# xlsxRead does not work if file is open in Excel

**URL:** <https://scilab.discourse.group/t/xlsxread-does-not-work-if-file-is-open-in-excel/1213>\
**Category:** Data handling\
**Created:** [September 2, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://scilab.discourse.group/t/xlsxread-does-not-work-if-file-is-open-in-excel/1213 "2026-09-02T12:29:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nilrua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@nilrua](https://scilab.discourse.group/u/nilrua)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://scilab.discourse.group/t/xlsxread-does-not-work-if-file-is-open-in-excel/1213/1 "2026-09-02T12:29:13Z")

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Hi ! I’m using the `xlsxRead` function introduced in the recent 2026.0.1 version, which simplify my work greatly, thank you developers !

However, it seems than it does not work if the file is open in Excel. I get the following output in the console : `xlsxRead: XLNT library error.`

I haven’t seen in the documentation that the file must not be open in Excel in order for the function to work properly

Does any of you confirm this behavior?

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**Author:** ![adeline.carnis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@adeline.carnis](https://scilab.discourse.group/u/adeline.carnis)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 9:43am UTC](https://scilab.discourse.group/t/xlsxread-does-not-work-if-file-is-open-in-excel/1213/2 "2026-09-04T09:43:08Z")

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Hello,  
I don’t reproduce your issue. Can you share your file ?  
Adeline

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilrua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@nilrua](https://scilab.discourse.group/u/nilrua)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://scilab.discourse.group/t/xlsxread-does-not-work-if-file-is-open-in-excel/1213/3 "2026-09-04T15:47:13Z")

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Thank you for your answer @adeline.carnis.

It seems that the website does not support uploading Excel files. However, the problem arises even for very simple files, like one containing these data

| category | value |
| --- | --- |
| a | 1 |
| b | 2 |
| c | 3 |

To open it, I used the following command (I forgot to mention the options I used in my first post):

`data = xlsxRead("path_to_file/scilab_test_file.xlsx","sheet","data","conversion","string");`

I actually just found that I can read a file currently open in excel if the file is not synced with Microsoft Sharepoint (stored somewhere else on my computer).

My previous attempt, on which there is a problem, was on a file that is synced using Microsoft SharePoint, so it seems that SharePoint prevents the file to be read if the file is opened. I add that the file is saved locally in this case.

So, this seems to be a result of Microsoft SharePoint behaviour.