Issue starting out with xlwings - AttributeError: Excel.Application.Workbooks - xlwings

Question

I was trying to use the package xlwings and ran into a simple error right from the start. I was able to run the example files they provided here without any major issues (except for multiple Excel books opening up upon running the code) but as soon as I tried to execute code via IPython I got the error AttributeError: Excel.Application.Workbooks. Specifically I ran:
from xlwings import Workbook, Sheet, Range, Chart
wb = Workbook()
Range('A1').value = 'Foo 1'
and got
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AttributeError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-7-7436ba97d05d> in <module>()
1 from xlwings import Workbook, Sheet, Range, Chart
----> 2 wb = Workbook()
3 Range('A1').value = 'Foo 1'
PATH\xlwings\main.pyc in __init__(self, fullname, xl_workbook, app_visible)
139 else:
140 # Open Excel if necessary and create a new workbook
--> 141 self.xl_app, self.xl_workbook = xlplatform.new_workbook()
142
143 self.name = xlplatform.get_workbook_name(self.xl_workbook)
PATH\xlwings\_xlwindows.pyc in new_workbook()
103 def new_workbook():
104 xl_app = _get_latest_app()
--> 105 xl_workbook = xl_app.Workbooks.Add()
106 return xl_app, xl_workbook
107
PATH\win32com\client\dynamic.pyc in __getattr__(self, attr)
520
521 # no where else to look.
--> 522 raise AttributeError("%s.%s" % (self._username_, attr))
523
524 def __setattr__(self, attr, value):
AttributeError: Excel.Application.Workbooks
I noticed the examples have a .xlxm file already present in the folder with the python code. Does the python code only ever work if it's in the same location as an existing Excel file? Does this mean it can't create Excel files automatically? Apologies if this is basic.