---
warning: DO NOT CHANGE THIS MANUALLY, THIS IS GENERATED BY https://github.com/duckdb/community-extensions repository, check README there
title: sheetreader
excerpt: |
  DuckDB Community Extensions
  Fast, parallel Excel (XLSX) loading with low memory overhead.

extension:
  name: sheetreader
  description: Fast, parallel Excel (XLSX) loading with low memory overhead.
  version: 0.2.0
  language: C++
  build: cmake
  excluded_platforms: "windows_amd64_rtools;windows_amd64_mingw;osx_amd64"
  license: MIT
  maintainers:
    - harrygav
    - freddie-freeloader

repo:
  github: polydbms/sheetreader-duckdb
  ref: c201b73ad98bd1d3c64a727d0a24168975308ab8

docs:
  hello_world: |
    -- Install and load the extension
    INSTALL sheetreader FROM community; LOAD sheetreader;

    -- Read an Excel spreadsheet
    SELECT * FROM sheetreader('data.xlsx');

    -- Read a specific worksheet
    SELECT * FROM sheetreader('data.xlsx', sheet_name = 'Sales');

    -- Load a spreadsheet in parallel into a table
    CREATE TABLE data AS
    FROM sheetreader('data.xlsx', threads = 8);

  extended_description: |
    SheetReader enables fast, memory-efficient loading of Excel (XLSX) spreadsheets through specialized parsing routines and parallel processing. Unlike conventional XML-based Excel parsers, it is optimized for spreadsheet data, improving runtime and memory efficiency especially for large spreadsheets, as shown in our [research paper](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2023.102183) and [recent benchmarks](https://github.com/polydbms/sheetreader-duckdb#benchmarks).

    #### Available Parameters

    | Parameter | Description | Type | Default |
    |:----------|:------------|:----:|:--------|
    | `sheet_index` | Index of the worksheet to read (starting at 1). Cannot be combined with `sheet_name`. | `INTEGER` | `1` |
    | `sheet_name` | Name of the worksheet to read. Cannot be combined with `sheet_index`. | `VARCHAR` | `""` |
    | `threads` | Number of threads used for parallel parsing. | `INTEGER` | Half of available cores (minimum 1) |
    | `skip_rows` | Number of rows to skip before reading. | `INTEGER` | `0` |
    | `has_header` | Require the first row to be usable as column headers. When false, SheetReader still attempts to use the first row as headers but does not fail if it cannot. | `BOOLEAN` | `false` |
    | `types` | Column types (`VARCHAR`, `BOOLEAN`, `DOUBLE`, `DATE`), one per column. | `LIST(VARCHAR)` | Inferred from the first two rows after skipped rows |
    | `coerce_to_string` | Coerce cells in `VARCHAR` columns to strings. | `BOOLEAN` | `false` |
    | `force_types` | Enforce specified types even if they conflict with inferred types; incompatible cells become `NULL` or are converted to strings when `coerce_to_string` is set. | `BOOLEAN` | `false` |

    #### Background

    SheetReader was developed as part of the [PolyDB](https://polydbms.org) research project. Our research introduced a spreadsheet-specialized parser designed for use across multiple systems, including integrations for [PostgreSQL](https://github.com/polydbms/pg_sheet_fdw), [Python/pandas](https://github.com/polydbms/sheetreader-python), [R data frames](https://github.com/fhenz/SheetReader-r), and DuckDB (see the [SheetReader core repository](https://github.com/polydbms/sheetreader-core)).

    If SheetReader was helpful in your research, please consider citing our paper:

    ```bibtex
    @article{GavriilidisHZM23,
      author  = {Haralampos Gavriilidis and Felix Henze and Eleni Tzirita Zacharatou and Volker Markl},
      title   = {SheetReader: Efficient Specialized Spreadsheet Parsing},
      journal = {Information Systems},
      volume  = {115},
      pages   = {102183},
      year    = {2023},
      doi     = {10.1016/j.is.2023.102183}
    }
    ```

extension_star_count: 59
extension_star_count_pretty: 59
extension_download_count: 794
extension_download_count_pretty: 794
image: '/images/community_extensions/social_preview/preview_community_extension_sheetreader.png'
layout: community_extension_doc
---
### Compatibility Matrix

This table covers all DuckDB releases that have not reached [end-of-life](https://duckdb.org/release_calendar), including LTS releases, and shows the 2 most recent patch releases of each. Older patch releases are not listed, but the extension may be available for them as well.

<div class="extension_compatibility_table"></div>

| Platform | 1.4.4 | 1.4.5 | 1.5.5 | 1.5.6 | 2.0.0 |
| :--- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: |
| Linux AMD64 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Linux ARM64 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| macOS AMD64 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| macOS ARM64 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows AMD64 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Windows ARM64 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| WebAssembly | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |

### Installing and Loading
```sql
INSTALL {{ page.extension.name }} FROM community;
LOAD {{ page.extension.name }};
```

{% if page.docs.hello_world %}
### Example
```sql
{{ page.docs.hello_world }}```
{% endif %}

{% if page.docs.extended_description %}
### About {{ page.extension.name }}
{{ page.docs.extended_description }}
{% endif %}
### Added Functions

<div class="extension_functions_table"></div>

| function_name | function_type | description | comment | examples |
|---------------|---------------|-------------|---------|----------|
| sheetreader   | table         | NULL        | NULL    |          |

### Overloaded Functions

<div class="extension_functions_table"></div>

This extension does not add any function overloads.

### Added Types

<div class="extension_types_table"></div>

This extension does not add any types.

### Added Settings

<div class="extension_settings_table"></div>

|      name      |                       description                       | input_type | scope  | aliases | typed_value |
|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------|------------|--------|---------|-------------|
| temp_directory | Set the directory to which temporary files are written. | VARCHAR    | GLOBAL | []      | post.db.tmp |