‘ Convert XLS ’ Command Line

Command Line Explained

‘Convert XLS’ can be run without a user interface with command line arguments much like in the good old DOS days.  Alternatively you can initiate command line execution by going to the operating system 'command prompt' or within Windows at the START-RUN menu and typing it in there.  Lastly, the command line interface can be used from Batch files (files with *.BAT extension). 

There are two approaches to using the command line:

     A)  Specify a 'Conversion Job' that was built using the graphical user interface (GUI); or

     B)   Specify a 'Conversion Task' in detail from the command line.

Specifying a 'Conversion Job' is very easy, as you only need to tell ‘ Convert XLS ’ where to find the associated *.SII 'Conversion Job' file that you created from the GUI interface.  All the details associated with this task are executed in one fell swoop.  Specifying a 'Conversion Task' is much more tedious, but does not require the prior creation of a 'Conversion Job' file.  Each approach is discussed in more detail below.

Important: To use the command line successfully you must do one of the following:

A) Set the path in your environment variables to the location of ConvertXLS.EXE; or,

B) Copy ConvertXLS.EXE to the same folder as the batch file.

Otherwise, you'll see the following error: 
"'Convert XLS' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

 

Specifying a 'Conversion Job'

Once a conversion job has been created from the GUI interface, the syntax for specifying a 'Conversion Job'  is:

 ConvertXLS /J{ConversionJobFile}  [/V] [/L{LogFile}] [/B{LogToJobFile}] [/W{pw}] [/X{pw}] [/Y{pw}] [/Z{pw}]

Items above enclosed in square brackets “[ ]” are optional, all other ‘switches’ are required.  Therefore /J should always be specified on the command line.

 Example:

To run the 'Conversion Job' specified by the "C:\MyJobs\ApplesOranges.SII" type the following in at the 'Command Prompt':

 ConvertXLS /J"C:\MyJobs\ApplesOranges.SII"

You can include or exclude spaces between switches and parameters.  For example,  "/C6" is the same as "/C  6".  For long file names you may be required to use double quotes.  For example /J"C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyDoc.DOC".

Specifying a 'Conversion Task'

The documentation has a comprehensive set of examples, below are a selected few.  Modifying the examples can be a quick way to get going.

• XLS to CSV (Unicode/ASCII/ANSI)

• XLS  to Fixed Width Text (Unicode/ASCII/ANSI)

• XLS  to HTML/XML

• XLS to XLSX

• XLSX to CSV (Unicode/ASCII/ANSI)

• XLSX  to Fixed Width Text (Unicode/ASCII/ANSI)

• XLSX  to HTML/XML

• XLSX to XLS

• CSV to XLS

• CSV to XLSX

• CSV to HTML/XML

• CSV to Fixed Width Text (ASCII/ANSI/Unicode)

• Fixed Width Text File to XLS

• Fixed Width Text File to XLSX

• Fixed Width Text File to CSV

• Fixed Width Text File to HTML/XML

The syntax for the command line for specifying a conversion task is:

ConvertXLS /S{Original File(s)} /T{Target File(s)} /F# /C# [/M#][/N"{Sheet^Range^DelimChar}"] [/G] [/V] [/R] [/L{Logfile}] [/B{LogToJobFile}][/U] [/W{pw}] [/X{pw}] [/Y{pw}] [/Z{pw}]

Items above enclosed in square brackets "[ ]" are optional, all other 'switches' are required. Therefore /S, /T, /C# should always be specified on the command line. There is one exception, however, and that is when /G (Save to original folder) is specified, the /T switch is not necessary.

You can include or exclude spaces between switches and parameters. For example, "/C6" is the same as "/C 6". For long file names you may be required to use double quotes. For example /S"C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyDoc.DOC".

/S{Original File(s)} is used to specify which files to convert. You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.XLS"). /T{Target files} should always be different from /S{Original File(s)}.

