Function

See also: Book.macro()

New in version 0.9.0.

property path#

Returns the path to where the App is installed.

New in version 0.28.4.

property pid#

Returns the PID of the app.

New in version 0.9.0.

properties(**kwargs)#

Context manager that allows you to easily change the app’s properties temporarily. Once the code leaves the with block, the properties are changed back to their previous state. Note: Must be used as context manager or else will have no effect. Also, you can only use app properties that you can both read and write.

Examples

import xlwings as xw
app = App()

# Sets app.display_alerts = False
with app.properties(display_alerts=False):
    # do stuff

# Sets app.calculation = 'manual' and app.enable_events = True
with app.properties(calculation='manual', enable_events=True):
    # do stuff

# Makes sure the status bar is reset even if an error happens in the with block
with app.properties(status_bar='Calculating...'):
    # do stuff

New in version 0.24.4.

quit()#

Quits the application without saving any workbooks.

New in version 0.3.3.

range(cell1, cell2=None)#

Range object from the active sheet of the active book, see Range().

New in version 0.9.0.

render_template(template=None, output=None, book_settings=None, **data)#

This function requires xlwings PRO.

This is a convenience wrapper around mysheet.render_template

Writes the values of all key word arguments to the output file according to the template and the variables contained in there (Jinja variable syntax). Following variable types are supported:

strings, numbers, lists, simple dicts, NumPy arrays, Pandas DataFrames, pictures and Matplotlib/Plotly figures.

Parameters
  • template (str or path-like object) – Path to your Excel template, e.g. r'C:\Path\to\my_template.xlsx'

  • output (str or path-like object) – Path to your Report, e.g. r'C:\Path\to\my_report.xlsx'

  • book_settings (dict, default None) – A dictionary of xlwings.Book parameters, for details see: xlwings.Book. For example: book_settings={'update_links': False}.

  • data (kwargs) – All key/value pairs that are used in the template.

Returns

wb

Return type

xlwings Book

New in version 0.24.4.

property screen_updating#

Turn screen updating off to speed up your script. You won’t be able to see what the script is doing, but it will run faster. Remember to set the screen_updating property back to True when your script ends.

New in version 0.3.3.

property selection#

Returns the selected cells as Range.

New in version 0.9.0.

property startup_path#

Returns the path to XLSTART which is where the xlwings add-in gets copied to by doing xlwings addin install.

New in version 0.19.4.

property status_bar#

Gets or sets the value of the status bar. Returns False if Excel has control of it.

New in version 0.20.0.

property version#

Returns the Excel version number object.

Examples

>>> import xlwings as xw
>>> xw.App().version
VersionNumber('15.24')
>>> xw.apps[10559].version.major
15

Changed in version 0.9.0.

property visible#

Gets or sets the visibility of Excel to True or False.

New in version 0.3.3.