'SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET' Product LogoSpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET

Product Overview

SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET is a high-performance, Excel-compatible cross‑platform .NET spreadsheet library that offers a robust API to create, open, modify, calculate and save Excel workbooks. It is written entirely in safe C# and has no dependencies on Microsoft Excel.

This product can be used in any environment that supports .NET 6+ or .NET Standard 2.0, including Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android and others. Common application types include ASP.NET Core Web Apps, Mobile (iOS and Android), Desktop Apps and Console Apps. Common usage scenarios include automating workbook generation, scalable server‑side Excel Reporting and processing, calculating large and complex Excel financial models, charting, dashboards and more.

SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET does not include UI or image rendering capabilities. For comprehensive Excel-compatible Windows Forms and WPF UI controls and ASP.NET Core image rendering, see the SpreadsheetGear for Windows product. Or consider SpreadsheetGear for .NET Framework if you are developing for .NET Framework 3.5 or higher.

Getting Started

'NuGet' Logo

SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET is distributed on NuGet as the SpreadsheetGear package. Use Visual Studio's Package Manager to add a reference to this package. If using the .NET CLI, use the below command; or for other installation options see the SpreadsheetGear NuGet Package page.

 > dotnet add package SpreadsheetGear

When installed from NuGet, the product defaults to a limited Free mode. To use the Licensed or Evaluation modes, activation is required.

Live .NET Spreadsheet Snippet Samples

SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET
Rendered by SpreadsheetGear for Windows

Other Samples

See the following samples that demonstrate SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET's capabilities:

Product Activation

SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET runs in one of three modes:

Licensed Mode

If you purchased a license that includes access to SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET, activate the fully-licensed and unlimited mode of the product by generating a signed license from the Licensed User Downloads page and calling the SpreadsheetGear.Factory.SetSignedLicense(...) method with your signed license string. See the Signed License page for more details on this activation mechanism.

Evaluation Mode

Other than a 30-day limit, the evaluation mode is identical to the fully-licensed mode, giving you a perfect representation of what you would get if you purchased SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET. Start your 30-day trial by generating a Signed Trial License from the Evaluation Downloads page and follow the instructions on the Signed License page.

Free Mode

Adding a reference to the SpreadsheetGear NuGet package without activating a signed license (i.e., not calling the SpreadsheetGear.Factory.SetSignedLicense(...) method) will run the product in a limited free mode. SpreadsheetGear LLC grants you a perpetual royalty free license to use this free mode of SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET at no cost subject to the following:

  1. this no cost license is limited to 1,000 rows x 100 columns x 10 worksheets x 3 workbooks.
  2. this no cost license does not include technical support but you are welcome to ask questions at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/spreadsheetgear.
  3. by downloading this SpreadsheetGear software or using this no cost license, you consent to be bound by and are becoming a party to the SpreadsheetGear EULA at https://www.spreadsheetgear.com/company/files/eula.html.

Licensed User Downloads Evaluation Downloads Purchase SpreadsheetGear

Documentation

The feature sets and public APIs of the various SpreadsheetGear products overlap considerably. Consequently, we maintain a single set of documentation based on the SpreadsheetGear 2023 for .NET Framework product. Most of this documentation also applies to SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET. With that in mind, note the following:

  • The SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET assembly (SpreadsheetGear.dll) has an API which is virtually identical to that of SpreadsheetGear 2023 for .NET Framework's "Core" assembly (see documentation for SpreadsheetGear2023.Core.dll). Please visit our Comparison Page for more information on where differences do exist.
  • SpreadsheetGear.dll includes internal font metric and layout implementations to enable autofitting of rows and columns or working with charts and shapes.
  • There is no UI (WorkbookView, FormulaBar, WorkbookDesigner, etc...) or image rendering (Image classes). If you need UI or image rendering, consider the SpreadsheetGear for Windows product.
  • Most of Key Concepts applies and is important for understanding SpreadsheetGear.dll APIs.
  • You may see older versions of our documentation or other posts on the web referring to a "SpreadsheetGear for .NET Standard" product, which we renamed to SpreadsheetGear Engine for .NET starting in Version 9. We did this because versions before V9 targeted only .NET Standard, then starting in V9 both .NET Standard and .NET 6 were targeted, necessitating the name change to indicate broader .NET support.

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