# Key Features

## Content



The following are some of the main features of **Excel for WPF** and **Silverlight** that you may find useful:

*   Save or load a workbook with one command
    
    **Excel for WPF and Silverlight** is easy-to-use, allowing you to use a single command to load or save a workbook and manipulate sheets as if they were grid controls.
    
*   Read and write data in individual cells
    
    After loading or creating a [C1XLBook](/componentone/api/wpf/online-excel/dotnet-framework-api/C1.WPF.Excel.4.6.2/C1.WPF.Excel.C1XLBook.html), you can access data in individual sheets as if they were a simple grid. For example:
    
    `XLSheet sheet = C1XLBook.Sheets[0];<br />         sheet[0, 0].Value = DateTime.Now;`
    
*   Format the data in each cell.
    
    The format associated with each cell is as easy to access as the data stored in the cell. For example:
    
    ```csharp
    XLStyle style = new XLStyle(c1XLBook1);
    style.Format = "dd-MM-yyyy";
    style.Font = new XLFont("Courier New", 14);
    XLSheet sheet = c1XLBook1.Sheets[0];
    sheet[0, 0].Value = DateTime.Now;
    sheet[0, 0].Style = style;
    ```
    
*   Use **Excel for WPF and Silverlight** to export to XLS files
    
    Other ComponentOne components use **C1Excel** to export XLS files. For example, **C1Report** uses **C1Excel** to create XLS versions of reports so they can be viewed and edited by anyone with a copy of Microsoft Excel.
    
*   Reads and writes .xls and .xlsx files without using Microsoft Excel
    
    **Excel for WPF and Silverlight** reads and writes .xls (Excel 97 and later) and xlsx (OpenXml format) files, the latter of which can be reused and easily exchanged or compressed to create smaller file sizes. You don't even need to have Microsoft Excel installed.
    
*   Create and position images within a cell
    
    Not only can you add images to cells, but now you can specify the cell size, the position of the image within the cell and whether the image is scaled, clipped, or stretched to fit the cell.
    
*   Save and load files to and from streams
    
    Workbooks can now be directly read to and written from memory streams with new overloads for the [Load](/componentone/api/wpf/online-excel/dotnet-framework-api/C1.WPF.Excel.4.6.2/C1.WPF.Excel.C1XLBook.Load.html) and the [Save](/componentone/api/wpf/online-excel/dotnet-framework-api/C1.WPF.Excel.4.6.2/C1.WPF.Excel.C1XLBook.Save.html) methods so you no longer have to use temporary files.
    
*   Add images to the header and footer of a sheet
    
    Use properties in the [XLPrintSettings](/componentone/api/wpf/online-excel/dotnet-framework-api/C1.WPF.Excel.4.6.2/C1.WPF.Excel.XLPrintSettings.html) class to add images to the left, center, or right part of a sheet's header or footer.