---
id: pyexcel-ods3
version: "0.6.1"
license: New BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pyexcel-ods3 — A wrapper library to read, manipulate and write data in ods format

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 95.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

pyexcel-ods3 is a wrapper around ODS file handling that lets you read spreadsheet data into Python dictionaries or write dictionaries back to ODS files. It works as both a standalone library and as a plugin for pyexcel, the larger spreadsheet abstraction framework. The library depends on pyexcel-io for format dispatch, lxml for XML parsing, and pyexcel-ezodf for ODS-specific operations.

The package is designed for developers who need to work with ODS files but want to focus on data manipulation rather than format details. It supports reading and writing entire sheets, working with in-memory streams, and pagination (though pagination reads the entire file first). Fonts, colors, charts, and password-protected files are not supported.

Use it for:

- Extract tabular data from ODS files into Python for analysis or transformation.
- Generate ODS spreadsheets programmatically from Python data structures.
- Integrate ODS file handling into a pyexcel-based data pipeline.
- Convert ODS data to and from memory buffers for web uploads and downloads.
- Read partial data from large ODS files using row and column limits.

## Worth the install?

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

Reads, manipulates, and writes data in ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) format, typically used alongside pyexcel for spreadsheet operations.

Yes, if you need ODS file support in Python and are comfortable with a library on a stable maintenance cadence (active but not rapidly evolving). The permissive license and low install friction make it a straightforward choice. Be aware that the latest release was in 2022 and fonts/colors/charts are not supported; verify compatibility with your Python version and ODS feature requirements before committing.

## Install

pip install pyexcel-ods3
uv add pyexcel-ods3
poetry add pyexcel-ods3

## Installing pyexcel-ods3

Before you install: Low install friction with three runtime dependencies (pyexcel-io, lxml, pyexcel-ezodf). Maintenance is active with recent commits, though the latest release was in 2022.

License in practice: Licensed under New BSD (permissive), allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pyexcel-ods3

from pyexcel_ods3 import get_data, save_data
from collections import OrderedDict

data = OrderedDict()
data.update({"Sheet 1": [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]})
save_data("file.ods", data)

read_data = get_data("file.ods")

Verify before relying:

- Whether fonts, colors, and charts can be preserved or manipulated despite the documented constraint.
- Current compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.8, given the latest release was 2022-01-30.
- Performance characteristics when handling large ODS files, given the pagination note about reading the whole file first.

## Package facts

- License: New BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 95.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ods file reader writer, openDocument spreadsheet python, ods data manipulation, read write ods files, spreadsheet format conversion, ods to python data, pyexcel ods plugin, spreadsheet-io, ods-format

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pyexcel-ods3) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pyexcel-ods3/)