How to Convert Excel File to Pdf in .NET Console App using NuGet Package

Question

I have installed Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2019. I selected Console App (.NET Framework) Visual Basic. The console application will extract data from the database, write them in an excel file, and then convert the excel file to pdf file. I installed EPPlus NuGet Package that made it easy to develop the Excel file. However, I am not finding any NuGet Package that could convert the developed Excel file to Pdf file. I installed sautinsoft.exceltopdf nuget package to convert xlsx to pdf. It worked successfully but the generated pdf shows SautinSoft.ExcelToPdf and trial in footer. Perhaps it occurs because SautinSoft is a licensed package. Is there any free NuGet package that I could use to convert the generated Excel file to pdf file?

Answer 1

Hi @Shehzad Shoukat ,

You can consder using Workbook.ExportAsFixedFormat Method to export Excel documents in PDF format.

Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel

Public Class ExcelToPDFExporter

    Public Sub ExportToPDF(ByVal excelFilePath As String, ByVal pdfSavePath As String)
        Dim excelApp As New Application()
        Dim excelWorkbook As Workbook = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(excelFilePath)

        ' Export the workbook to PDF
        excelWorkbook.ExportAsFixedFormat(XlFixedFormatType.xlTypePDF, pdfSavePath)

        ' Close the workbook and quit Excel application
        excelWorkbook.Close(False)
        excelApp.Quit()

        ' Release COM objects to avoid memory leaks
        ReleaseComObject(excelWorkbook)
        ReleaseComObject(excelApp)

        MessageBox.Show("Excel workbook has been exported to PDF successfully.")
    End Sub

    Private Sub ReleaseComObject(ByVal obj As Object)
        Try
            System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj)
            obj = Nothing
        Catch ex As Exception
            obj = Nothing
            MessageBox.Show("Exception Occurred while releasing object " & ex.ToString())
        Finally
            GC.Collect()
        End Try
    End Sub

End Class

Best Regards.

Jiachen Li

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Answer 2

Thanks Jiachen Li. This code is very helpful but it uses Office.Interop.Excel. I need to run my script on a server machine and I have been told that Excel might not be available on that server. Office.Interop.Excel requires that Excel is installed on the machine. I searched for free packages and the following two packages are working for me now: EPPlus FreeSpire.XLS Here is my code that I tested and it worked:

Imports System.IO
Imports OfficeOpenXml
Imports Spire.Xls

Sub Main()
        Dim excelFilePath As String = "D:\testing2\SampleExcelFile.xlsx"
        ' Specify the path where you want to save the output PDF file
        Dim pdfFilePath As String = "D:\testing2\SamplePdfFile.pdf"
        ' Create a new Excel package with EPPlus
        Using package As New ExcelPackage()
            ' Add a new worksheet to the workbook
            Dim worksheet = package.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet1")
            ' Write sample values to the worksheet
            worksheet.Cells("A1").Value = "Name"
            worksheet.Cells("B1").Value = "Age"
            worksheet.Cells("A2").Value = "John"
            worksheet.Cells("B2").Value = 25
            worksheet.Cells("A3").Value = "Jane"
            worksheet.Cells("B3").Value = 100
            ' Save the Excel package to a file
            package.SaveAs(New FileInfo(excelFilePath))
        End Using
        Dim Workbook As New Spire.Xls.Workbook()
        Workbook.LoadFromFile(excelFilePath)      
        
        Workbook.SaveToFile(pdfFilePath, Spire.Xls.FileFormat.PDF)
End Sub