Python convert (read & save) excel xlsx to xls

Question

How can I convert an existing xlsx Excel file into xls while retaining my Excel file formatting? I use Anaconda Python 3, so I\'m not sure I can us

Answer 1

Another solution would be to use subprocess to run Excel via powershell. This has the advantage of not using Windows-specific libraries so can work on WSL as well.

import subprocess
import textwrap
import os

xlsx = 'data.xlsx'
ps = 'script.ps1'

with open(ps, 'w') as f:
    f.write(textwrap.dedent('''\
        param ($File)
        $myDir = split-path -parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
        $excelFile = "$myDir\\" + $File
        $Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
        $wb = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($excelFile)
        $out = "$myDir\\" + (Get-Item ("$myDir\\" + $File) ).Basename + ".xls"
        $wb.SaveAs($out, 56)
        $Excel.Quit()        
    '''))
p = subprocess.Popen(["powershell.exe", '.\\'+ps, xlsx])
p.communicate()
os.remove(ps)