Can't install XLWings add-in into excel no matter what I do

3
votes

I really, really wanted to try this add-in for excel, but no matter what myself or my colleagues (to include one of my information systems professors) tried, we couldn't get it to work. Excel, in order to use an add in, must have an XLAM file. However, there is no link to one on the website (xlwings.org). Even using pip to 'download/install' xlwings, it doesn't include the command client that the documentation claims it does. As such, there is no possible way on the user end to get xlwings that we can determine. No xlam, command prompt doesn't work. We have all the files, however. I see the directory, including the quickstart macro. But command prompt will not execute xlwings or any other command, thus rendering the module unable to be used, at least to our knowledge.

The documentation states: "To install the add-in, it’s easiest to use the command line client: xlwings addin install." That's all it says on their site regarding the add-in install. Typing this into command prompt doesn't work, even when I changed my path environment variables to point towards the XLWings folder (which contains the quickstart file they mention). Literally, the instructions they give to install don't work at all.

2
pythonexcelvbaxlwings
I feel your pain, have the exact same situation at the moment 3 years later! It used to be a good library. – Kelvin

2 Answers

11
votes

Great question. I also had a great deal of trouble myself when trying to install this add-in, as it is near impossible to locate on their site. However, I eventually found the link to download it here: https://github.com/ZoomerAnalytics/xlwings/releases/download/v0.11.4/xlwings.xlam

2
votes

I'll add to this for anyone else who comes along. I also had a lot of trouble with the add-in.

If it is an option for you, installing Anaconda will get you xlwings and a pile of other packages along with Anaconda Navigator which give you Spyder IDE and Jupyter Notebooks if those are of any interest. xlwings command line gets installed as well. I first uninstalled previous versions of Python to eliminate confusion.

Now pick a work directory and start a project with

xlwings quickstart AProjectName

You will get a folder AProjectName with a starter xlsm and py files of the same name. Open AProjectName.xlsm and open VBA Explorer. Export the xlwings module. Now you will have xlwings.bas that you can import into any workbook and you don't need an add-in. This should be helpful when sharing your workbook with others. They will need to install Anaconda or Python + xlwings, but no need for an add-in.