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Problem
You have data in Excel format that needs to be loaded for AI
processing—reports, inventory lists, or business data exported from
other systems.
Solution
What’s in this recipe:
- Import Excel files directly into tables
- Handle multiple sheets
- Override column types when needed
You use pxt.create_table() with an Excel file path as the source
parameter. Pixeltable infers column types automatically.
Setup
%pip install -qU pixeltable openpyxl pandas
import pixeltable as pxt
import pandas as pd
import tempfile
from pathlib import Path
Create sample Excel file
# Create sample Excel file for demo
sample_data = pd.DataFrame({
'order_id': [1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005],
'customer': ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Carol', 'Dave', 'Eve'],
'product': ['Widget A', 'Gadget B', 'Widget A', 'Tool C', 'Gadget B'],
'quantity': [2, 1, 5, 3, 2],
'price': [29.99, 149.99, 29.99, 79.99, 149.99],
'date': ['2024-01-15', '2024-01-16', '2024-01-16', '2024-01-17', '2024-01-18']
})
# Save to temp Excel file
temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
excel_path = Path(temp_dir) / 'orders.xlsx'
sample_data.to_excel(excel_path, index=False)
sample_data
Import Excel file
# Create a fresh directory
pxt.drop_dir('excel_demo', force=True)
pxt.create_dir('excel_demo')
Connected to Pixeltable database at: postgresql+psycopg://postgres:@/pixeltable?host=/Users/pjlb/.pixeltable/pgdata
Created directory ‘excel_demo’.
<pixeltable.catalog.dir.Dir at 0x30b6cb730>
# Import Excel file directly
orders = pxt.create_table(
'excel_demo.orders',
source=str(excel_path),
source_format='excel' # Hint for Excel format
)
Created table ‘orders’.Inserting rows into `orders`: 0 rows [00:00, ? rows/s]
Inserting rows into `orders`: 5 rows [00:00, 501.21 rows/s]
Inserted 5 rows with 0 errors.
# View imported data
orders.collect()
Add computed columns
# Add computed column for order total
orders.add_computed_column(
total=orders.quantity * orders.price
)
Added 5 column values with 0 errors.
5 rows updated, 10 values computed.
# View with computed total
orders.select(
orders.order_id,
orders.customer,
orders.product,
orders.quantity,
orders.price,
orders.total
).collect()
Explanation
Import methods:
Excel-specific options:
Pass Pandas read_excel arguments via extra_args:
pxt.create_table(
'table_name',
source='data.xlsx',
source_format='excel',
extra_args={'sheet_name': 'Sheet2', 'skiprows': 1}
)
See also
