How to export a CSV to Excel using Powershell

Question

I\'m trying to export a complete CSV to Excel by using Powershell. I stuck at a point where static column names are used. But this doesn\'t work if my CSV has generic unknow

Answer 1

I found this while passing and looking for answers on how to compile a set of csvs into a single excel doc with the worksheets (tabs) named after the csv files. It is a nice function. Sadly, I cannot run them on my network :( so i do not know how well it works.

Function Release-Ref ($ref)
{
    ([System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject(
    [System.__ComObject]$ref) -gt 0)
    [System.GC]::Collect()
    [System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
    }
    Function ConvertCSV-ToExcel
    {
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
    Converts     one or more CSV files into an excel file.
    
    .DESCRIPTION
    Converts one or more CSV files into an excel file. Each CSV file is imported into its own worksheet with the name of the
    file being the name of the worksheet.
        
    .PARAMETER inputfile
    Name of the CSV file being converted
    
    .PARAMETER output
    Name of the converted excel file
    
    .EXAMPLE
    Get-ChildItem *.csv | ConvertCSV-ToExcel -output ‘report.xlsx’
    
    .EXAMPLE
    ConvertCSV-ToExcel -inputfile ‘file.csv’ -output ‘report.xlsx’
    
    .EXAMPLE
    ConvertCSV-ToExcel -inputfile @(“test1.csv”,”test2.csv”) -output ‘report.xlsx’
    
    .NOTES
    Author:     Boe Prox
    Date Created: 01SEPT210
    Last Modified:
    
    #>
    
    #Requires -version 2.0
    [CmdletBinding(
    SupportsShouldProcess = $True,
    ConfirmImpact = ‘low’,
    DefaultParameterSetName = ‘file’
    )]
    Param (
    [Parameter(
    ValueFromPipeline=$True,
    Position=0,
    Mandatory=$True,
    HelpMessage=”Name of CSV/s to import”)]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [array]$inputfile,
    [Parameter(
    ValueFromPipeline=$False,
    Position=1,
    Mandatory=$True,
    HelpMessage=”Name of excel file output”)]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [string]$output
    )
    
    Begin {
    #Configure regular expression to match full path of each file
    [regex]$regex = “^\w\:\\”
    
    #Find the number of CSVs being imported
    $count = ($inputfile.count -1)
    
    #Create Excel Com Object
    $excel = new-object -com excel.application
    
    #Disable alerts
    $excel.DisplayAlerts = $False
    
    #Show Excel application
    $excel.V    isible = $False
    
    #Add workbook
    $workbook = $excel.workbooks.Add()
    
    #Remove other worksheets
    $workbook.worksheets.Item(2).delete()
    #After the first worksheet is removed,the next one takes its place
    $workbook.worksheets.Item(2).delete()
    
    #Define initial worksheet number
    $i = 1
    }
    
    Process {
    ForEach ($input in $inputfile) {
    #If more than one file, create another worksheet for each file
    If ($i -gt 1) {
    $workbook.worksheets.Add() | Out-Null
    }
    #Use the first worksheet in the workbook (also the newest created worksheet is always 1)
    $worksheet = $workbook.worksheets.Item(1)
    #Add name of CSV as worksheet name
    $worksheet.name = “$((GCI $input).basename)”
    
    #Open the CSV file in Excel, must be converted into complete path if no already done
    If ($regex.ismatch($input)) {
    $tempcsv = $excel.Workbooks.Open($input)
    }
    ElseIf ($regex.ismatch(“$($input.fullname)”)) {
    $tempcsv = $excel.Workbooks.Open(“$($input.fullname)”)
    }
    Else {
    $tempcsv = $excel.Workbooks.Open(“$($pwd)\$input”)
    }
    $tempsheet = $tempcsv.Worksheets.Item(1)
    #Copy contents of the CSV file
    $tempSheet.UsedRange.Copy() | Out-Null
    #Paste contents of CSV into existing workbook
    $worksheet.Paste()
    
    #Close temp workbook
    $tempcsv.close()
    
    #Select all used cells
    $range = $worksheet.UsedRange
    
    #Autofit the columns
    $range.EntireColumn.Autofit() | out-null
    $i++
    }
    }
    
    End {
    #Save spreadsheet
    $workbook.saveas(“$pwd\$output”)
    
    Write-Host -Fore Green “File saved to $pwd\$output”
    
    #Close Excel
    $excel.quit()
    
    #Release processes for Excel
    $a = Release-Ref($range)
    }
}

Answer 2

Ups, I entirely forgot this question. In the meantime I got a solution.
This Powershell script converts a CSV to XLSX in the background

Gimmicks are

• Preserves all CSV values as plain text like =B1+B2 or 0000001.
  You don't see #Name or anything like that. No autoformating is done.
• Automatically chooses the right delimiter (comma or semicolon) according to your regional setting
• Autofit columns

PowerShell Code

### Set input and output path
$inputCSV = "C:\somefolder\input.csv"
$outputXLSX = "C:\somefolder\output.xlsx"

### Create a new Excel Workbook with one empty sheet
$excel = New-Object -ComObject excel.application 
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Add(1)
$worksheet = $workbook.worksheets.Item(1)

### Build the QueryTables.Add command
### QueryTables does the same as when clicking "Data » From Text" in Excel
$TxtConnector = ("TEXT;" + $inputCSV)
$Connector = $worksheet.QueryTables.add($TxtConnector,$worksheet.Range("A1"))
$query = $worksheet.QueryTables.item($Connector.name)

### Set the delimiter (, or ;) according to your regional settings
$query.TextFileOtherDelimiter = $Excel.Application.International(5)

### Set the format to delimited and text for every column
### A trick to create an array of 2s is used with the preceding comma
$query.TextFileParseType  = 1
$query.TextFileColumnDataTypes = ,2 * $worksheet.Cells.Columns.Count
$query.AdjustColumnWidth = 1

### Execute & delete the import query
$query.Refresh()
$query.Delete()

### Save & close the Workbook as XLSX. Change the output extension for Excel 2003
$Workbook.SaveAs($outputXLSX,51)
$excel.Quit()