Are you stuck at the “ModuleNotFoundError: no module named openpyxl” error? People beginning with Python often get stuck when they start to work with the openpyxl library. This is an industry-wide problem that pops up on screens of many coders starting out with Python.
This often happens due to version errors between Python and Openpyxl or due to incorrect installation. Unable to find the right solution can be a head-scratching problem, that’s why in this article we will be going through the most common errors coders encounter with openpyxl and derive solutions to each of those errors.
What is openpyxl?
The absence of a Python library to read Open XML formats created the need for openpyxl which is the current industry standard Python library to read and write excel format files.
The formats supported are: xlsx/xlsm/xltx/xltm.
Most of the time, errors encountered with openpyxl are caused due to incorrect installation. And these errors can get resolved with a simple reinstallation. Let’s look at the correct way to install openpyxl.
Installing openpyxl through package managers
By using pip
The most simple way to install any Python library is by using pip. Pip is a system software written in Python that installs and manages your Python libraries through an open-source library. Installing through pip requires knowledge of your Python version.
If you are using Python2, the syntax to install any library is:
pip install 'package_name'
Using just ‘pip’ will install any Python package for Python2 versions.
To install it for Python3, write:
Note: In newer versions of pip, mainly versions north of 3.0, pip installs packages for Python3 by default when just ‘pip’ is typed. This anomaly is found in the most newer versions of Python, and in case you are encountering it, it is advisable to degrade your Python version.
In case you have more than one Python version in your system and you are not sure if vanilla pip3 will fetch the correct version, you can use this syntax instead:
python3 -m pip install --user xlsxwriter
By using Conda
Many coders prefer using Conda over pip, for its virtual environment features. If you want to install openpyxl using Conda, type the following syntax:
conda install -c anaconda openpyxl
OR
The second syntax is mainly for the latest Conda versions (Conda 4.7.6 or higher)
Installing as per your OS
Let’s look at the different ways to install based on which operating system you use!
1. Windows
If you are using windows then the following packages are required to read and write excel files. To install them, type the following syntax:
pip install openpyxl pip install --user xlsxwriter pip install xlrd==1.2.0
2. Ubuntu
Linux distributions are better-suited to Python, but you may still run into some errors due to system bugs or bad installation. The safe and correct way to install openpyxl in Ubuntu is to do the following.
Type the syntax below in your terminal:
For Python2:
sudo apt-get install python-openpyxl
For Python3:
sudo apt-get install python3-openpyxl
The above case is similar to the example at the top. A lot of times, incorrect installation is caused due to the installation of openpyxl for Python2 into the systems with Python3.
Knowing your Python versions can solve most of the problem hands-on, and if the problem still persists then degrading your python version and reinstalling packages is another option.
Script path error
Many times, even after a correct installation, openpyxl may throw ‘modulenotfounderror’. It does not matter what installation manager you used, as the package gets installed correctly but the package manager installs it in some other directory. This mainly happens for a few reasons:
- Your Python scripts are kept in a different directory and your package manager installs them in a different one.
- A recent update might have changed the name or path of the directory
- A Manual installation might have created more than one script folder
- Your system cannot identify the correct script directory.
To resolve this issue, use the following syntax in the terminal:
import sys sys.append(full path to the site-package directory)
Note: The above code redirects Python to search for import packages from the given path directory. It’s not a permanent solution but rather a turnaround method.
Completely eradicating this issue is a lengthy process as it requires identifying all the script directories and adding them to ‘path’ (The path of script directory where packages are installed). To avoid errors like this, it is important that we identify and remember where our scripts are getting installed. Knowing where the displacement has happened can solve half the problems, and the other half can get solved by installing packages that are compatible with your python version.
Conclusion
In this article, we have learned about the errors people face with openpyxl and the different ways through which it can get solved. These methods do not just work for openpyxl, but many python library packages that show ‘filenotfounderror‘. Most of the time, errors occur due to incompatible versions, bad installations, or installation in the wrong directory.
