How to read SharePoint Online (Office365) Excel files in Python with Work or School Account?

Question

I am a university student and I have registered as an Office 365 Education user via my university Email address. I usually log into https://www.office.com with my Email account: [email protected]. The path to my profile is like: https://abcedu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/alice_abc_edu

I have an Excel (.xlsx) file in my Office 365. And I want to use Python to programmatically access (or download) the Excel file. I have googled about some solutions. But most of them require a NTLM credential. But I only have my Email account and password. I don't know my NTLM credential. Is it [email protected] or alice_abc_edu? Or the Email username and NTLM are totally different authentication ways. And I can't use NTLM?

It seems that my Email address that is used to log in is officially called Work or School Account or Azure Active Directory Credential. But I don't know how to use such an account to realize my requirement? Moreover, I need to do it in Python. RESTful would also be OK. But I just got stuck in the first authentication step. Thanks!

I have followed the Microsoft Graph tutorial here and it told me to register a Python app. Then I got a App ID and App Secret. But when I use the official python-sample-send-mail

"""send-email sample for Microsoft Graph"""
# Copyright (c) Microsoft. All rights reserved. Licensed under the MIT license.
# See LICENSE in the project root for license information.
import base64
import mimetypes
import os
import pprint
import uuid

import flask
from flask_oauthlib.client import OAuth

import config

APP = flask.Flask(__name__, template_folder='static/templates')
APP.debug = True
APP.secret_key = 'development'
OAUTH = OAuth(APP)
MSGRAPH = OAUTH.remote_app(
    'microsoft',
    consumer_key=config.CLIENT_ID,
    consumer_secret=config.CLIENT_SECRET,
    request_token_params={'scope': config.SCOPES},
    base_url=config.RESOURCE + config.API_VERSION + '/',
    request_token_url=None,
    access_token_method='POST',
    access_token_url=config.AUTHORITY_URL + config.TOKEN_ENDPOINT,
    authorize_url=config.AUTHORITY_URL + config.AUTH_ENDPOINT)

@APP.route('/')
def homepage():
    """Render the home page."""
    return flask.render_template('homepage.html')

@APP.route('/login')
def login():
    """Prompt user to authenticate."""
    flask.session['state'] = str(uuid.uuid4())
    return MSGRAPH.authorize(callback=config.REDIRECT_URI, state=flask.session['state'])

@APP.route('/login/authorized')
def authorized():
    """Handler for the application's Redirect Uri."""
    if str(flask.session['state']) != str(flask.request.args['state']):
        raise Exception('state returned to redirect URL does not match!')
    response = MSGRAPH.authorized_response()
    flask.session['access_token'] = response['access_token']
    return flask.redirect('/mailform')

@APP.route('/mailform')
def mailform():
    """Sample form for sending email via Microsoft Graph."""

    # read user profile data
    user_profile = MSGRAPH.get('me', headers=request_headers()).data
    user_name = user_profile['displayName']

    # get profile photo
    photo_data, _, profile_pic = profile_photo(client=MSGRAPH, save_as='me')
    # save photo data as config.photo for use in mailform.html/mailsent.html
    if profile_pic:
        config.photo = base64.b64encode(photo_data).decode()
    else:
        profile_pic = 'static/images/no-profile-photo.png'
        with open(profile_pic, 'rb') as fhandle:
            config.photo = base64.b64encode(fhandle.read()).decode()

    # upload profile photo to OneDrive
    upload_response = upload_file(client=MSGRAPH, filename=profile_pic)
    if str(upload_response.status).startswith('2'):
        # create a sharing link for the uploaded photo
        link_url = sharing_link(client=MSGRAPH, item_id=upload_response.data['id'])
    else:
        link_url = ''

    body = flask.render_template('email.html', name=user_name, link_url=link_url)
    return flask.render_template('mailform.html',
                                 name=user_name,
                                 email=user_profile['userPrincipalName'],
                                 profile_pic=profile_pic,
                                 photo_data=config.photo,
                                 link_url=link_url,
                                 body=body)

@APP.route('/send_mail')
def send_mail():
    """Handler for send_mail route."""
    profile_pic = flask.request.args['profile_pic']

    response = sendmail(client=MSGRAPH,
                        subject=flask.request.args['subject'],
                        recipients=flask.request.args['email'].split(';'),
                        body=flask.request.args['body'],
                        attachments=[flask.request.args['profile_pic']])

