>Hi Thomas,
>
>As you caught I do not really need Office for in-house document management. The need is in direct relation with the support OLE-com functionnality within a VFP app.
>
>This has worked flawlessly over the last 20 years. But we are moving on, like most, and wish to reduce dependencies We will reduce the support for Excel via COM in the application that still rely on the MS office package in 2018 (via xlsgen) this year. But we intend to keep some sort OLE-based imports because our customers still use Excel quite heavily.
>
>I am trying to find the most economical way to support this Excel COM-basyed dependency. Well I reckon I'll purchase a couple of Office365 license for this year and possibly next year as well! Rent not buy. As for real estate, when you intend to relocate, renting possibly the best choice:-)

You might want to experiment with https://github.com/ggreen86/XLXS-Workbook-Class . In my limited experience it's fairly comprehensive, it may do what you need without requiring Excel at all.