openpyxl ValueError: Unable to read workbook: could not read stylesheet ... invalid XML (ERP-exported .xlsx)
ValueError: Unable to read workbook: could not read stylesheet from quote.xlsx. This is most probably because the workbook source files contain some invalid XML.
Read values with python-calamine (Rust calamine), which ignores styles and also reads legacy .xls:
pip install python-calamine
from python_calamine import CalamineWorkbook
wb = CalamineWorkbook.from_path(path)
for name in wb.sheet_names:
rows = wb.get_sheet_by_name(name).to_python() # list of row lists
Symptom
.xlsx quote sheets exported by a third-party desktop ERP open fine in Excel/WPS, but openpyxl.load_workbook(p, data_only=True) fails inside apply_stylesheet:
File ".../openpyxl/styles/stylesheet.py", line 209, in apply_stylesheet
...
ValueError: Unable to read workbook: could not read stylesheet from quote.xlsx.
This is most probably because the workbook source files contain some invalid XML.
Every file from that exporter failed the same way; hand-made workbooks were fine.
Cause
The exporter writes a styles.xml that openpyxl's strict descriptor model rejects (openpyxl must parse styles even when you only want values). Excel and WPS tolerate it.
Verify
All the previously failing ERP exports (and the .xls files in the same batch) dumped cleanly with headers, line items and totals.
Notes
If you need openpyxl for writing, read with calamine and write a fresh workbook; repairing styles.xml by hand is rarely worth it.
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