One error you might encounter when working with Excel files in Python is:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openpyxl'
This error occurs when Python can’t find the openpyxl
library in the current environment.
In this tutorial, I will show you an example that causes this error and how to fix it in practice.
How to reproduce the error
Suppose you want to use the openpyxl
module to create an Excel Workbook and a Sheet as follows:
from openpyxl import Workbook
wb = Workbook()
ws = wb.active
ws1 = wb.create_sheet("Sheet")
But you get the following error when running the code:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 1, in <module>
from openpyxl import Workbook
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openpyxl'
To my knowledge, the ModuleNotFoundError
happens when Python can’t find the module you’re trying to import.
The openpyxl
module is not bundled with Python, so you need to install it first.
How to fix this error
To resolve this error, you need to install the openpyxl
library using the pip install
command:
pip install openpyxl
# For pip3:
pip3 install openpyxl
Once the module is installed, you should be able to run the code that imports openpyxl
without receiving the error.
Install commands for other environments
The install command might differ depending on what environment you used to run the Python code.
Here’s a list of common install commands in popular Python environments to install the openpyxl
module:
# if you don't have pip in your PATH:
python -m pip install openpyxl
python3 -m pip install openpyxl
# Windows
py -m pip install openpyxl
# Anaconda
conda install openpyxl
# Jupyter Notebook
!pip install openpyxl
Once the module is installed, you should be able to run the code without receiving this error.
Other common causes for this error
If you still see the error even after installing the module, it means that the openpyxl
module can’t be found in your Python environment.
There are several reasons why this error can happen:
- You may have multiple versions of Python installed on your system, and you are using a different version of Python than the one where openpyxl is installed.
- You might have openpyxl installed in a virtual environment, and you are not activating the virtual environment before running your code.
- Your IDE uses a different version of Python from the one that has openpyxl
- The package is not installed in PyCharm
Let’s see how to fix these errors in practice.
1. You have multiple versions of Python
If you have multiple versions of Python installed on your system, you need to make sure that you are using the specific version where the openpyxl module is available.
You can test this by running the which -a python
or which -a python3
command from the terminal:
$ which -a python3
/opt/homebrew/bin/python3
/usr/bin/python3
In the example above, there are two versions of Python installed on /opt/homebrew/bin/python3
and /usr/bin/python3
.
Suppose you run the following steps in your project:
- Install openpyxl with
pip
using/usr/bin/
Python version - Install Python using Homebrew, you have Python in
/opt/homebrew/
- Then you run
import openpyxl
in your code
The steps above will cause the error because openpyxl is installed in /usr/bin/
, and your code is probably executed using Python from /opt/homebrew/
path.
To solve this error, you need to run the pip install openpyxl
command again so that openpyxl is installed and accessible by the active Python version.
2. Python virtual environment is active
Another scenario that could cause this error is you may have openpyxl installed in a virtual environment.
Python venv
package allows you to create a virtual environment where you can install different versions of packages required by your project.
If you are installing openpyxl
inside a virtual environment, then the module won’t be accessible outside of that environment.
You can see if a virtual environment is active or not by looking at your prompt in the terminal.
When a virtual environment is active, the name of that environment will be shown inside parentheses as shown below:
In the picture above, the name of the virtual environment (demoenv)
appears, indicating that the virtual environment is currently active.
If you run pip install
while the virtual environment is active, then the package is installed only for that environment
Likewise, any package installed outside of that virtual environment won’t be accessible from the virtual environment. The solution is to run the pip install
command on the environment you want to use.
If you want to install openpyxl globally, then turn off the virtual environment by running the deactivate
command before running the pip install
command.
3. IDE using a different Python version
Finally, the IDE from where you run your Python code may use a different Python version when you have multiple versions installed.
For example, you can check the Python interpreter used in VSCode by opening the command palette (CTRL + Shift + P
for Windows and ⌘ + Shift + P
for Mac) then run the Python: Select Interpreter
command.
You should see all available Python versions listed as follows:
You need to use the same version where you installed openpyxl so that the module can be found when you run the code from VSCode.
