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Version: Current

Read Range

Description​

The Read Range activity reads data from a worksheet and returns the result as a DataTable.

The activity can read a specific range, a used region starting from a specified cell, or an entire worksheet.

Common settings​

Use Process Data to bind supported inputs to workflow values or upstream outputs. See Common Activity Features for shared execution, error-handling, and output-persistence settings. Availability depends on the activity.

Design-Time Configuration​

Workbook Configuration​

This activity requires an Excel workbook.

Learn more → Excel Workbook Configuration

Worksheet Selection​

This activity operates on a worksheet within the workbook.

Learn more → Excel Worksheet Selection

Range​

Range of cells to read.

Learn more → Worksheet Data Selection

Examples:

  • A1:D100
  • A:C
  • B2:F50

Behavior depends on the value provided:

  • When a range is specified, only the specified range is read.
  • When a single cell address is specified, reading begins at that cell and continues through the worksheet's used region.
  • When no range is specified, the entire worksheet is read.

Include Column Names​

Determines whether the first row of the selected data is treated as column headers.

When enabled:

  • The first row becomes the DataTable column names.
  • Data is read starting from the next row.

When disabled:

  • Generic column names are generated.
  • All rows are treated as data.

Default value is True.

Preserve Format​

Determines whether cell display formatting is preserved when values are returned.

When enabled, values are returned as they appear in Excel.

Examples:

Cell ValueCell FormatReturned Value
1234.5Currency$1,234.50
0.25Percentage25%
2026-06-18Date18-Jun-2026

When disabled, the underlying cell values are returned without display formatting.

Default value is True.

Exclude Duplicate Columns​

Determines how duplicate column names are handled when Include Column Names is enabled.

When enabled:

  • Duplicate columns are ignored.

When disabled:

  • Duplicate column names are preserved by appending Excel column identifiers to the generated column names.

Default value is True.

Behavior​

The selected worksheet data is converted into a DataTable.

The DataTable structure is determined by the selected range and the column name configuration options.

Formula cells return their calculated values rather than their formula expressions.

Outputs​

Data Table​

Returns a DataTable containing the data read from the worksheet.

The resulting DataTable can be used by subsequent workflow activities for filtering, transformation, iteration, reporting, and data processing.

Execution settings​

Configure Wait All Incoming when execution paths converge, and On Error for failure handling. Select Inherit where available to use the workflow-level error policy.

Example: Read a table with headers​

Set Range to A1:B3 where the first row contains Customer and Amount and the next two rows contain data. Enable Include Column Names to return two named columns and two data rows. Disable it to return three data rows with generated column names.

With Exclude Duplicate Columns enabled, a later duplicate header column is omitted. Disable it when those values must be retained, then use the generated unique names in downstream mappings. Bind Data Table to another table-consuming activity.

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