    # show results in the mailsent form
    response_json = pprint.pformat(response.data)
    response_json = None if response_json == "b''" else response_json
    return flask.render_template('mailsent.html',
                                 sender=flask.request.args['sender'],
                                 email=flask.request.args['email'],
                                 profile_pic=profile_pic,
                                 photo_data=config.photo,
                                 subject=flask.request.args['subject'],
                                 body_length=len(flask.request.args['body']),
                                 response_status=response.status,
                                 response_json=response_json)

@MSGRAPH.tokengetter
def get_token():
    """Called by flask_oauthlib.client to retrieve current access token."""
    return (flask.session.get('access_token'), '')

def request_headers(headers=None):
    """Return dictionary of default HTTP headers for Graph API calls.
    Optional argument is other headers to merge/override defaults."""
    default_headers = {'SdkVersion': 'sample-python-flask',
                       'x-client-SKU': 'sample-python-flask',
                       'client-request-id': str(uuid.uuid4()),
                       'return-client-request-id': 'true'}
    if headers:
        default_headers.update(headers)
    return default_headers

def profile_photo(*, client=None, user_id='me', save_as=None):
    """Get profile photo.

    client  = user-authenticated flask-oauthlib client instance
    user_id = Graph id value for the user, or 'me' (default) for current user
    save_as = optional filename to save the photo locally. Should not include an
              extension - the extension is determined by photo's content type.

    Returns a tuple of the photo (raw data), content type, saved filename.
    """
    endpoint = 'me/photo/$value' if user_id == 'me' else f'users/{user_id}/$value'
    photo_response = client.get(endpoint)
    if str(photo_response.status).startswith('2'):
        # HTTP status code is 2XX, so photo was returned successfully
        photo = photo_response.raw_data
        metadata_response = client.get(endpoint[:-7]) # remove /$value to get metadata
        content_type = metadata_response.data.get('@odata.mediaContentType', '')
    else:
        photo = ''
        content_type = ''

    if photo and save_as:
        extension = content_type.split('/')[1]
        if extension == 'pjpeg':
            extension = 'jpeg' # to correct known issue with content type
        filename = save_as + '.' + extension
        with open(filename, 'wb') as fhandle:
            fhandle.write(photo)
    else:
        filename = ''

    return (photo, content_type, filename)

def sendmail(*, client, subject=None, recipients=None, body='',
             content_type='HTML', attachments=None):
    """Helper to send email from current user.

    client       = user-authenticated flask-oauthlib client instance
    subject      = email subject (required)
    recipients   = list of recipient email addresses (required)
    body         = body of the message
    content_type = content type (default is 'HTML')
    attachments  = list of file attachments (local filenames)

    Returns the response from the POST to the sendmail API.
    """

    # Verify that required arguments have been passed.
    if not all([client, subject, recipients]):
        raise ValueError('sendmail(): required arguments missing')

    # Create recipient list in required format.
    recipient_list = [{'EmailAddress': {'Address': address}}
                      for address in recipients]

    # Create list of attachments in required format.
    attached_files = []
    if attachments:
        for filename in attachments:
            b64_content = base64.b64encode(open(filename, 'rb').read())
            mime_type = mimetypes.guess_type(filename)[0]
            mime_type = mime_type if mime_type else ''
            attached_files.append( \
                {'@odata.type': '#microsoft.graph.fileAttachment',
                 'ContentBytes': b64_content.decode('utf-8'),
                 'ContentType': mime_type,
                 'Name': filename})

    # Create email message in required format.
    email_msg = {'Message': {'Subject': subject,
                             'Body': {'ContentType': content_type, 'Content': body},
                             'ToRecipients': recipient_list,
                             'Attachments': attached_files},
                 'SaveToSentItems': 'true'}

    # Do a POST to Graph's sendMail API and return the response.
    return client.post('me/microsoft.graph.sendMail',
                       headers=request_headers(),
                       data=email_msg,
                       format='json')

def sharing_link(*, client, item_id, link_type='view'):
    """Get a sharing link for an item in OneDrive.