Once done, you should be able to import openpyxl without receiving any errors.
4. You see this error in PyCharm
If you’re using PyCharm as your IDE, then this error might occur because the package is not installed in the Python interpreter used by PyCharm.
This is because PyCharm creates a new virtual environment for each project you create using the IDE.
To resolve this error, you can install the package using PyCharm’s terminal.
For more information, you can see the guide to install and uninstall packages in PyCharm.
Conclusion
In summary, the ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openpyxl'
occurs when the openpyxl
library is not installed in your Python environment. To resolve this error, you need to run the pip install openpyxl
command.
If you already have the module installed, make sure you are using the correct version of Python, check if the virtual environment is active if you have one, and check for the Python version used by your IDE.
By following these steps, you should be able to import the openpyxl
module in your code successfully.
I hope you find this tutorial helpful. Until next time! 👋
I execute pip install openpyxl
, but I still get ‘No module named ‘openpyxl’ in jupyter notebook.
- pip install openpyxl
C:\Users\PeterFan>pip install openpyxl
Requirement already satisfied: openpyxl in c:\python38\lib\site-packages (3.0.5)
Requirement already satisfied: et-xmlfile in c:\python38\lib\site-packages (from openpyxl) (1.0.1)
Requirement already satisfied: jdcal in c:\python38\lib\site-packages (from openpyxl) (1.4.1)
C:\Users\PeterFan>python --version
Python 3.8.2
- I still have the error
import openpyxl
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ModuleNotFoundError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-16-f5ea1cbb6934> in <module>
----> 1 import openpyxl
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openpyxl'
asked Nov 5, 2020 at 2:44
Peter FanPeter Fan
931 gold badge1 silver badge9 bronze badges
5
Thank you for your kind responses. I have resolved my question.
I installed multiple python versions(python 3.7.4, and python 3.8.2). I tried to pip uninstall selenium
, import selenium
in my notebook, and it still worked. Thus, I checked the document in the path C:\Python38\Lib\site-packages
and there was no selenium package, but it exists in C:\Python37\Lib\site-packages
.
I uninstalled python 3.8.2, deleting the environment variables pertaining to python 3.8.2., proceeding pip3 install openpyxl
, the library was successfully installed and could be imported in my notebook.
answered Nov 5, 2020 at 4:17
Peter FanPeter Fan
931 gold badge1 silver badge9 bronze badges
Modulenotfounderror: no module named openpyxl error occurs when openpyxl module is either not installed or misconfigured with the system path. There are many situations where we install openpyxl in any virtual environment but run the application or code base in a different virtual environment or globally. Since the installed openpyxl is pointed with a different interpreter and not available in any other virtual environment. This time the currently selected interpreter will throw the same error. Anyways In this article, How can we install openpyxl differently and fix this modulenotfounderror.
We will install this openpyxl module with pip, conda, and source code. In each section, we will also try to cover the variation.
Method 1: pip for installation openpyxl –
Use this command to install openpyxl.
pip install openpyxl
We can specify the version detail along with the command to avoid compatibility issues if any with the latest version. Since the above one will install the latest stable version of openpyxl.
pip install openpyxl==3.0.9
You have to also check the version of python before using the pip or pip3 command. If the version is 3.xx then use pip3 command and if it 2.xx then use pip command.
If Admin privileges are required to run this command in Linux or a similar OS then add sudo keyword along with it. Also if you are on Windows-based OS then launch the cmd in admin mode and rerun the above command.
Method 2: conda for installation openpyxl –
If you have Anaconda installed in the system and you want to use conda ( default package manager ) then use the below command to install openpyxl.
conda install -c anaconda openpyxl
Method 3: Installation through source code –
In this step, we will first download the source code for openpyxl implementation in Python. Now we need to run –
python setup.py install
It will build the file locally and then we have to place it into site-packages folder before we import the package. It will fix the above error.
Thanks
Data Science Learner Team
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A common error you may encounter when using Python is modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘openpyxl’.
This error occurs when the Python interpreter cannot detect the openpyxl library in your current environment.
