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C# Open Excel Worksheets

ByChaknith Bin

June 17, 2020

Updated  June 1, 2025

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Learn how to use C# to open Excel Worksheet functions to work with Excel Spreadsheets and open all file types including (.xls, .csv, .tsv, and .xlsx). Opening an Excel Worksheet, reading its data, and manipulating it programmatically are essential for many developing applications. Here's a solution for every developer who wants a method with fewer lines of code and faster response times.

How to Open Excel File in C#

• Install C# library to open Excel files
• Load the Excel file into WorkBook object
• Explore many ways to select WorkSheet from the opened Excel file
• Access cell data via the selected WorkSheet object
• Get data from rows and columns range

How to Open Excel Worksheet in C#

1. Install the Excel library to read Excel files.
2. Load the existing Excel file into a Workbook object.
3. Set the default Excel Worksheet.
4. Read the value from Excel Workbook.
5. Process the value accordingly, and display.

Step 1

1. Access Excel C# Library

Access the Excel C# Library via DLL or install it using your preferred NuGet manager. Once you've accessed the IronXL library and added it to your project, you can use all the functions below to open Excel Worksheets in C#.

Install-Package IronXL.Excel

How to Tutorial

2. Load Excel File

Use the WorkBook.Load() function from IronXL to load Excel files into the project. This function requires a string parameter, which is the path of the Excel file to be opened. See here:

// Load the Excel file into a WorkBook object
WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("Path_to_Excel_File.xlsx"); // Excel file path

// Load the Excel file into a WorkBook object
WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("Path_to_Excel_File.xlsx"); // Excel file path

' Load the Excel file into a WorkBook object
Dim wb As WorkBook = WorkBook.Load("Path_to_Excel_File.xlsx") ' Excel file path

The Excel file at the specified path will load into the wb object. Now, we need to specify the Excel Worksheet which will be opened.

3. Open Excel WorkSheet

To open a specific WorkSheet of an Excel file, IronXL provides the WorkBook.GetWorkSheet() function. Using this, we can easily open the Worksheet by its name:

// Get a worksheet by its name
WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("SheetName");

// Get a worksheet by its name
WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("SheetName");

' Get a worksheet by its name
Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.GetWorkSheet("SheetName")

The specified WorkSheet will open in ws with all its data. There are also a few other ways to open a specific WorkSheet of an Excel file:

// Open Excel Worksheet by various methods

// Open by sheet index
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets[0];

// Open the default worksheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.DefaultWorkSheet;

// Open the first sheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets.First();

// Open the first or default sheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets.FirstOrDefault();

// Open Excel Worksheet by various methods

// Open by sheet index
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets[0];

// Open the default worksheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.DefaultWorkSheet;

// Open the first sheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets.First();

// Open the first or default sheet
WorkSheet ws = wb.WorkSheets.FirstOrDefault();

' Open Excel Worksheet by various methods

' Open by sheet index
Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.WorkSheets(0)

' Open the default worksheet
Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.DefaultWorkSheet

' Open the first sheet
Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.WorkSheets.First()

' Open the first or default sheet
Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.WorkSheets.FirstOrDefault()

Now, we just need to get data from the opened Excel WorkSheet.

4. Get Data from WorkSheet

We can get data from an opened Excel WorkSheet in the following ways:

1. Get a specific cell value of Excel WorkSheet.
2. Get data in a specific Range.
3. Get all the data from WorkSheet.

Let's see one by one how to get data in different ways with these examples:

4.1. Get Specific Cell Value

The first approach to getting data from an Excel WorkSheet is to get the specific cell values. It can be accessed like this:

// Access a specific cell value by its address
string val = ws["Cell Address"].ToString();

// Access a specific cell value by its address
string val = ws["Cell Address"].ToString();

' Access a specific cell value by its address
Dim val As String = ws("Cell Address").ToString()

ws is the WorkSheet of the Excel file, as we will see in the following examples. Specific cell values can also be accessed by specifying "row index" and "column index."

// Access a cell value by row index and column index
string val = ws.Rows[RowIndex].Columns[ColumnIndex].Value.ToString();

// Access a cell value by row index and column index
string val = ws.Rows[RowIndex].Columns[ColumnIndex].Value.ToString();

' Access a cell value by row index and column index
Dim val As String = ws.Rows(RowIndex).Columns(ColumnIndex).Value.ToString()

Let's see an example of how to open an Excel file in our C# project and get specific cell values using both methods:

// Get Cell Value Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx");
        // Open WorkSheet
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Get value By Cell Address
        int intValue = ws["C6"].Int32Value;
        // Get value by Row and Column Address
        string strValue = ws.Rows[3].Columns[1].Value.ToString();

        Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Cell Address: {0}", intValue);
        Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Row and Column Indexes: {0}", strValue);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

// Get Cell Value Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx");
        // Open WorkSheet
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Get value By Cell Address
        int intValue = ws["C6"].Int32Value;
        // Get value by Row and Column Address
        string strValue = ws.Rows[3].Columns[1].Value.ToString();

        Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Cell Address: {0}", intValue);
        Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Row and Column Indexes: {0}", strValue);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

' Get Cell Value Example
Imports IronXL

Friend Class Program
	Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
		' Load Excel file
		Dim wb As WorkBook = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx")
		' Open WorkSheet
		Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1")
		' Get value By Cell Address
		Dim intValue As Integer = ws("C6").Int32Value
		' Get value by Row and Column Address
		Dim strValue As String = ws.Rows(3).Columns(1).Value.ToString()

		Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Cell Address: {0}", intValue)
		Console.WriteLine("Getting Value by Row and Column Indexes: {0}", strValue)
		Console.ReadKey()
	End Sub
End Class

This code displays the following output:

Value of Excel file sample.xlsx in row [3].Column [1] and C6 cell:

The rows and column indices start from 0.

