Notes - Go Excelize Usage

Go Excelize

Excelize is a library written in pure Go providing a set of functions that allow you to write to and read from XLAM / XLSM / XLSX / XLTM / XLTX files.

Tips

• Make sure to save f.Save() the Excel file after modify it.

Common Functions

Open a file

wtwFile, err := excelize.OpenFile("wtw.xlsx)

Get the sheet list

sheetNames := wtwFile.GetSheetList()

Create a new sheet

err := wtwFile.NewSheet("Master")

Delete a sheet

// No error returned if the sheet not exist
err := wtwFile.DeleteSheet(masterSheetName)

Rename a sheet name

err := wtwFile.SetSheetName(tempSheetName, masterSheetName)

Set cell value

wtwFile.SetCellValue(SheetName, "A1", "Pallet#")

set cell value as Int

templateFile.SetCellInt(sheetName, currentCell, int64(cat.LT21))

Get sheet data

tempRows, err := wtwFile.GetRows(tempSheetName)

Set formula

cogsVolumeFormula := fmt.Sprintf("=%s/%s", currentCell, overallCOGSCell)
currentCell, _ = getCellNameInColumn(currentCell, 1)
_ = templateFile.SetCellFormula(sheetName, currentCell, cogsVolumeFormula)

Note: See below on how to re-calculate the formula when opening the file in Excel.

Save Excel file

err := wtwFile.Save()

How to set cell value in a row sequentially?

“A4”: fmt.Sprintf("%s4", string(rune(65)))

    asciiA := 65
	titles := []string{"Pallet#", "Load ID", "Type", "Sorter", "LPNs", "Location"}
	for i, title := range titles {
		// Title on row#1: A1: Pallet#, B1: Load ID, etc.
		err := wtwFile.SetCellValue(tempSheetName, fmt.Sprintf("%s1", string(rune(asciiA+i))), title)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}

How to get the raw data from a cell?

Cell E1 holds date 1/5/2022 with style as 1/5

// Normal function
cellE, _ := f.GetCellValue(config.ClientSheetName, "E1") 
// Value: 1/5; Type: string
fmt.Printf("Value: %v; Type: %T\n", cellE, cellE)

// Get raw value
cell, _ := f.GetCellValue(config.ClientSheetName, "E1", excelize.Options{RawCellValue: true})
// Value: 44566; Type: string
fmt.Printf("Value: %v; Type: %T\n", cell, cell)

// Value: 44566; Type: float64
excelDate, _ := strconv.ParseFloat(cell, 64)

// Value: 2022-01-05 00:00:00 +0000 UTC; Type: time.Time
excelTime, err := excelize.ExcelDateToTime(excelDate, false)

// Value: 1/5; Type: string
excelTime.Format("1/2")

Force Excel to Recalculate on Open (Writing Files)

When writing data into a spreadsheet by using Go Excelize, the formulas in the sheet doesn’t update automatically.

You can update the formula cells manually from Excel by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F9 or Ctrl+Alt+F9.

If you are writing data to cells and want the formulas to update automatically when a user opens the file in Microsoft Excel, use the UpdateLinkedValue() method BEFORE saving. This clears cached values inside the spreadsheet, triggering Excel’s native calculation engine to run immediately upon opening.

// Write data to cells in the sheet that contains formulas.
if err := f.UpdateLinkedValue(); err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

if err := f.SaveAs("Book1.xlsx"); err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

Compute a Cell Value Instantly (Reading Files)

If your application needs to fetch the calculated result of a formula directly inside your Go code without opening Excel, use CalcCellValue().

Limitation: This only evaluates the specific cell you target and supports a subset of standard Excel functions (like SUM, AVERAGE, VLOOKUP). It does not support complex layout mechanics like iterative calculations or array formulas.

// Evaluate and fetch the real-time calculated string value of the cell
result, err := f.CalcCellValue("Sheet1", "A3")
if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}