• $ cat "

    "Could not find installable ISAM" when Reading Excel Document Programatically with Microsoft Jet

    "

    This generic error message is often an indication of a syntax error in the connection string. In my case the error occurred when I tried to add a second Extended Property, like so:

    var connection = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(
        "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" +
        "Data Source=" + path + ";" +
        "Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;HDR=No;");

    The problem turned out to be that the multiple extended properties were not quoted. A single extended property does not need quoting, but multiple do.

    The fix was then simply to add escaped quotes:

    var connection = new System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(
        "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" +
        "Data Source=" + path + ";" +
        "Extended Properties=\\"Excel 8.0;HDR=No;\\"");