Excel Activities

Automate Microsoft Excel workbooks using the COM interop engine. All Excel activities must be placed inside an Excel Application Container, which opens the workbook and maintains the COM session for the duration of the container. 18 activities cover reading, writing, sheet management, formatting, formulas, filters, sorting, macros, and VBA.

Excel Application Container

Opens an Excel workbook via COM (or creates it if missing) and provides the Excel session context to all child activities. Saves and closes the workbook on exit by default.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
FilePath	String	—	Absolute path to the .xlsx / .xlsm / .xlsb workbook
Visible	Boolean	false	Show the Excel window during automation
ReadOnly	Boolean	false	Open the workbook in read-only mode
CreateIfMissing	Boolean	false	Create the workbook file if it does not exist
SaveOnComplete	Boolean	true	Save the workbook when the container exits
CloseAfterCompletion	Boolean	true	Close the Excel instance after the container exits
MacroPolicy	FollowSystem \| PreferEnable \| PreferDisable	FollowSystem	Macro trust level when opening .xlsm files
Body	Activity sequence	—	Excel child activities to run in scope

workflow

1	Excel Application Container FilePath="C:\Reports\sales.xlsx" Visible=false
2	Body:
3	Excel Read Range SheetName="Sheet1" Range="A1:D100" OutputVariable="salesData"
4	For Each Row DataVariable="${salesData}" RowVariable="row"
5	Body:
6	...

Excel Read Range

Reads a cell range into a DataTable variable.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet to read from (defaults to the active sheet)
Range	String	No	A1 notation range (e.g., `A1:D100`). Leave empty to read the entire used range.
HasHeaders	Boolean	No (default: true)	Treat the first row as column names
OutputVariable	String	Yes	Variable to store the resulting DataTable

Excel Write Range

Writes a DataTable into the workbook starting at a specified cell.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
DataVariable	String	Yes	DataTable variable to write
SheetName	String	No	Target sheet (defaults to active sheet)
StartCell	String	No (default: A1)	Top-left cell to begin writing
WriteHeaders	Boolean	No (default: true)	Write column names in the first row

Excel Get Cell Value

Reads the value of a single cell.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Cell	String	Yes	Cell address, e.g. `B5`
OutputVariable	String	Yes	Variable to store the cell value

Excel Set Cell Value

Sets the value of a single cell.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Cell	String	Yes	Cell address
Value	String	Yes	Value to write (supports variable references)

Excel Get Sheet Names

Returns all sheet names in the workbook as a StringArray variable.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
OutputVariable	String	Yes	Variable to store the list of sheet names

Excel Add Sheet

Adds a new worksheet to the workbook.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	Yes	Name for the new sheet

Excel Delete Sheet

Permanently deletes a worksheet. Cannot be undone.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	Yes	Name of the sheet to delete

Excel Rename Sheet

Renames an existing worksheet.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
OldName	String	Yes	Current sheet name
NewName	String	Yes	New sheet name

Excel Save Workbook

Saves the workbook explicitly mid-container. Useful for checkpointing long operations.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SavePath	String	No	Save-as path (saves in-place if omitted)

Excel Set Formula

Writes a formula string into a cell.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Cell	String	Yes	Cell address
Formula	String	Yes	Excel formula, e.g. `=SUM(A1:A10)`

Excel Get Formula

Reads the formula string stored in a cell.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Cell	String	Yes	Cell address
OutputVariable	String	Yes	Variable to store the formula string

Excel Format Range

Applies visual formatting to a cell range.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Range	String	Yes	A1 notation range, e.g. `A1:D10`
Bold	Boolean	No	Make text bold
Italic	Boolean	No	Make text italic
FontSize	Number	No	Font size in points
FontColor	String (hex)	No	Font colour, e.g. `#FF0000`
BackgroundColor	String (hex)	No	Cell background colour
NumberFormat	String	No	Number format string, e.g. `#,##0.00`

Excel Auto Filter

Applies an AutoFilter to a range. Optionally filter to show only rows matching a criterion.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Range	String	Yes	Range to apply AutoFilter on
Column	Int32	No (default: 1)	1-based column index to apply filter criteria on
Criteria	String	No	Filter value — leave empty to just enable the filter dropdowns

Excel Sort Range

Sorts a range by a column.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
SheetName	String	No	Sheet name
Range	String	Yes	Range to sort
SortByColumn	String	Yes	Column letter to sort by (e.g., `B`)
Ascending	Boolean	No (default: true)	Sort direction

Excel Run Macro

Executes a named VBA macro already present in the workbook.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
MacroName	String	Yes	Name of the macro to run
Arguments	String	No	Comma-separated arguments to pass to the macro
OutputVariable	String	No	Variable to store the macro return value

Excel Execute VBA

Injects and executes custom VBA code at runtime — no pre-existing macro required.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
VBACode	String	Yes	VBA source code to inject into the workbook
EntryPoint	String	Yes	Subroutine or function name to call after injection
OutputVariable	String	No	Variable to store the return value

MacroPolicy requiredExcel Execute VBA and Excel Run Macro require macros to be enabled. Set MacroPolicy: PreferEnable on the Excel Application Container when using these activities.