# Reporting Module Save File as XLS - Cell Borders

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [October 2, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159 "2025-10-02T14:38:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CB123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@CB123](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/CB123)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159/1 "2025-10-02T14:38:03Z")

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Ignition Platform 8.1.24

Reporting Module 6.1.24 (licensed)

I have a report that I need to output as a native XLS, which to everything I am seeing is working (IE xls file extension, Excel doesn’t flag it as a filetype mismatch). The issue I have is I can’t get rid of the borders around my data in a Table. No amount of adjusting TextShape stroke settings is actually making a difference. Excel opens the worksheet with grid lines turned off, and borders on only the cells that have data. Is there a way to get rid of the borders or would this be Excel doing this when opening? I need XLS (and not CSV or XLSX) so the data can be imported into an older (and worse) system and while I don’t think the borders will be a problem for another team taking care of the import I’d like to remove them to just jump past that possible next hurdle. Thank you.

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159/2 "2025-10-02T15:26:56Z")

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Ignition comes with the Apache POI libraries for manipulating MS Office file types, including XLSX. If you don't like how the reporting module constructs Excel files, you have the option to construct them entirely programmatically (outside the report module) with complete control over every cell's content and format. You can even read in a partially populated Excel file as a template, inject suitable data from Ignition, and write the composite file.

Start here:

[https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/search?q=apache%20poi%20script%20excel%20order%3Alatest](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/search?q=apache%20poi%20script%20excel%20order%3Alatest)

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**Author:** ![CB123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@CB123](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/CB123)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159/3 "2025-10-02T15:47:26Z")

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I’ll definitely look into it, does the machine hosting Ignition have to have Excel installed on it?

Thanks as always!

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159/4 "2025-10-02T15:48:43Z")

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No, actual copy of Excel is not required.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CB123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@CB123](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/CB123)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-save-file-as-xls-cell-borders/111159/5 "2025-10-02T15:52:05Z")

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Perfect, thanks again!