You can install openpyxl in Python 3 with python3 -m pip install openpyxl
.
This tutorial goes through the exact steps to troubleshoot this error for the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.
Table of contents
- ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘openpyxl’
- What is ModuleNotFoundError?
- What is openpyxl?
- Always Use a Virtual Environment to Install Packages
- How to Install openpyxl on Windows Operating System
- How to Install openpyxl on Mac Operating System using pip
- How to Install openpyxl on Linux Operating Systems
- Installing pip for Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint
- Installing pip for CentOS 8 (and newer), Fedora, and Red Hat
- Installing pip for CentOS 6 and 7, and older versions of Red Hat
- Installing pip for Arch Linux and Manjaro
- Installing pip for OpenSUSE
- openpyxl installation on Linux with Pip
- Installing openpyxl Using Anaconda
- Check openpyxl Version
- Summary
ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘openpyxl’
What is ModuleNotFoundError?
The ModuleNotFoundError occurs when the module you want to use is not present in your Python environment. There are several causes of the modulenotfounderror:
The module’s name is incorrect, in which case you have to check the name of the module you tried to import. Let’s try to import the re module with a double e to see what happens:
import ree
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ModuleNotFoundError Traceback (most recent call last) 1 import ree ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ree'
To solve this error, ensure the module name is correct. Let’s look at the revised code:
import re print(re.__version__)
2.2.1
You may want to import a local module file, but the module is not in the same directory. Let’s look at an example package with a script and a local module to import. Let’s look at the following steps to perform from your terminal:
mkdir example_package cd example_package mkdir folder_1 cd folder_1 vi module.py
Note that we use Vim to create the module.py file in this example. You can use your preferred file editor, such as Emacs or Atom. In module.py, we will import the re module and define a simple function that prints the re version:
import re def print_re_version(): print(re.__version__)
Close the module.py, then complete the following commands from your terminal:
cd ../ vi script.py
Inside script.py, we will try to import the module we created.
import module if __name__ == '__main__': mod.print_re_version()
Let’s run python script.py from the terminal to see what happens:
Traceback (most recent call last): File "script.py", line 1, in ≺module≻ import module ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'module'
To solve this error, we need to point to the correct path to module.py, which is inside folder_1. Let’s look at the revised code:
import folder_1.module as mod if __name__ == '__main__': mod.print_re_version()
When we run python script.py, we will get the following result:
2.2.1
Lastly, you can encounter the modulenotfounderror when you import a module that is not installed in your Python environment.
What is openpyxl?
openpyxl is a Python library for reading and writing Excel 2010 xlsxx/xlsm/xltx/xltm files.
The simplest way to install openpyxl is to use the package manager for Python called pip. The following installation instructions are for the major Python version 3.
Always Use a Virtual Environment to Install Packages
It is always best to install new libraries within a virtual environment. You should not install anything into your global Python interpreter when you develop locally. You may introduce incompatibilities between packages, or you may break your system if you install an incompatible version of a library that your operating system needs. Using a virtual environment helps compartmentalize your projects and their dependencies. Each project will have its environment with everything the code needs to run. Most ImportErrors and ModuleNotFoundErrors occur due to installing a library for one interpreter and trying to use the library with another interpreter. Using a virtual environment avoids this. In Python, you can use virtual environments and conda environments. We will go through how to install openpyxl with both.
How to Install openpyxl on Windows Operating System
First, you need to download and install Python on your PC. Ensure you select the install launcher for all users and Add Python to PATH checkboxes. The latter ensures the interpreter is in the execution path. Pip is automatically on Windows for Python versions 2.7.9+ and 3.4+.
You can check your Python version with the following command:
python3 --version
You can install pip on Windows by downloading the installation package, opening the command line and launching the installer. You can install pip via the CMD prompt by running the following command.
python get-pip.py
You may need to run the command prompt as administrator. Check whether the installation has been successful by typing.
pip --version
virtualenv env
You can activate the environment by typing the command:
env\Scripts\activate
You will see “env” in parenthesis next to the command line prompt. You can install openpyxl within the environment by running the following command from the command prompt.
python3 -m pip install openpyxl
We use python -m pip to execute pip using the Python interpreter we specify as Python. Doing this helps avoid ImportError when we try to use a package installed with one version of Python interpreter with a different version. You can use the command which python to determine which Python interpreter you are using.
