Open and Save Workbook

Once you create a workbook, you can open the workbook to make modifications and save the changes back to the workbook.

This topic includes the following tasks:

• Open a workbook

• Save a workbook

Open a workbook

You can open an existing workbook by calling the Open method of the Workbook class.

While opening a workbook, you can also choose from several import options listed in the below table:

Refer to the following example code to open a workbook.

           
// Opening a workbook
 workbook.Open(@"Source.xlsx", OpenFileFormat.Xlsx);

//Opening a workbook with Import options

//Import only data from .xlsx document.

XlsxOpenOptions options = new XlsxOpenOptions();
options.ImportFlags = ImportFlags.Data;
workbook.Open(@"DemoOpen.xlsx", options);

//Don't recalculate after opened.
XlsxOpenOptions options1 = new XlsxOpenOptions();
options1.DoNotRecalculateAfterOpened = true;
            
//Don’t autofit row height 
options1.DoNotAutoFitAfterOpened = true;             
workbook.Open(@"DemoOpen.xlsx", options1);                                

Note: While opening the workbook, you can check whether it is password protected or not by using the IsEncryptedFile method of the Workbook class. If your workbook is password protected, you would need to provide a password everytime you open it.

Apart from .xlsx files, you can also open the below file formats by using the overloads of Open method in Workbook class:

• .xlsm

• .xltx

• .csv

• .json

• .ssjson

• .sjs

However, an exception is thrown when unsupported file formats are opened. While opening a JSON file, the DeserializationOptions are supported as well.

Refer to the following example code to open a JSON file with and without options.

//create a new workbook
var workbook = new GrapeCity.Documents.Excel.Workbook();
        
// Import JSON without options
workbook.Open("file.json");
        
// Import JSON with options
var options = new DeserializationOptions { IgnoreStyle = true };
workbook.Open("file.json", options);

Save a workbook

You can save the changes made in the existing workbook by calling the Save method of the Workbook class.

Refer to the following example code to save your workbook.

// Save the Excel file
workbook.Save(@"createWorkbook.xlsx", SaveFileFormat.Xlsx);

Sometimes workbook may contain many unused styles, unused defined names, or empty cells with styles applied on it which increases the file size. The XlsxSaveOptions class provides you with options to save .xlsx files without these unnecessary items so that you can optimize the file size. The ExcludeEmptyRegionCells property of the class, when set to true, lets you exclude the empty cells outside the used data range. Similarly, you can exclude the unused names and styles of a workbook while exporting by setting the ExcludeUnusedNames and ExcludeUnusedStyles properties to true. The class also provides IgnoreFormulas property which lets you save the formula cells as value cells in the saved .xlsx file. You can even save the workbook in compact mode if you do not require extended features of the workbook after saving it by using the IsCompactMode property.

The sample code below shows how to save your workbook using various options:

Workbook workbook = new Workbook();       

//Add names and style for current workbook 
for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) 
{ 
  workbook.Names.Add($"name{i + 1}", $"=$A${i + 1}"); 
  workbook.Styles.Add($"style{i + 1}"); 
}  

//Exclude the unused styles, names and empty cell region 
XlsxSaveOptions option = new XlsxSaveOptions(); 
option.ExcludeUnusedStyles = true; 
option.ExcludeUnusedNames = true; 
option.ExcludeEmptyRegionCells = true; 

//save file with and without options 
workbook.Save("test_optimized.xlsx", option); 
workbook.Save("test_no_optimized.xlsx"); 
        

Apart from saving files in .xlsx format, you can also save files in the below file formats by using the overloads of Save method in Workbook class:

• .xlsm

• .xltx

• .csv

• .html

• .pdf

• .json

• .ssjson

• .sjs

To view the code in action, see Option to optimize file size demo.