Topic area
Libraries, speed & errors
Choosing the right library, making it fast, and decoding what it throws at you.
Topics in libraries, speed & errors
Each topic page gathers every guide, how-to, comparison and fix on its subject.
- Choosing a libraryopenpyxl, pandas, xlsxwriter, xlwings and Polars compared on the jobs they are good at.
- pandasEverything on the site that runs through a pandas DataFrame.
- openpyxlCell-level reading, writing and styling with openpyxl.
- xlsxwriterFast, richly formatted new workbooks with xlsxwriter.
- Polars & ArrowPolars, calamine and Arrow for faster reads and columnar pipelines.
- Large files & performanceChunked reads, read-only and write-only modes, parallel jobs and benchmarks.
- Errors & fixesThe exceptions and broken outputs that stop a job, with the cause explained.
Choosing a library
- OverviewGetting Started with Python Excel Automation
- GuideChoosing a Python Excel Library
- Comparisonxlwings vs pywin32 for Excel Automation
- ComparisonGoogle Sheets vs Excel Files for Python Automation
pandas
- OverviewAdvanced Data Transformation and Cleaning for Excel Automation
- GuideCleaning Excel Data With Pandas: A Production Workflow
- GuideCreating Pivot Tables from Excel Data with Pandas
- GuideExcel Formula Equivalents in pandas
openpyxl
- GuideApplying Conditional Formatting With openpyxl
- GuideGenerating Excel Reports from Templates
- GuideCreating Charts in Excel with openpyxl
- GuideInserting Images and Logos into Excel
xlsxwriter
- GuideBuilding Excel Reports with xlsxwriter
- How-toCombine Chart Types and Chartsheets with XlsxWriter
- How-toDefine Names and Protect Sheets with XlsxWriter
- How-toFreeze Panes and Set Zoom with XlsxWriter
Polars & Arrow
- GuideReading Excel with Polars and Arrow
- How-toClean and Aggregate Excel Data with Polars Expressions
- How-toClean Wide Excel Sheets with Polars Column Selectors
- How-toConvert pandas Excel Code to Polars
Large files & performance
- GuideReading Excel with Polars and Arrow
- GuideWorking with Large Excel Files in Python
- How-toSpeed Up pandas Excel Reads with the calamine Engine
- How-toAggregate a Huge Excel File Without Loading It
Errors & fixes
- GuideError Handling and Logging in Excel Automation
- GuideTroubleshooting Common Python Excel Errors
- FixHandle Permission Denied When Writing Excel in Python
- FixFix "At least one sheet must be visible" in openpyxl and pandas
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