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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-03T22:45:58+00:00

I’m creating a program in VB.net that does the following: At a high level

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I’m creating a program in VB.net that does the following:

At a high level I receive a file in email, put the attachment in a monitored folder, import the text file to excel, format the excel, and then email the excel file to a list of recipients.

Here is my plan:

  1. Completed: Outlook VBA to monitor all incoming email for specific message. Once message is received drop attached .txt file in a specific network folder.
  2. Completed: (VB.net) Monitor folder, when text file is added begin processing
  3. Not Complete: (VB.net) Import text file to Excel
  4. Not Complete: (VB.net) Format Excel Text file. (add in a row of data, format column headers with color/size, add some blank columns, add data validation to some of the blank columns that allow drop down selections)
  5. Completed: (VB.net) Save file.
  6. Completed: (VB.net) Send file to list of recipients.

Obviously the items above that are not complete are the bulk of the work, but I wanted to get some advice on what some of you think would be the best way to approach something like this. The import and formatting of the file are causing me some problems because I just can’t decide what would be the most efficient way to do this.

What I’ve thought of so far:

  • The way stated above. Import to excel -> format
  • Having a template excel that contains all of the formatting already done for me and attempting to transition the data to this document (no clue if/how I can do this). Is it even feasible? Have the template already created and then import the text file to a new excel file, then transition that data to the excel template?

Something I thought about, in terms of formatting the document, was to record a macro of me doing all of the formatting that I’m going to need and then attempt to convert that macro into my vb.net code, but I’m not sure if that will work. I will need to verify that the text file comes in the EXACT format every time correct?

I really appreciate any advice/suggestions that anyone is willing to give.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You will want to use http://epplus.codeplex.com/

    It allows you to create an Excel file from scratch, without having to start Excel itself. Automating Excel will make the process slow and it lacks robustness (Excel process can hang or not close properly).

    In addition, using a .Net library allows you to run it on a server or so where no Excel is installed. (Next step would be to inspect the mailbox via POP, IMAP or the Exchange API, so that part doesn’t have to be run on a client machine either)

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