C#/VB.NET: Convert Excel to Text (TXT)

Compared with Excel files, text files are easier to read and take up less memory as they contain only plain text data without any formatting or complex structure. Therefore, in certain situations where simplicity and efficiency are required, converting Excel files to text files can be beneficial. This article will demonstrate how to programmatically convert Excel to TXT format using Spire.XLS for .NET.

Install Spire.XLS for .NET

To begin with, you need to add the DLL files included in the Spire.XLS for .NET package as references in your .NET project. The DLL files can be either downloaded from this link or installed via NuGet.

PM> Install-Package Spire.XLS

Convert Excel to TXT in C# and VB.NET

Spire.XLS for .NET offers the Worksheet.SaveToFile(string fileName, string separator, Encoding encoding) method to convert a specified worksheet to a txt file. The following are the detailed steps.

• Create a Workbook instance.
• Load a sample Excel file using Workbook.LoadFromFile() method.
• Get a specified worksheet by its index using Workbook.Worksheets[sheetIndex] property.
• Convert the Excel worksheet to a TXT file using Worksheet.SaveToFile() method.

using Spire.Xls;
using System.Text;

namespace ExcelToTXT
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            //Create a Workbook instance
            Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

            //Load a sample Excel file
            workbook.LoadFromFile("sample.xlsx");

            //Get the first worksheet
            Worksheet sheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

            //Save the worksheet as a txt file
            sheet.SaveToFile("ExceltoTxt.txt", " ", Encoding.UTF8);

        }
    }
}

Imports Spire.XLS
Imports System.Text

Namespace ExcelToTXT
    Class Program
        Private Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

            'Create a Workbook instance
            Dim workbook As Workbook = New Workbook

            'Load a sample Excel file
            workbook.LoadFromFile("sample.xlsx")

            'Get the first worksheet
            Dim sheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)

            'Save the worksheet as a txt file
            sheet.SaveToFile("ExceltoTxt.txt", " ", Encoding.UTF8)
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

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