my $Excel = Win32::OLE->new('Excel.Application', 'Quit'); my $workbook = $Excel->Workbooks->OpenXML("someNameHere"); # open file # some code here, only _reading_ from that workbook $Excel->{DisplayAlerts} = 0; # 1. not required for Excel 2013 $workbook->{Saved} = 1; # 2. not required for Excel 2013 $workbook->close(0); $Excel->Workbooks->Close();