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

Updated May 14, 2025

Reported In

Software

  • LabVIEW Full
  • LabVIEW Report Generation Toolkit

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.) The LabVIEW Report Generation Toolkit is included with LabVIEW Professional 2014 and later.

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