Open Excel WorkSheets and get specific cell data, and you can read more about how to read Excel data in C# from already open Excel Worksheets.

4.2. Get Data from Specific Range

Now let's see how to get data in a specific range from an opened Excel WorkSheet using IronXL.

IronXL provides an intelligent way to get data in a specific range. We just specify from to to values:

// Access data from a specific range
var rangeData = ws["From Cell Address : To Cell Address"];

// Access data from a specific range
var rangeData = ws["From Cell Address : To Cell Address"];

' Access data from a specific range
Dim rangeData = ws("From Cell Address : To Cell Address")

Let's see an example of how to use range to get data from an open Excel WorkSheet:

// Get Data from Range Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx");
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Specify the range 
        foreach (var cell in ws["B2:B10"])
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Value is: {0}", cell.Text);
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

// Get Data from Range Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx");
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Specify the range 
        foreach (var cell in ws["B2:B10"])
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Value is: {0}", cell.Text);
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

' Get Data from Range Example
Imports IronXL

Friend Class Program
	Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
		' Load Excel file
		Dim wb As WorkBook = WorkBook.Load("sample.xlsx")
		Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1")
		' Specify the range 
		For Each cell In ws("B2:B10")
			Console.WriteLine("Value is: {0}", cell.Text)
		Next cell
		Console.ReadKey()
	End Sub
End Class

The above code will pull data from B2 to B10 as follows:

We can see the values of the Excel file sample.xlsx, from B2 to B10:

4.3. Get Data from Row

We can also describe a range for a specific row. For example:

// Access data from a specific row range
var rowData = ws["A1:E1"];

// Access data from a specific row range
var rowData = ws["A1:E1"];

' Access data from a specific row range
Dim rowData = ws("A1:E1")

This will display all values from A1 to E1. Read more about C# Excel Ranges and how to work with different row and column identifications.

4.4. Get All Data from WorkSheet

Getting all the cell data from the open Excel WorkSheet is also easy using IronXL. For this task, we need to access each cell value by row and column indexes. Let's see the following example, in which we will traverse all WorkSheet cells and access its values.

In this example, basically, two loops are working: one is for traversing each row of Excel WorkSheet and the other is for traversing each column of a specific row. In this way, each cell value can be easily accessed.

// Get All Data Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample2.xlsx");
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Access all rows of the open Excel WorkSheet
        for (int i = 0; i < ws.Rows.Count(); i++)
        {    
            // Access all columns of a specific row
            for (int j = 0; j < ws.Columns.Count(); j++)
            {
                // Access each cell for the specified column
                Console.WriteLine(ws.Rows[i].Columns[j].Value.ToString());
            }
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

// Get All Data Example
using IronXL;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Load Excel file
        WorkBook wb = WorkBook.Load("sample2.xlsx");
        WorkSheet ws = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1");
        // Access all rows of the open Excel WorkSheet
        for (int i = 0; i < ws.Rows.Count(); i++)
        {    
            // Access all columns of a specific row
            for (int j = 0; j < ws.Columns.Count(); j++)
            {
                // Access each cell for the specified column
                Console.WriteLine(ws.Rows[i].Columns[j].Value.ToString());
            }
        }
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

' Get All Data Example
Imports IronXL

Friend Class Program
	Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
		' Load Excel file
		Dim wb As WorkBook = WorkBook.Load("sample2.xlsx")
		Dim ws As WorkSheet = wb.GetWorkSheet("Sheet1")
		' Access all rows of the open Excel WorkSheet
		For i As Integer = 0 To ws.Rows.Count() - 1
			' Access all columns of a specific row
			For j As Integer = 0 To ws.Columns.Count() - 1
				' Access each cell for the specified column
				Console.WriteLine(ws.Rows(i).Columns(j).Value.ToString())
			Next j
		Next i
		Console.ReadKey()
	End Sub
End Class

The output of the above code will display each cell value of the complete open Excel WorkSheet.

Tutorial Quick Access

API Reference Resource

Use the IronXL API Reference resource as your guide to all functions and classes for use in your projects, as well as namespaces, method fields, enums, and feature sets.

API Reference Resource

Chaknith Bin

  Chat with engineering team now

Software Engineer

Chaknith works on IronXL and IronBarcode. He has deep expertise in C# and .NET, helping improve the software and support customers. His insights from user interactions contribute to better products, documentation, and overall experience.