Work with OLE Objects

Dec 11, 2025
4 minutes to read

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) technology allows you to insert data (spreadsheets, images, presentations, charts, equations, and much more) from external applications into your document. Use the Spreadsheet API to load, add, extract, or remove OLE objects. You can print documents with OLE objects and export them to PDF.

Note

The Spreadsheet Document API library supports OLE objects in OpenXML-based (XLSX, XLSM, XLTX, and XLTM) and binary (XLS and XLSB) formats.

Obtain OLE Objects in a Worksheet

The Worksheet.OleObjects property returns an OleObjectCollection that stores all OLE objects within the worksheet. Each individual OLE object within the collection is an OleObject interface.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Spreadsheet;

    var workbook = new Workbook();
    using (FileStream stream = new FileStream("Documents\\Document.xlsx", FileMode.Open))
    {
        workbook.LoadDocument(stream, DocumentFormat.Xlsx);
    }
    Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];

    // Get the collection of OLE objects:
    OleObjectCollection oleObjects = worksheet.OleObjects;

Imports DevExpress.Spreadsheet

    Private workbook = New Workbook()
    Using stream As New FileStream("Documents\Document.xlsx", FileMode.Open)
        workbook.LoadDocument(stream, DocumentFormat.Xlsx)
    End Using
    Dim worksheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)

    ' Get the collection of OLE objects:
    Dim oleObjects As OleObjectCollection = worksheet.OleObjects

You use the following OleObject members to obtain information about the corresponding OLE object:

InsertTypeReturns how the OLE object is stored within the worksheet. Possible options: Linked, Embedded.AsEmbeddedContent

Allows you to access the content of an embedded OLE object. You can call the OleObjectEmbeddedContent.GetRawData method to obtain raw binary content or call the OleObjectEmbeddedContent.SaveAs method to save the embedded content to a file or stream.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

var embeddedContent = worksheet.OleObjects[0].AsEmbeddedContent();
var contentData = embeddedContent.GetRawData();

Dim embeddedContent = worksheet.OleObjects(0).AsEmbeddedContent()
Dim contentData = embeddedContent.GetRawData()

AsLinkedContent

Allows you to access the content of a linked OLE object. For linked OLE objects, you can use the OleObjectLinkedContent.FileName property to obtain the corresponding file name.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

var linkedContent = worksheet.OleObjects[0].AsLinkedContent();
var path = linkedContent.FileName;

Dim linkedContent = worksheet.OleObjects(0).AsLinkedContent()
Dim path = linkedContent.FileName

OleObjectTypeId

Returns an ID that identifies the content type (for example, “ExcelWorksheet” or “AdobeAcrobatDocument”). See the OleObjectType structure for all possible options.

C#
VB.NET

csharp

var typeID = worksheet.OleObjects[0].OleObjectTypeId;

Dim typeID = worksheet.OleObjects(0).OleObjectTypeId

RepresentationTypeReturns how the OLE object is displayed in the worksheet. Possible options: Content, Icon.

You can also call OleObjectCollection.GetOleObjectById and OleObjectCollection.GetOleObjectsByName methods to obtain a specific OLE object by its ID or name.

OLE objects can also be accessed in the Worksheet.Shapes collection:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

foreach (var obj in worksheet.Shapes) {
    if (obj.ShapeType is DevExpress.Spreadsheet.ShapeType.OleObject) {
        // Do something
    }
}

For Each obj In worksheet.Shapes
    If TypeOf obj.ShapeType Is DevExpress.Spreadsheet.ShapeType.OleObject Then
        ' Do something
    End If
Next

Add a Linked OLE Object

A worksheet stores linked objects as links to corresponding files.

Call the OleObjectCollection.AddLinkedOleObject method to add a linked OLE object to a worksheet:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

var workbook = new Workbook();
Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
CellRange oleIconRange = worksheet.Range["B4:D6"];
SpreadsheetImageSource oleIcon = SpreadsheetImageSource.FromFile("oleIcon.png");

// Create a linked OLE object
OleObject oleObjectLinked = worksheet.OleObjects.AddLinkedOleObject(
    oleIconRange, "package.pdf", OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon);

Private workbook = New Workbook()
Dim worksheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
Dim oleIconRange As CellRange = worksheet.Range("B4:D6")
Dim oleIcon As SpreadsheetImageSource = SpreadsheetImageSource.FromFile("oleIcon.png")

' Create linked OLE object
Dim oleObjectLinked As OleObject = worksheet.OleObjects.AddLinkedOleObject(oleIconRange, "package.pdf", OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon)

Add an Embedded OLE Object

A worksheet stores embedded objects incorporated directly to the spreadsheet document in binary format.

Call the OleObjectCollection.AddEmbeddedOleObject method to add an embedded OLE object to a worksheet:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

var workbook = new Workbook();
Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
CellRange oleIconRange = worksheet.Range["B4:D6"];
SpreadsheetImageSource oleIcon = SpreadsheetImageSource.FromFile("oleIcon.png");

// Create an embedded OLE object from byte array
byte[] sourceData = File.ReadAllBytes("package.pdf");
OleObject oleObjectEmbedded1 = worksheet.OleObjects.AddEmbeddedOleObject(
    oleIconRange, sourceData, OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon);

// Create an embedded OLE object from file stream
using (var stream = File.OpenRead("package.pdf")) {
    OleObject oleObjectEmbedded2 = worksheet.OleObjects.AddEmbeddedOleObject(
    oleIconRange, stream, OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon);
}

Private workbook = New Workbook()
Dim worksheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
Dim oleIconRange As CellRange = worksheet.Range("B4:D6")
Dim oleIcon As SpreadsheetImageSource = SpreadsheetImageSource.FromFile("oleIcon.png")

' Create an embedded OLE object from byte array
Dim sourceData As Byte() = File.ReadAllBytes("package.pdf")
Dim oleObjectEmbedded1 As OleObject = worksheet.OleObjects.AddEmbeddedOleObject(oleIconRange, sourceData, OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon)

' Create an embedded OLE object from file stream
Using stream = File.OpenRead("package.pdf")
    Dim oleObjectEmbedded2 As OleObject = worksheet.OleObjects.AddEmbeddedOleObject(oleIconRange, stream, OleObjectType.PackageWithExtension("pdf"), oleIcon)

Remove an OLE Object from a Worksheet

Call the following methods to remove an OLE object from the document:

csharp

var workbook = new Workbook();
Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[0];
OleObject oleObject = worksheet.OleObjects[0];

// Remove the current OLE object
oleObject.Delete();
// or
worksheet.OleObjects.Remove(oleObject);
// or
worksheet.OleObjects.RemoveAt(0);

// Remove all OLE objects in the collection
worksheet.OleObjects.Clear();

Private workbook = New Workbook()
Dim worksheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets(0)
Dim oleObject As OleObject = worksheet.OleObjects(0)

' Remove the current OLE object
oleObject.Delete()
' or
worksheet.OleObjects.Remove(oleObject)
' or
worksheet.OleObjects.RemoveAt(0)

' Remove all OLE objects in the collection
worksheet.OleObjects.Clear()