Hi Chris,
It's possible to query Excel files. Excel and Automate will need to be the same bit-version and you'll need to install the MS Access Database Engine. You can then use the "SQL Query" action in Automate and select the "Connection String" type option.
You can find connection strings here (look under the "Microsoft ACE OLEDB" section for Excel).
Here's an example step i was able to use to query a XLSX file: