Managing metadata within your Excel files is more than just good practice; it’s a critical component of data governance, security, and automation in today’s digital landscape. Have you ever found yourself manually updating author names, company details, or project identifiers across numerous spreadsheets? Or perhaps you’ve needed to ensure sensitive information embedded in Excel Properties .NET is removed before sharing a document? Manually handling these tasks is not only tedious but also prone to errors.

This article delves into how you can programmatically read and remove Document Properties C# from Excel files using the powerful Spire.XLS for .NET library. We’ll explore how to leverage C# to automate these essential tasks, providing you with a robust solution for managing your C# Excel document properties efficiently and accurately.

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Understanding Excel Document Properties

Before diving into the code, let’s clarify what Excel document properties are and why they matter. Excel files, beyond their cell data, contain a wealth of metadata known as document properties. These properties provide valuable information about the document itself, aiding in organization, search, and compliance.

There are two main types of document properties:

• Built-in Properties: These are standard properties automatically generated by Excel, such as Author, Title, Subject, Company, Manager, Creation Date, Last Modified Date, etc. They offer quick insights into the document’s origin and history.
• Custom Properties: These are user-defined properties that allow you to add specific metadata relevant to your needs. Examples include “Project ID,” “Client Name,” “Approval Status,” or “Version Number.”

Effective management of these properties is crucial. For instance, ensuring that only authorized personnel are listed as authors helps maintain data integrity. Removing custom properties containing sensitive project details before external distribution is vital for security and compliance. This is where programmatic management of .NET Excel metadata becomes indispensable.

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Reading Excel Document Properties with C# and Spire.XLS

Reading document properties is often the first step in any metadata management strategy. Spire.XLS for .NET simplifies this process significantly. Here’s how you can read both built-in and custom properties from an Excel file.

First, ensure you have Spire.XLS for .NET installed in your project. You can get it via NuGet: Install-Package Spire.XLS.

using Spire.Xls;
using System;
using System.Text;

namespace ReadExcelProperties
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Load the Excel workbook
Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
workbook.LoadFromFile("Sample.xlsx"); // Replace with your Excel file path

Console.WriteLine("--- Built-in Document Properties ---");
// Access built-in document properties
BuiltInDocumentProperties builtInProperties = workbook.DocumentProperties;

Console.WriteLine($"Author: {builtInProperties.Author}");
Console.WriteLine($"Title: {builtInProperties.Title}");
Console.WriteLine($"Subject: {builtInProperties.Subject}");
Console.WriteLine($"Company: {builtInProperties.Company}");
Console.WriteLine($"Manager: {builtInProperties.Manager}");
Console.WriteLine($"Category: {builtInProperties.Category}");
Console.WriteLine($"Comments: {builtInProperties.Comments}");
Console.WriteLine($"Keywords: {builtInProperties.Keywords}");
Console.WriteLine($"Last Saved By: {builtInProperties.LastSavedBy}");
Console.WriteLine($"Creation Date: {builtInProperties.CreatedDate}");
Console.WriteLine($"Last Print Date: {builtInProperties.LastPrinted}");
Console.WriteLine($"Last Save Date: {builtInProperties.LastSaveDate}");
Console.WriteLine($"Revision Number: {builtInProperties.RevisionNumber}");
Console.WriteLine($"Total Editing Time: {builtInProperties.TotalEditingTime}");
Console.WriteLine($"Application Name: {builtInProperties.ApplicationName}");
// ... and other built-in properties

Console.WriteLine("\n--- Custom Document Properties ---");
// Access custom document properties
ICustomDocumentProperties customProperties = workbook.CustomDocumentProperties;

if (customProperties.Count > 0)
{
foreach (DocumentProperty property in customProperties)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{property.Name}: {property.Value}");
}
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("No custom document properties found.");
}

Console.WriteLine("\nSuccessfully read Excel document properties.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}

In this code:

1. We load an existing Excel file using workbook.LoadFromFile().
2. workbook.DocumentProperties provides access to the BuiltInDocumentProperties object, allowing you to directly retrieve values like Author, Title, Company, etc.
3. workbook.CustomDocumentProperties returns an ICustomDocumentProperties collection, which can be iterated to find all custom Excel properties C# along with their names and values.

This approach demonstrates how to Read and Remove Excel Properties effectively, giving you full visibility into your document’s metadata.

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Removing Excel Document Properties Programmatically

Sometimes, it’s necessary to remove certain document properties, especially sensitive custom properties, before distributing an Excel file. This capability is crucial for data privacy and compliance. Spire.XLS for .NET provides straightforward methods to achieve this.

using Spire.Xls;
using System;

namespace RemoveExcelProperties
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Load the Excel workbook
Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
workbook.LoadFromFile("Sample.xlsx"); // Replace with your Excel file path

// --- Removing Built-in Properties ---
// Note: While you can't "remove" all built-in properties entirely,
// you can often clear their values or set them to empty strings.
// Some properties like CreationDate are read-only.
workbook.DocumentProperties.Author = ""; // Clear author
workbook.DocumentProperties.Title = "";  // Clear title
workbook.DocumentProperties.Company = ""; // Clear company
Console.WriteLine("Cleared some built-in document properties.");

// --- Removing Custom Properties ---
ICustomDocumentProperties customProperties = workbook.CustomDocumentProperties;

// Example 1: Remove a specific custom property by name
string customPropertyNameToRemove = "Project ID";
if (customProperties.Contains(customPropertyNameToRemove))
{
customProperties.Remove(customPropertyNameToRemove);
Console.WriteLine($"Removed custom property: '{customPropertyNameToRemove}'");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine($"Custom property '{customPropertyNameToRemove}' not found.");
}

// Example 2: Clear all custom properties
// customProperties.Clear();
// Console.WriteLine("Cleared all custom document properties.");

// Save the modified Excel file
workbook.SaveToFile("Sample_PropertiesRemoved.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Version2016);
Console.WriteLine("Successfully removed document properties and saved the file.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}

In this example:

1. For built-in properties, we set their values to empty strings to effectively “clear” them. Some built-in properties, like creation date, are read-only and cannot be changed or removed.
2. To remove custom Excel properties C#, we access the ICustomDocumentProperties collection.
3. customProperties.Remove(propertyName) allows you to delete a specific custom property by its name.
4. customProperties.Clear() can be used to remove all custom properties at once. Be cautious with Clear() as it’s a destructive operation.
5. Finally, workbook.SaveToFile() saves the Excel document with the modified properties.

This demonstrates how to programmatically manage Excel properties, offering fine-grained control over the metadata embedded in your spreadsheets.

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Conclusion

Effectively managing Excel document properties is a cornerstone of modern data handling, essential for compliance, security, and workflow automation. As we’ve seen, Spire.XLS for .NET provides a robust and intuitive API to Read and Remove Excel Properties with C#. Whether you need to audit existing metadata, ensure sensitive information is stripped before distribution, or maintain data consistency across your organization, these programmatic approaches offer unparalleled efficiency.

By integrating these techniques into your .NET applications, you can elevate your document automation capabilities, ensuring that your Excel files are not only informative but also secure and compliant with your data governance policies. Explore the full potential of Spire.XLS for .NET to unlock even more powerful Excel manipulation features.