Java Read Excel Workbook from File using Apache POI

In this Java Apache POI tutorial we learn how to use the WorkbookFactory class of Apache POI library to read an Excel Workbook from a given java.io.File object.

Table of contents

Add Apache POI dependencies to Java project
How to read Excel Workbook from File in Java
Example Java Program to Read Excel Workbook from File

Add Apache POI dependencies to Java project

If you use Gradle build project, add the following dependencies to the build.gradle file.

implementation group: 'org.apache.poi', name: 'poi', version: '5.2.2'
implementation group: 'org.apache.poi', name: 'poi-ooxml', version: '5.2.2'

If you use Maven build project, add the following dependencies to the pom.xml file.

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
    <artifactId>poi</artifactId>
    <version>5.2.2</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
    <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
    <version>5.2.2</version>
</dependency>

How to read Excel Workbook from File in Java

With a given File object, we can use the WorkbookFactory.create(File file) static method to create an appropriate HSSFWorkbook / XSSFWorkbook object from a given File as Java code below.

String fileName = "contacts.xlsx";
File file = new File(fileName);
try(Workbook workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(file)) {
	// Read Excel file content
} catch (IOException e) {
}

Example Java Program to Read Excel Workbook from File

For example, we have an Excel file named contacts.xlsx with data as the screenshot below.

Java Read Excel Workbook from File using Apache POI

In the following example Java program, we show how use the WorkbookFactory.create(File file) method to get the Excel Workbook and read Excel file data.

ReadExcelWorkbookFromFileExample1.java

import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Cell;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Row;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Sheet;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Workbook;
import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.WorkbookFactory;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;

public class ReadExcelWorkbookFromFileExample1 {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        String fileName = "contacts.xlsx";
        File file = new File(fileName);
        try(Workbook workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(file)) {
            Sheet sheet = workbook.getSheetAt(0);
            Iterator<Row> rowIterator = sheet.rowIterator();
            while (rowIterator.hasNext()) {
                Row row = rowIterator.next();
                Iterator<Cell> cellIterator = row.cellIterator();
                while(cellIterator.hasNext()) {
                    Cell cell = cellIterator.next();
                    String cellData = cell.getStringCellValue();
                    System.out.print(cellData + "\t");
                }
                System.out.println();
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

The output as below.

First Name	Last Name	Email	
Rayhan	Harmon	rayhan@simplesolution.dev	
Paddy	Sheridan	paddy@simplesolution.dev	
Clara	Callaghan	clara@simplesolution.dev	
Josephine	Amos	josephine@simplesolution.dev	
Sheikh	Tucker	sheikh@simplesolution.dev

Happy Coding 😊

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