In routine data work, importing Excel files into Python for further analysis is a common need. This article shows how to use Free Spire.XLS for Python—a free library—to read, parse, and import Excel data. 1. Why Choose This Approach Python offers many libraries for handling Excel files. Free Spire.XLS for Python stands out because it does not require Microsoft Office —it works with .xls and .xlsx files in a pure Python environment. It supports Python 3.6+ and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The free version is more than adequate for most individual and small‑project data import tasks. 2. Environment Setup Install the library via pip: pip install Spire.XLS.Free After installation, import the required modules: from spire.xls import * from spire.xls.common import * 3. Core Object Model Two central objects form the foundation of this library: Workbook – represents the entire Excel workbook, handling file loading and saving. Worksheet – represents a single worksheet, providing cell access and data reading. 4. Basic Excel Data Reading 4.1 Loading an Excel File workbook = Workbook () workbook . LoadFromFile ( " data.xlsx " ) 4.2 Accessing a Worksheet # First worksheet (index 0) worksheet = workbook . Worksheets [ 0 ] # Alternative: worksheet = workbook . Worksheets . get_Item ( 0 ) 4.3 Reading Cell Values Use Worksheet.Range to reference a cell, then access its properties: Value , Text , or NumberValue . # By row and column (1‑based) cell_value = worksheet . Range [ 1 , 1 ]. Value # A1 # By address cell_text = worksheet . Range [ " B2 " ]. Text # Numeric value cell_number = worksheet . Range [ " C3 " ]. NumberValue 4.4 Iterating Over All Data row_count = worksheet . AllocatedRange . RowCount col_count = worksheet . AllocatedRange . ColumnCount for row in range ( 1 , row_count + 1 ): row_data = [] for col in range ( 1 , col_count + 1 ): row_data . append ( worksheet . Range [ row , col ]. Value ) print ( row_data ) 5. Practical Example: Import into a Python List This function reads an entire worksheet into a two‑dimensional list: from spire.xls import Workbook def excel_to_list ( file_path ): """ Load Excel data into a list of lists. """ workbook = Workbook () workbook . LoadFromFile ( file_path ) sheet = workbook . Worksheets [ 0 ] row_count = sheet . AllocatedRange . RowCount col_count = sheet . AllocatedRange . ColumnCount data = [] for row in range ( 1 , row_count + 1 ): row_data = [] for col in range ( 1 , col_count + 1 ): row_data . append ( sheet . Range [ row , col ]. Value ) data . append ( row_data ) workbook . Dispose () # Release resources return data # Usage data = excel_to_list ( " sales_data.xlsx " ) for row in data : print ( row ) 6. Practical Example: Import into a List of Dictionaries (with Headers) For easier field‑based access, convert data to a list of dictionaries using the first row as keys: from spire.xls import Workbook def excel_to_dict_list ( file_path ): """ Load Excel data into a list of dictionaries; first row becomes keys. """ workbook = Workbook () workbook . LoadFromFile ( file_path ) sheet = workbook . Worksheets [ 0 ] row_count = sheet . AllocatedRange . RowCount col_count = sheet . AllocatedRange . ColumnCount # Read headers from the first row headers = [ sheet . Range [ 1 , col ]. Value for col in range ( 1 , col_count + 1 )] # Read data rows (starting at row 2) result = [] for row in range ( 2 , row_count + 1 ): record = {} for col in range ( 1 , col_count + 1 ): record [ headers [ col - 1 ]] = sheet . Range [ row , col ]. Value result . append ( record ) workbook . Dispose () return result # Usage records = excel_to_dict_list ( " employee_info.xlsx " ) for emp in records : print ( f " Name: { emp . get ( ' Name ' ) } , Department: { emp . get ( ' Department ' ) } " ) Summary This article walked through the full workflow for importing Excel data into Python, covering environment setup, basic reading, list conversion, and dictionary‑list conversion. The free library requires no Office dependencies, is easy to install, and offers an intuitive API—making it a practical choice for handling small to medium‑sized Excel import tasks.