The Exceptions Class#

The Exception class contains the various exceptions that can be raised by XlsxWriter. In general XlsxWriter only raised exceptions for un-recoverable errors or for errors that would lead to file corruption such as creating two worksheets with the same name.

The hierarchy of exceptions in XlsxWriter is:

  • XlsxWriterException(Exception)

    • XlsxFileError(XlsxWriterException)

      • FileCreateError(XlsxFileError)

      • UndefinedImageSize(XlsxFileError)

      • UndefinedImageSize(XlsxFileError)

      • FileSizeError(XlsxFileError)

    • XlsxInputError(XlsxWriterException)

      • DuplicateTableName(XlsxInputError)

      • InvalidWorksheetName(XlsxInputError)

      • DuplicateWorksheetName(XlsxInputError)

      • OverlappingRange(XlsxInputError)

Exception: XlsxWriterException#

exception XlsxWriterException#

Base exception for XlsxWriter.

Exception: XlsxFileError#

exception XlsxFileError#

Base exception for all file related errors.

Exception: XlsxInputError#

exception XlsxInputError#

Base exception for all input data related errors.

Exception: FileCreateError#

exception FileCreateError#

This exception is raised if there is a file permission, or IO error, when writing the xlsx file to disk. This can be caused by an non-existent directory or (in Windows) if the file is already open in Excel:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

# The file exception.xlsx is already open in Excel.
workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.FileCreateError:
    [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'exception.xlsx'

This exception can be caught in a try block where you can instruct the user to close the open file before overwriting it:

while True:
    try:
        workbook.close()
    except xlsxwriter.exceptions.FileCreateError as e:
        decision = input("Exception caught in workbook.close(): %s\n"
                         "Please close the file if it is open in Excel.\n"
                         "Try to write file again? [Y/n]: " % e)
        if decision != 'n':
            continue

    break

See also Example: Catch exception on closing.

Exception: UndefinedImageSize#

exception UndefinedImageSize#

This exception is raised if an image added via insert_image() doesn’t contain height or width information. The exception is raised during Workbook close():

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

worksheet.insert_image('A1', 'logo.png')

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.UndefinedImageSize:
     logo.png: no size data found in image file.

Note

This is a relatively rare error that is most commonly caused by XlsxWriter failing to parse the dimensions of the image rather than the image not containing the information. In these cases you should raise a GitHub issue with the image attached, or provided via a link.

Exception: UnsupportedImageFormat#

exception UnsupportedImageFormat#

This exception is raised if if an image added via insert_image() isn’t one of the supported file formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WMF or EMF. The exception is raised during Workbook close():

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

worksheet.insert_image('A1', 'logo.xyz')

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.UnsupportedImageFormat:
    logo.xyz: Unknown or unsupported image file format.

Note

If the image type is one of the supported types, and you are sure that the file format is correct, then the exception may be caused by XlsxWriter failing to parse the type of the image correctly. In these cases you should raise a GitHub issue with the image attached, or provided via a link.

Exception: FileSizeError#

exception FileSizeError#

This exception is raised if one of the XML files that is part of the xlsx file, or the xlsx file itself, exceeds 4GB in size:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

# Write lots of data to create a very big file.

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.FileSizeError:
    Filesize would require ZIP64 extensions. Use workbook.use_zip64().

As noted in the exception message, files larger than 4GB can be created by turning on the zipfile.py ZIP64 extensions using the use_zip64() method.

Exception: EmptyChartSeries#

exception EmptyChartSeries#

This exception is raised if a chart is added to a worksheet without a data series. The exception is raised during Workbook close():

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')
worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

chart = workbook.add_chart({'type': 'column'})

worksheet.insert_chart('A7', chart)

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.EmptyChartSeries:
    Chart1 must contain at least one data series. See chart.add_series().

Exception: DuplicateTableName#

exception DuplicateTableName#

This exception is raised if a duplicate worksheet table name in used via add_table(). The exception is raised during Workbook close():

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')
worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

worksheet.add_table('B1:F3', {'name': 'SalesData'})
worksheet.add_table('B4:F7', {'name': 'SalesData'})

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.DuplicateTableName:
    Duplicate name 'SalesData' used in worksheet.add_table().

Exception: InvalidWorksheetName#

exception InvalidWorksheetName#

This exception is raised during Workbook add_worksheet() if a worksheet name is too long or contains restricted characters.

For example with a 32 character worksheet name:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

name = 'name_that_is_longer_than_thirty_one_characters'
worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet(name)

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.InvalidWorksheetName:
    Excel worksheet name 'name_that_is_longer_than_thirty_one_characters'
    must be <= 31 chars.

Or for a worksheet name containing one of the Excel restricted characters, i.e. [ ] : * ? / \:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet('Data[Jan]')

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.InvalidWorksheetName:
    Invalid Excel character '[]:*?/\' in sheetname 'Data[Jan]'.

Or for a worksheet name start or ends with an apostrophe:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet("'Sheet1'")

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.InvalidWorksheetName:
    Sheet name cannot start or end with an apostrophe "'Sheet1'".

Exception: DuplicateWorksheetName#

exception DuplicateWorksheetName#

This exception is raised during Workbook add_worksheet() if a worksheet name has already been used. As with Excel the check is case insensitive:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet1 = workbook.add_worksheet('Sheet1')
worksheet2 = workbook.add_worksheet('sheet1')

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.DuplicateWorksheetName:
    Sheetname 'sheet1', with case ignored, is already in use.

Exception: OverlappingRange#

exception OverlappingRange#

This exception is raised during Worksheet add_table() or merge_range() if the range overlaps an existing worksheet table or merge range. This is a file corruption error in Excel:

import xlsxwriter

workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('exception.xlsx')

worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()

worksheet.merge_range('A1:G10', 'Range 1')
worksheet.merge_range('G10:K20', 'Range 2')

workbook.close()

Raises:

xlsxwriter.exceptions.OverlappingRange:
    Merge range 'G10:K20' overlaps previous merge range 'A1:G10'.