The de-facto method to install python third party packages is via pip
In general you should prefer using pip to install packages.
If you use python 3.4.x and up, you already have pip. Otherwise, you need to install it.
To install pip on windows:
1. Copy the get-pip.py script from here https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
2. In Command Prompt, execute:
python get-pip.py
3. Add the scripts directory, from you python install location, in PATH (if not already there).
To install pip on linux, use your package manager.
For exemple, on Debian derived distributions (such as ubuntu), execute from a terminal:
sudo apt-get install pip
pip install --upgrade pip
After you installed pip, you can install every package on pypi (https://pypi.python.org/pypi) as following:
pip install your_package_name
In your case, execute:
pip install xlrd
This will automatically download and install that package.
The advantage is that once you have pip installed, you don't need to manually search, download the third-party packages, unpack them and install them. You just need to execute only one command in the command prompt/terminal.
Note: you have to manually install pip only once. After that, you can always use pip to upgrade itself to the latest version by executing:
pip install --upgrade pip
More info aput pip:
https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/
Good luck.
Edited by gonerogue, 25 October 2014 - 07:03 AM.