How can I automate the opening – saving and closing of an Excel file?

Introduction

Automation has become a critical aspect of modern-day business operations, and it has significantly improved efficiency and productivity. One area where automation has found wide application is in data processing, and the use of Excel spreadsheets is still prevalent. However, automating the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files can be a daunting task, especially when dealing with large volumes of data. In this blog post, we will explore ways to automate the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files in Windows.

Automating Excel using VBA

One of the most common ways of automating Excel is through the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). VBA is a programming language that is built into Excel, and it allows users to automate tasks in Excel. To automate the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files using VBA, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Excel and press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor.
Step 2: In the VBA editor, click on Insert and select Module.
Step 3: In the Module window, type the following code:

Sub OpenSaveClose()
Dim wb As Workbook
Set wb = Workbooks.Open("C:pathtofile.xlsx")
wb.Save
wb.Close
End Sub

Step 4: Replace “C:pathtofile.xlsx” with the path to the Excel file you want to automate.
Step 5: Press F5 to run the code.

The code above will open the Excel file, save it, and then close it without any modifications to the data. You can also modify the code to automate the opening, saving, and closing of multiple Excel files.

Automating Excel using PowerShell

PowerShell is a powerful automation tool that is built into Windows. It is a command-line shell that allows users to automate tasks in Windows, including Excel. To automate the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files using PowerShell, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open PowerShell by pressing Windows + X and selecting Windows PowerShell (Admin).
Step 2: In the PowerShell window, type the following code:

$excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $false
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Open("C:pathtofile.xlsx")
$workbook.Save()
$workbook.Close()
$excel.Quit()

Step 3: Replace “C:pathtofile.xlsx” with the path to the Excel file you want to automate.
Step 4: Press Enter to run the code.

The code above will open the Excel file, save it, and then close it without any modifications to the data. You can also modify the code to automate the opening, saving, and closing of multiple Excel files.

Automating Excel using Python

Python is a popular programming language that is widely used for automation. It has a rich set of libraries that make it easy to automate tasks in Excel. To automate the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files using Python, follow these steps:

Step 1: Install the openpyxl library by running the following command in the command prompt:

pip install openpyxl

Step 2: Open a text editor and type the following code:

import openpyxl

wb = openpyxl.load_workbook('C:pathtofile.xlsx')
wb.save('C:pathtofile.xlsx')
wb.close()

Step 3: Replace “C:pathtofile.xlsx” with the path to the Excel file you want to automate.
Step 4: Save the file with a .py extension and run it.

The code above will open the Excel file, save it, and then close it without any modifications to the data. You can also modify the code to automate the opening, saving, and closing of multiple Excel files.

Automating Excel using Batch Scripts

Batch scripting is a simple way to automate tasks in Windows. It involves creating a script file with a series of commands that are executed in sequence. To automate the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files using batch scripts, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Notepad and type the following code:

start excel.exe "C:pathtofile.xlsx"
timeout /t 5
taskkill /f /im excel.exe

Step 2: Replace “C:pathtofile.xlsx” with the path to the Excel file you want to automate.
Step 3: Save the file with a .bat extension and run it.

The code above will open the Excel file, wait for 5 seconds, save it, and then close it without any modifications to the data. You can also modify the code to automate the opening, saving, and closing of multiple Excel files.

Conclusion

Automating the opening, saving, and closing of Excel files is an essential aspect of data processing. In this blog post, we have explored various ways to automate this process using VBA, PowerShell, Python, and batch scripts. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and you can choose the one that best suits your needs. With these automation techniques, you can save time and improve efficiency in your data processing tasks.

Yes, you can use Windows Powershell to automate the opening, saving and closing of an Excel file. Windows Powershell is a scripting language for automating tasks and managing Windows systems. It allows you to run commands that can be used to open, save and close the Excel file.

The first step is to create a Powershell script that will open the Excel file. The following code will open the file:

$excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $true
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Open("[PATH]\[FILE_NAME].xlsx")

This code will open the Excel file and make it visible. The “PATH” parameter should be replaced with the file path and the “FILE_NAME” parameter should be replaced with the name of the file.

To save the file, use the following code:

$workbook.Save()

This will save the file without making any changes to the contents.

To close the file, use the following code:

$excel.Quit()

This will close the Excel file.

You can then use Windows Task Scheduler to run the script at a given time or frequency. This will automate the process of opening, saving and closing the Excel file.

In summary, you can use Windows Powershell and Windows Task Scheduler to automate the opening, saving and closing of an Excel file. The Windows Powershell script will open the file, save it and close it, and Windows Task Scheduler will run the script at a given time or frequency. This will allow you to automate the process of opening, saving and closing the Excel file.

If you need more help or would like to learn more about Windows Powershell or Windows Task Scheduler, please feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to help.

I acquired sufficient knowledge of VB Script and produced a compact script that can be activated by double-clicking, which changes Excel files to CSV format at a particular location.

set xls = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
xls.DisplayAlerts = False

set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set w_shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

desktop = w_shell.SpecialFolders("Desktop")
folder_path = fso.GetAbsolutePathName(desktop) & "\Payroll\"

set folder = fso.GetFolder(folder_path)
set files = folder.Files

for each file in files
    path = folder_path & file.Name
    set workbook = xls.Workbooks.Open(path)
    path = Replace(path, "xlsx", "csv")
    workbook.SaveAs path, 6
    workbook.Close False
next

xls.Quit