How to get the range of occupied cells in excel sheet

I use C# to automate an excel file. I was able to get the workbook and the sheets it contains. If for example I have in sheet1 two cols and 5 rows. I wanted o get the range for the occupied cells as A1:B5. I tried the following code but it did not give the correct result. the columns # and row # were much bigger and the cells were empty as well.

     Excel.Range xlRange = excelWorksheet.UsedRange;
     int col = xlRange.Columns.Count;
     int row = xlRange.Rows.Count;

Is there another way I can use to get that range?

Solution 1:

I had a very similar issue as you had. What actually worked is this:

iTotalColumns = xlWorkSheet.UsedRange.Columns.Count;
iTotalRows = xlWorkSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count;

//These two lines do the magic.
xlWorkSheet.Columns.ClearFormats();
xlWorkSheet.Rows.ClearFormats();

iTotalColumns = xlWorkSheet.UsedRange.Columns.Count;
iTotalRows = xlWorkSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count;

IMHO what happens is that when you delete data from Excel, it keeps on thinking that there is data in those cells, though they are blank. When I cleared the formats, it removes the blank cells and hence returns actual counts.

Solution 2:

Excel.Range last = sheet.Cells.SpecialCells(Excel.XlCellType.xlCellTypeLastCell, Type.Missing);
Excel.Range range = sheet.get_Range("A1", last);

"range" will now be the occupied cell range

Solution 3:

See the Range.SpecialCells method. For example, to get cells with constant values or formulas use:

_xlWorksheet.UsedRange.SpecialCells(
        Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlCellType.xlCellTypeConstants |
        Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlCellType.xlCellTypeFormulas)

Solution 4:

The only way I could get it to work in ALL scenarios (except Protected sheets) (based on Farham's Answer):

It supports:

• Scanning Hidden Row / Columns

• Ignores formatted cells with no data / formula

Code:

// Unhide All Cells and clear formats
sheet.Columns.ClearFormats();
sheet.Rows.ClearFormats();

// Detect Last used Row - Ignore cells that contains formulas that result in blank values
int lastRowIgnoreFormulas = sheet.Cells.Find(
                "*",
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                InteropExcel.XlFindLookIn.xlValues,
                InteropExcel.XlLookAt.xlWhole,
                InteropExcel.XlSearchOrder.xlByRows,
                InteropExcel.XlSearchDirection.xlPrevious,
                false,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value).Row;
// Detect Last Used Column  - Ignore cells that contains formulas that result in blank values
int lastColIgnoreFormulas = sheet.Cells.Find(
                "*",
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                InteropExcel.XlSearchOrder.xlByColumns,
                InteropExcel.XlSearchDirection.xlPrevious,
                false,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value,
                System.Reflection.Missing.Value).Column;

// Detect Last used Row / Column - Including cells that contains formulas that result in blank values
int lastColIncludeFormulas = sheet.UsedRange.Columns.Count;
int lastColIncludeFormulas = sheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count;