Additional Note: Any file type that MS Excel can open is a valid original file /S{Original File} type.

/T{Target File(s)} is used to specify where to save the converted file(s) to. You can specify a single file, or in some cases a whole set of files using the wildcard syntax (i.e. "C:\MyFiles\*.XLS"). /T{Target files} should always be different from /S{Original File(s)}.

/F# tells 'Convert XLS' what file type the Original file (/S{Original File}) is. This is only required when using the 'Convert XLS' conversion method /M2. For all constants see 'Special Process' File Type Constants.

/C# tells 'Convert XLS' what the file type to convert the /T{Target File(s)} files to. For all constants see 'Special Process' File Type Constants.

[/M#] Specifies the Conversion Method to be used (if converting).  The following values are valid:

1 = MS Excel (Default value)

2 = 'Convert XLS' 

          This switch is not required if you are using the 'Convert XLS' method.

[/N{"Sheet^Range^DelimChar"}] is used only when converting to/from an Excel file. It specifies which Sheets to convert, what Range to convert and what delimitation/separation character to use. The syntax for this parameter is critical, the 3 items are separated by a carrot character "^". If you do not include Sheet, Range or DelimChar they will default to all sheets, all used ranges and the comma delimitation character.  Also, the double quotation marks should always enclose this parameter.

Use "*" or "" for all sheets. You can use names of sheets, or the numeric index. If using numeric indices, you can specify ranges of sheets (i.e. "1,4,10-20" and "4-10,9" etc.). Range and DelimChar are optional.

For example to specify sheets "Apples" and "Oranges", with a Range of "A2:B20" and using a tab (ASCII decimal value of 9) as a separation character the syntax would be:

/N"Apples,Oranges^A2:B20^9"

[/G] Save files to their original folders. Use this instead of /T to place the converted files in the same folder as the original file. Cannot be used when converting a single, specified file from within a folder. Use the /T switch instead.

[/V] Verbose mode. Specify this switch to display a message box indicating how the conversion went. See also /L

[/R] Seek out and do all files found in the sub-folders specified in the /S switch. Recursive subdirectories. You may add this switch if you are processing whole directories of files. See /S, /T and /G for more details on selecting whole directories to be converted.

[/L{LogFile}] Log file path and name (i.e. d:\mylogs\WCE.LOG) If this switch is specified a log file with the given path and name will be created and the results of the conversion will be written to it. See also /V

[/B{LogToJobFile}] Save the Log file as a 'Conversion Job' ONLY IF ERRORS OCCURRED. This is useful if the files that had problems can be done at a later time, or with a different method. /B is different from /L, since the file generated with /B will not include extraneous comments not allowed in a 'Conversion Job' file. Save as a .SII file type so it can be loaded as a job.

[/U] If converting an XLS file with multiple sheets specified, the /U switch will generate multiple files instead of a single file.

[/W{PasswordToOpenOriginalFile(s)}]   Password to open the original file.

[/X{PasswordToWriteToOriginalFile(s)}]   Password to allow for the writing to the original file.

[/Y{PasswordToOpenTargetFile(s)}]   Password to open the target file.

[/Z{ PasswordToWriteToTargetFile (s)}]   Password to allow for the writing to the target file.

 

See Also:
Web Based Documentation which includes example usage of the command line.

 'Convert XLS' Supported File Types, Items in bold can be done without MS Excel installed.

1Note that the ‘Convert XLS’ conversion method can specify any character be used to delimit the data. So including the comma character, you could specify the TAB, Semicolon, Bar or any character in the ASCII chart. Specify the character by going to the OPTIONS button then click on the "CSV, TSV…" tab.

2No longer supported in MS Excel versions 2007 and above.

3Versions of Excel 2007 and up will support this file format.

 

 

Text, CSV, and HTML (various database formats also) are just a few of the many formats you may use this Excel converter to go to and from.   Convert Excel files with 'Convert XLS'!