How to Install openpyxl on Mac Operating System using pip
Open a terminal by pressing command (⌘) + Space Bar to open the Spotlight search. Type in terminal and press enter. To get pip, first ensure you have installed Python3:
python3 --version
Python 3.8.8
Download pip by running the following curl command:
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
The curl command allows you to specify a direct download link. Using the -o option sets the name of the downloaded file.
Install pip by running:
python3 get-pip.py
To install openpyxl, first create the virtual environment:
python3 -m venv env
Then activate the environment using:
source env/bin/activate
You will see “env” in parenthesis next to the command line prompt. You can install openpyxl within the environment by running the following command from the command prompt.
python3 -m pip install openpyxl
How to Install openpyxl on Linux Operating Systems
All major Linux distributions have Python installed by default. However, you will need to install pip. You can install pip from the terminal, but the installation instructions depend on the Linux distribution you are using. You will need root privileges to install pip. Open a terminal and use the commands relevant to your Linux distribution to install pip.
Installing pip for Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint
sudo apt install python-pip3
Installing pip for CentOS 8 (and newer), Fedora, and Red Hat
sudo dnf install python-pip3
Installing pip for CentOS 6 and 7, and older versions of Red Hat
sudo yum install epel-release sudo yum install python-pip3
Installing pip for Arch Linux and Manjaro
sudo pacman -S python-pip
Installing pip for OpenSUSE
sudo zypper python3-pip
openpyxl installation on Linux with Pip
To install openpyxl, first create the virtual environment:
python3 -m venv env
Then activate the environment using:
source env/bin/activate
You will see “env” in parenthesis next to the command line prompt. You can install openpyxl within the environment by running the following command from the command prompt.
Once you have activated your virtual environment, you can install openpyxl using:
python3 -m pip install openpyxl
Installing openpyxl Using Anaconda
Anaconda is a distribution of Python and R for scientific computing and data science. You can install Anaconda by going to the installation instructions. Once you have installed Anaconda, you can create a virtual environment and install openpyxl.
To create a conda environment you can use the following command:
conda create -n project python=3.8
You can specify a different Python 3 version if you like. Ideally, choose the latest version of Python. Next, you will activate the project container. You will see “project” in parentheses next to the command line prompt.
source activate project
Now you’re ready to install openpyxl using conda.
Once you have installed Anaconda and created your conda environment, you can install openpyxl using the following command:
conda install -c anaconda openpyxl
Check openpyxl Version
Once you have successfully installed openpyxl, you can check its version. If you used pip to install openpyxl, you can use pip show from your terminal.
python3 -m pip show openpyxl
Name: openpyxl Version: 3.0.9 Summary: A Python library to read/write Excel 2010 xlsx/xlsm files
Second, within your python program, you can import openpyxl and then reference the __version__ attribute:
import openpyxl print(openpyxl.__version__)
3.0.9
If you used conda to install openpyxl, you could check the version using the following command:
conda list -f openpyxl
# Name Version # Name Version Build Channel openpyxl 3.0.5 py_0 anaconda
Summary
Congratulations on reading to the end of this tutorial. The modulenotfounderror occurs if you misspell the module name, incorrectly point to the module path or do not have the module installed in your Python environment. If you do not have the module installed in your Python environment, you can use pip to install the package. However, you must ensure you have pip installed on your system. You can also install Anaconda on your system and use the conda install command to install openpyxl.
Go to the online courses page on Python to learn more about Python for data science and machine learning.
For further reading on missing modules in Python, go to the article:
- How to Solve Python ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘urllib2’.
- How to Solve ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘plotly’.
- How to Solve Python ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘psycopg2’.
- How to Solve Python ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘click’.
Have fun and happy researching!