Using Write to Spreadsheet File.vi Does Not Update the File

Updated Jan 10, 2023

Reported In

Software

  • LabVIEW Full

Issue Details

When I use the Write To Spreadsheet File VI  to append data to my Excel worksheet, the data I input does not appear in the file.

Solution

An Excel workbook does not contain the same formatting as a delimited text spreadsheet file that LabVIEW uses.

To work-around this formatting difference, you should first save your spreadsheet as a tab-delimited text file rather than as an Excel workbook.

Then, you can use the Write to Spreadsheet File VI  to append data to your tab-delimited file.


 

Additional Information

​For example, a spreadsheet created in LabVIEW may be formatted as follows: 

entry11 entry12 entry13 
entry21 entry22 entry23 ... 

To see the difference between the format above,and that of an Excel spreadsheet, open a tab-delimited text file in a text editor, such as Notepad. The text should have the delimited format you specified。

Now, open an Excel workbook in the same text editor and you will see a great deal more than just your data. The additional characters are all Excel-specific formatting information. 

In addition, you may consider the Append Table to Report.vi , Append File to Report.vi , and/or Excel specific VIs found in the Report Generation for Microsoft Office toolkit. These VIs will allow you to include additional parameters specific to MS Office (Word and Excel.)