Programmatically open workbooks

The Workbooks collection in Microsoft Office Excel makes it possible to work with all open workbooks and to open workbooks.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and VSTO Add-in projects for Excel. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.

To open an existing workbook

Use the Open method of the Workbooks collection, passing in the path to the workbook.

this.Application.Workbooks.Open(@"C:\Test\YourWorkbook.xlsx");

Me.Application.Workbooks.Open("C:\Test\YourWorkbook.xlsx")

This code example requires the following:

A workbook named YourWorkbook.xls must exist in a directory named Test on drive C.

Documentation

Programmatically add new worksheets to workbooks

Create a Microsoft Office Excel worksheet and add the worksheet to the collection of worksheets in the workbook programmatically from Visual Basic or C#.
Programmatically close workbooks - Visual Studio (Windows)

Close the active Microsoft Office Excel workbook or specify a workbook to close programmatically from Visual Basic or C#.
Programmatically create new workbooks - Visual Studio (Windows)

Create a new Microsoft Excel workbook programmatically from Visual Basic or C# in Visual Studio by using the default template or with a custom template.
Programmatically save workbooks - Visual Studio (Windows)

Save Microsoft Excel workbooks without changing the path and save a copy without modifying the open workbook in memory programmatically in Visual Studio.
Programmatically select worksheets - Visual Studio (Windows)

Select Microsoft Excel worksheets with the worksheet host item or sheets collection of the Excel workbook programmatically from Visual Basic or C# in Visual Studio.
Programmatically list all worksheets in a workbook

Learn how you can programmatically list all worksheets in a Microsoft Excel workbook by using Visual Studio.

Training

Module

Learn how to use Power Automate for desktop to open, read, and manipulate Excel files with various Microsoft Excel actions.

Certification

Demonstrate that you have the skills needed to get the most out of Excel 2016 by earning a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification.