Convert XLS to CSV on command line

Question

How could I convert an XLS file to a CSV file on the windows command line.

The machine has Microsoft Office 2000 installed. I\'m open to installing OpenOffice if it\

Answer 1

:: For UTF-8 works for Microsoft Office 2016 and higher!

Try this code:

if WScript.Arguments.Count < 2 Then
    WScript.Echo "Please specify the source and the destination files. Usage: ExcelToCsv <xls/xlsx source file> <csv destination file>"
    Wscript.Quit
End If

csv_format = 62

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

src_file = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(Wscript.Arguments.Item(0))
dest_file = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(WScript.Arguments.Item(1))


Dim oExcel
Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

Dim oBook
Set oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Open(src_file)

oBook.SaveAs dest_file, csv_format

oBook.Close False
oExcel.Quit

Answer 2

Open Notepad, create a file called XlsToCsv.vbs and paste this in:

if WScript.Arguments.Count < 2 Then
    WScript.Echo "Error! Please specify the source path and the destination. Usage: XlsToCsv SourcePath.xls Destination.csv"
    Wscript.Quit
End If
Dim oExcel
Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Dim oBook
Set oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Open(Wscript.Arguments.Item(0))
oBook.SaveAs WScript.Arguments.Item(1), 6
oBook.Close False
oExcel.Quit
WScript.Echo "Done"

Then from a command line, go to the folder you saved the .vbs file in and run:

XlsToCsv.vbs [sourcexlsFile].xls [destinationcsvfile].csv

This requires Excel to be installed on the machine you are on though.

Answer 3

Create a TXT file on your desktop named "xls2csv.vbs" and paste the code:

Dim vExcel
Dim vCSV
Set vExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set vCSV = vExcel.Workbooks.Open(Wscript.Arguments.Item(0))
vCSV.SaveAs WScript.Arguments.Item(0) & ".csv", 6
vCSV.Close False
vExcel.Quit

Drag a XLS file to it (like "test.xls"). It will create a converted CSV file named "test.xls.csv". Then, rename it to "test.csv". Done.

Answer 4

A slightly modified version of ScottF answer, which does not require absolute file paths:

if WScript.Arguments.Count < 2 Then
    WScript.Echo "Please specify the source and the destination files. Usage: ExcelToCsv <xls/xlsx source file> <csv destination file>"
    Wscript.Quit
End If

csv_format = 6

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

src_file = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(Wscript.Arguments.Item(0))
dest_file = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(WScript.Arguments.Item(1))

Dim oExcel
Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

Dim oBook
Set oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Open(src_file)

oBook.SaveAs dest_file, csv_format

oBook.Close False
oExcel.Quit

I have renamed the script ExcelToCsv, since this script is not limited to xls at all. xlsx Works just fine, as we could expect.

Tested with Office 2010.

Answer 5

How about with PowerShell?

Code should be looks like this, not tested though

$xlCSV = 6
$Excel = New-Object -Com Excel.Application 
$Excel.visible = $False 
$Excel.displayalerts=$False 
$WorkBook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open("YOUDOC.XLS") 
$Workbook.SaveAs("YOURDOC.csv",$xlCSV) 
$Excel.quit()

Here is a post explaining how to use it

How Can I Use Windows PowerShell to Automate Microsoft Excel?

Answer 6

All of these answers helped me construct the following script which will automatically convert XLS* files to CSV and vice versa, by dropping one or more files on the script (or via command line). Apologies for the janky formatting.

' https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1858195/convert-xls-to-csv-on-command-line
' https://gist.github.com/tonyerskine/77250575b166bec997f33a679a0dfbe4

' https://stackoverflow.com/a/36804963/1037948
'* Global Settings and Variables
Set args = Wscript.Arguments

For Each sFilename In args
    iErr = ConvertExcelFormat(sFilename)
    ' 0 for normal success
    ' 404 for file not found
    ' 10 for file skipped (or user abort if script returns 10)
Next

WScript.Quit(0)

Function ConvertExcelFormat(srcFile)

    if IsEmpty(srcFile) OR srcFile = "" Then
        WScript.Echo "Error! Please specify at least one source path. Usage: " & WScript.ScriptName & " SourcePath.xls*|csv"
        ConvertExcelFormat = -1
        Exit Function
        'Wscript.Quit
    End If

    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

    srcExt = objFSO.GetExtensionName(srcFile)

    ' the 6 is the constant for 'CSV' format, 51 is for 'xlsx'
    ' https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vba/excel-vba/articles/xlfileformat-enumeration-excel
    ' https://www.rondebruin.nl/mac/mac020.htm
    Dim outputFormat, srcDest

    If LCase(Mid(srcExt, 1, 2)) = "xl" Then
        outputFormat = 6
        srcDest = "csv"
    Else
        outputFormat = 51
        srcDest = "xlsx"
    End If

    'srcFile = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(Wscript.Arguments.Item(0))
    srcFile = objFSO.GetAbsolutePathName(srcFile)
    destFile = Replace(srcFile, srcExt, srcDest)

    Dim oExcel
    Set oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
    Dim oBook
    Set oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Open(srcFile)
    ' preserve formatting? https://stackoverflow.com/a/8658845/1037948
    'oBook.Application.Columns("A:J").NumberFormat = "@"
    oBook.SaveAs destFile, outputFormat
    oBook.Close False
    oExcel.Quit
    WScript.Echo "Conversion complete of '" & srcFile & "' to '" & objFSO.GetFileName(destFile) & "'"

End Function