diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8b31cfb3a8893155e942ec66a8531b1cee2471ee..8902af8c2f03b4e5972beeb85fbf4cc05d66d730 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ def setup_package():
         author_email='h.tomwoerden@indiscale.com',
         install_requires=["caosdb>=0.4.0",
                           "openpyxl>=3.0.0",
-                          "xlrd>=1.2.0",
+                          "xlrd==1.2.0",
                           ],
         packages=find_packages('src'),
         package_dir={'': 'src'},
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index e40e0ad367fb7d909363b6f376734e3c923b9f11..3d7f652203ed0caf9cdfaebbb159784e6f9b2835 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tox]
-envlist=py36, py37, py38
+envlist=py36, py37, py38, py39
 skip_missing_interpreters = true
 [testenv]
 deps=nose
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ deps=nose
     pytest
     pytest-cov
     openpyxl
-    xlrd
+    xlrd == 1.2
 commands=py.test --cov=caosadvancedtools -vv {posargs}