---
id: oletools
version: "0.60.2"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: aging
---

# oletools — Python tools to analyze security characteristics of MS Office and OLE files (also called Structured Storage, Compound File Binary Format or Compound Document File Format), for Malware Analysis and Incident Response #DFIR

License: permissive · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 7.7M/mo

## What it is and what it does

oletools is a forensic and malware analysis toolkit for inspecting Microsoft Office and OLE-based file formats. It provides command-line utilities (oleid, olevba, oleobj, rtfobj, msodde, pyxswf, olemeta, oletimes, oledir, olemap) and a Python API for programmatic access. The package specializes in detecting and extracting VBA macros, Excel 4 macros (XLM), DDE links, embedded Flash objects, and other potentially malicious content from Office documents and RTF files.

The toolkit depends on olefile for OLE2 parsing and includes optional integrations with pcodedmp and msoffcrypto-tool. It is widely used by security platforms and malware analysis services. Development is mature but infrequent; the last release (v0.60.2 on 2024-07-02) addressed Python 3.12 compatibility and parsing edge cases.

Use it for:

- Extract and analyze VBA macros from suspicious Office documents during incident response
- Detect DDE/DDEAUTO links and embedded Flash objects that may deliver malware
- Identify structural anomalies and risk indicators in OLE files using oleid
- Automate forensic analysis of Office metadata and timestamps in bulk processing
- Integrate macro detection into email security gateways or document sandboxes

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

oletools is a suite of Python tools to extract, analyze, and detect malicious content in Microsoft OLE2 files (Office 97-2003, MSI, Outlook) and OpenXML documents (Office 2007+, XPS, MSIX), focusing on VBA macros, embedded objects, DDE links, and Flash.

Yes, if you need to analyze Office documents for malware indicators or forensic investigation. The toolkit is mature, widely deployed in security platforms, and has no known vulnerabilities. The aging maintenance status (773 days since last release) is a minor concern for new features but does not affect core functionality. Install friction is low and the BSD license poses no restrictions.

## Install

pip install oletools
uv add oletools
poetry add oletools

## Installing oletools

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Maintenance status is aging—last release was 773 days ago (v0.60.2 on 2024-07-02)—but the repository remains active with a recent commit on 2026-02-14 and 3392 stars.

License in practice: BSD permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, suitable for integration into security tools and forensic workflows.

Quickstart:

pip install oletools

from oletools.olevba import VBA_Parser
vba = VBA_Parser('document.docm')
for (filename, stream_path, vba_filename, vba_code) in vba.extract_macros():
    print(vba_code)

Verify before relying:

- Whether optional dependencies (XLMMacroDeobfuscator, xlrd2, pyxlsb2) are required for full macro analysis or are truly optional
- Current state of Python 2.7 support given classifiers list it but v0.60.2 fixed Python 3.12 compatibility

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 7.7M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

extract vba macros from office documents, analyze ole2 compound files, detect malicious office macros, parse microsoft office files, malware analysis office documents, rtf object extraction, dde link detection office, malware-analysis, forensics, office-documents

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