Excel compatibility and limitations

Compatibility

Kofax RPA provides support for Microsoft Excel workbooks depending on the type of robot and platform.

For Basic Engine Robots, the built-in Excel uses Apache POI, a third-party library, to implement Excel functionality. This is a cross-platform implementation in Java that runs on a RoboServer or Design Studio host on both Windows and Linux platforms.
For Robots, the built-in Excel driver automates Excel itself. Microsoft Excel must be installed on the computer where the step is executed.
- For Windows installations only, the host can be the one running either RoboServer or Design Studio.
- For Windows and Linux installations, a Desktop Automation Service host supports both RoboServer and Design Studio.
On a remote Desktop Automation Service host, Robots can automate Microsoft Excel. This option is available to RoboServer or Design Studio on either Windows or Linux, because Microsoft Excel runs on the remote host. Microsoft Excel must be installed on the computer where the Desktop Automation Service is installed.

Microsoft Excel support in Kofax RPA has the following known limitations.

When using built-in Excel with Basic Engine Robots, be advised that limitations exist for the Microsoft Excel and Microsoft 365 drivers. These limitations are related to the third-party Apache POI library. Because this is a third-party implementation, functionality is not guaranteed to be 100% compatible with the Microsoft Excel and Microsoft 365 applications.
When using built-in Excel driver with Robots, support for the Dynamic Arrays feature introduced to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft 365 in 2020 is restricted to Microsoft Excel's pre-Dynamic Array compatibility mode. Expressions inserted in a cell by a robot are set by Microsoft Excel to evaluate in Implicitly Intersection Evaluation mode, and their results do not spill over to adjacent cells.
Different Microsoft Excel versions are not guaranteed to be 100% compatible from one version to another.