Powershell - Convert .XLS file to .XLSX - excel

Question

I am currently working on a powershell script that converts excel files from .xls to .xlsx
To be precise, I need this to work in some ways:
I need to catch the .xls files FROM a folder and make's a copy to a backup folder
converts them to .xlsx and uploads them to upload folder
Converting them from a folder and uploading them to another folder work's fine, but I tried to add some features and now I'm stuck.
This is the error when I try to run:
At C:\Users\Test\Conv_XLS_V2.ps1:40 char:2
+ }
+ ~ The Try statement is missing its Catch or Finally block. At C:\Users\Test\Conv_XLS_V2.ps1:20 char:16
+ ForEach-Object { ~
Missing closing '}' in statement block or type definition.
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingCatchOrFinally
My code:
# set folders
$downloadfolder = "C:\Users\Test"
#$downloadfolder = "folder that gets the .xls files"
$uploadfolder = "C:\Users\Test\Upload"
#$uploadfolder = "folder that uploads the .xlsx files"
$backupfolder = "C:\Users\Test\Backup"
#$backupfolder = "folder that has .xls files as backup"
#open and convert xls to xlsx
Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
$xlFixedFormat = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat]::xlOpenXMLWorkbook
write-host $xlFixedFormat
$excel = New-Object -ComObject excel.application
$excel.visible = $true
$filetype ="*xls"
Get-ChildItem -Path $folderpath -Include $filetype -recurse |
ForEach-Object {
try {
$xlsfilename = $_.fullname
#copy file to backup folder
Copy-Item -Path $xlsfilename -Destination $backupfolder
# open the xls
Write-Output "Converting $xlsfilename"
$workbook = $excel.workbooks.open($xlsfilename)
# save converted file (as xlsx)
$xlsxfilename = $xlsfilename + "x"
$workbook.saveas($xlsxfilename, $xlFixedFormat)
$workbook.close()
#remove old file
Write-Output "delete & move file(s)"
Remove-Item -Path $xlsfilename -Force
Move-Item -Path $xlsxfilename -Destination $uploadfolder -Force
# garbage collection
[gc]::collect()
[gc]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
}
# close excel
$excel.Quit()
$excel = $null
Can someone have a look please?

Answer 1

The error message is clear. You forgot to close the try{..} block with an ending bracket } and a try{..} should be followed up by either one or more catch{..} blocks and optionally a finally{..} block.
You can read about that on about Try Catch Finally.
Then, there are some other things wrong and/or can be improved upon in your code as well.
$folderpath is not defined and should be the source folder $downloadfolder
use -Filter instead of -Include as it is much faster. Also you have left out the dot in '*.xls'
append switch -File to the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to make sure you will not receive and try to process directories as well
you can save the converted .xlsx files directly to the uploadfolder, no need to create first and then move
to remove the used COM objects, release them from memory first and then initiate the Garbage Collect.
Do this after you have quit Excel.
# set folders
$downloadfolder = "C:\Users\Test" # folder where the .xls files are
$uploadfolder = "C:\Users\Test\Upload" # folder that uploads the .xlsx files
$backupfolder = "C:\Users\Test\Backup" # folder that has .xls files as backup
# open and convert xls to xlsx
Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
$xlFixedFormat = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat]::xlOpenXMLWorkbook
$excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $false # it is much faster if Excel is not visible
# loop through the .xls files and process them
Get-ChildItem -Path $downloadfolder -Filter '*.xls' -Recurse -File |
ForEach-Object {
try {
$xlsfilename = $_.FullName
#copy file to backup folder
Copy-Item -Path $xlsfilename -Destination $backupfolder -Force
# open the xls
Write-Host "Converting $xlsfilename"
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Open($xlsfilename)
# save converted file (as xlsx) directly to the upload folder
$newfilename = Join-Path -Path $uploadfolder -ChildPath ('{0}.xlsx' -f $_.BaseName)
$workbook.SaveAs($newfilename, $xlFixedFormat)
$workbook.Close()
#remove old file
Write-Host "Delete old file '$xlsfilename'"
Remove-Item -Path $xlsfilename -Force
}
catch {
# write out a warning as to why something went wrong
Write-Warning "Could not convert '$xlsfilename':`r`n$($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
# close excel
$excel.Quit()
# garbage collection
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($workbook)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excel)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()

Answer 2

The error describe a syntax issue. You have included a try { statement without closing it with a } catch {} block. That's all.