    client    = user-authenticated flask-oauthlib client instance
    item_id   = the id of the DriveItem (the target of the link)
    link_type = 'view' (default), 'edit', or 'embed' (OneDrive Personal only)

    Returns the sharing link.
    """
    endpoint = f'me/drive/items/{item_id}/createLink'
    response = client.post(endpoint,
                           headers=request_headers(),
                           data={'type': link_type},
                           format='json')

    if str(response.status).startswith('2'):
        # status 201 = link created, status 200 = existing link returned
        return response.data['link']['webUrl']

def upload_file(*, client, filename, folder=None):
    """Upload a file to OneDrive for Business.

    client  = user-authenticated flask-oauthlib client instance
    filename = local filename; may include a path
    folder = destination subfolder/path in OneDrive for Business
             None (default) = root folder

    File is uploaded and the response object is returned.
    If file already exists, it is overwritten.
    If folder does not exist, it is created.

    API documentation:
    https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/docs/api-reference/v1.0/api/driveitem_put_content
    """
    fname_only = os.path.basename(filename)

    # create the Graph endpoint to be used
    if folder:
        # create endpoint for upload to a subfolder
        endpoint = f'me/drive/root:/{folder}/{fname_only}:/content'
    else:
        # create endpoint for upload to drive root folder
        endpoint = f'me/drive/root/children/{fname_only}/content'

    content_type, _ = mimetypes.guess_type(fname_only)
    with open(filename, 'rb') as fhandle:
        file_content = fhandle.read()

    return client.put(endpoint,
                      headers=request_headers({'content-type': content_type}),
                      data=file_content,
                      content_type=content_type)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    APP.run()

It gave me an error:

AADSTS65005: Using application 'My Python App' is currently not supported for your organization abc.edu because it is in an unmanaged state. An administrator needs to claim ownership of the company by DNS validation of abc.edu before the application My Python App can be provisioned. Request ID: 9a4874e0-7f8f-4eff-b6f9-9834765d8780, Timestamp: 01/25/2018 13:51:10 Trace ID: 8d1cc38e-3b5e-4bf1-a003-bda164e00b00 Correlation ID: 2033267e-98ec-4eb1-91e9-c0530ef97fb1 Timestamp: 2018-01-25 13:51:10Z&state=d94af98c-92d9-4016-b3da-afd8e8974f4b HTTP/1.1

So it seems that the IT admin of my university doesn't enable the functionality of connecting an App with Microsoft Graph. But is this way the only way? I already have the valid Email account and password. I think there must be a way for me to log in Office 365 programmatically directly with my credential?

Answer 1

As suggested by Niels V try using the Office365-REST-Python-Client.

The client implements the Sharepoint REST API. Here's an example of what you are trying to do:

from office365.runtime.auth.authentication_context import AuthenticationContext
from office365.sharepoint.client_context import ClientContext
from office365.sharepoint.files.file import File

url = 'https://yoursharepointsite.com/sites/documentsite'
username = 'yourusername'
password = 'yourpassword'
relative_url = '/sites/documentsite/Documents/filename.xlsx'

This section is straight from the github README.md using the ClientContext approach and gets you authenticated on your SharePoint server

ctx_auth = AuthenticationContext(url)
if ctx_auth.acquire_token_for_user(username, password):
  ctx = ClientContext(url, ctx_auth)
  web = ctx.web
  ctx.load(web)
  ctx.execute_query()
  print "Web title: {0}".format(web.properties['Title'])

else:
  print ctx_auth.get_last_error()

If you just want to download the file then using File.open_binary() all you need is:

filename = 'filename.xlsx'
with open(filename, 'wb') as output_file:
    response = File.open_binary(ctx, relative_url)
    output_file.write(response.content)

However if you want to analyze the contents of the file you can download the file to memory then directly use Pandas or your python '.xlsx' tool of choice:

import io
import pandas as pd

response = File.open_binary(ctx, relative_url)

#save data to BytesIO stream
bytes_file_obj = io.BytesIO()
bytes_file_obj.write(response.content)
bytes_file_obj.seek(0) #set file object to start

#read file into pandas dataframe
df = pd.read_excel(bytes_file_obj)

You can take it from here. I hope this helps!