How to Fix Importerror: Install XLRD for Excel Support in Python

1. Pandas Package in Python
2. Reasons for importerror: install xlrd for excel support
3. Solution for importerror: install xlrd for excel support

In today’s tutorial, we will explore the reasons and solutions for the following error we may get while working with the Pandas package in Python.

ImportError: Install xlrd >= 0.9.0 for Excel support

Let’s start by going through a brief introduction of Pandas.

Pandas Package in Python

Pandas is a popular tool specially built for Machine Learning and Data Science. It is primarily used for data analysis and cleaning.

It is an open-source Python package and one of the best tools for handling real-world data. It also supports various file formats such as Excel, CSV, SQL, and more.

We can easily import this package by using the command below.

import pandas as pd

But before we import this package, we need to install this package first in our python environment. So we need to install it using the pip like below.

pip install pandas

Or, if some of you are using Anaconda, then we can use the command below.

conda install pandas

Reasons for importerror: install xlrd for excel support

The importerror occurs when our code fails to import any specific module. For example, sometimes, when we try to import data from an excel file with pandas using a simple script like the one below.

import pandas as pd

df2 = pd.read_excel("data.xlsx")
print(df2.head(3))
print(df2.tail(3))

We may get the below error message in our console.

ImportError: Install xlrd >= 0.9.0 for Excel support

This error mainly occurs when our script fails to load and read the excel file because of another package named xlrd. The xlrd is a unique library that enables us to read and format information for the excel file.

It uses the excel file in the .xls format. Therefore, if we get the above error, we must install the package to execute the above command successfully.

Solution for importerror: install xlrd for excel support

Suppose we see the above error while executing a script with the pandas package to load and read an excel file. Then we need to install the xlrd package in our Python environment first.

We also can install this package using the pip as follows:

pip install xlrd

Or, we can use the following command using Anaconda.

conda install -c anaconda xlrd

After successfully installing the package file, we can run our script smoothly.