Pandas dataframe to excel gives "file is not UTF-8 encoded"

Question

I'm working on lists that I want to export into an Excel file.

I found a lot of people advising to use pandas.dataframe so that's what I did. I could create the dataframe but when I try to export it to Excel, the file is empty, there is just the following message:

" Error! [file_pathway] is not UTF-8 encoded. Saving disabled. See console for more details".

I didn't see any more info on the console, and every example I found on the Internet leads to the same error message.

The different lists I'm using contain different types of data. So I try to convert every element I could into a UTF-8 encoded element. I couldn't do it for the "float" list nor for the "NoType" list.

After that, here is what I wrote :

d = {'Dataset_name': dataset_names, 'Parameter_name': para_names, 'Parameter_amount': para_amounts, 'Parameter_unit': para_units, 'Parameter_variable': para_variables, 'Parameter_formula': para_formulas}
df = pd.DataFrame(data=d)

from pandas import ExcelWriter
writer = ExcelWriter('Ocelot_Export.xlsx')
df.to_excel(writer, encoding='utf8', index=False)
writer.save()

The dataframe is correct, as I can print it in Jupyter Notebook. The only problem is the exportation. Please let me know if you have any idea about what's wrong.

Answer 1

The cause of this problem is likely just that jupyter is unable to display .xlsx files. Try downloading the file from jupyter (checkbox next to the file name -> "Download" button near the page header) onto your local machine and open it using excel.

2020 Update: If you're using Jupyter Lab, jupyterlab-spreadsheet is a great way to view excel files without leaving your browser.