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My experience is that open-source implementations like LibreOffice have much better support for the older file formats. docx/xlsx/etc may be a "zip of XML files

My experience is that open-source implementations like LibreOffice have much better support for the older file formats. docx/xlsx/etc may be a "zip of XML files" but it doesn't really matter if the original data is stored as XML or a blob when it comes to the end user's rendering experience -- it's about how the system can interpret that data. And the interpretations of the new file formats are mostly severely lacking.

krschultz 14y ago
The newest versions of LibreOffice are a lot better at handling xlsx, and it is getting better all the time. I still see some issues, but lately I have had a much better time importing.
BrianEatWorld 14y ago
To be fair, isn't Libre is also pretty terrible at handling more basic formats like csvs? I still have yet to find a good workaround for the "numbers as text" issue aside from switching to tsvs.
- maxerickson 14y ago
  What do you mean by good workaround? Specifying that the column is text during the import at least gets the data into the sheet.
  - BrianEatWorld 14y ago
    Yes, it gets data into the sheet, but means that you need extra steps to run calculations. There is no option to specify the column as a number during the import phase. So what takes one step in Excel takes a minimum of two in Libre.
    - maxerickson 14y ago
      I thought you were worried about leading zeros or something. In calc 4.0 on XP, I can choose from a few options for each column and the default (called "Standard") results in a column that I can use in calculations (if I highlight the cells it shows the sum, in formulas, etc.). If I specify the column is "Text", leading zeros are retained.
npsimons 14y ago
Very much this. Sometimes, I don't want (or can't) open OO.org, I just want to be able to get a quick glimpse in Emacs (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnXls http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnXls) or mutt of a simple table of data someone sent me, but so far there are no quick CLI tools (that I've found) to do this. It almost feels as if Microsoft said "hmm, all these free software products can open our files, but they're still complaining about open file formats; how can we abuse our monopoly even more and guarantee that some truly open standard doesn't get mandated?" and thus was born docx, xlsx, pptx, etc.

krschultz 14y ago

The newest versions of LibreOffice are a lot better at handling xlsx, and it is getting better all the time. I still see some issues, but lately I have had a much better time importing.

BrianEatWorld 14y ago

To be fair, isn't Libre is also pretty terrible at handling more basic formats like csvs? I still have yet to find a good workaround for the "numbers as text" issue aside from switching to tsvs.

maxerickson 14y ago
What do you mean by good workaround? Specifying that the column is text during the import at least gets the data into the sheet.
- BrianEatWorld 14y ago
  Yes, it gets data into the sheet, but means that you need extra steps to run calculations. There is no option to specify the column as a number during the import phase. So what takes one step in Excel takes a minimum of two in Libre.
  - maxerickson 14y ago
    I thought you were worried about leading zeros or something. In calc 4.0 on XP, I can choose from a few options for each column and the default (called "Standard") results in a column that I can use in calculations (if I highlight the cells it shows the sum, in formulas, etc.). If I specify the column is "Text", leading zeros are retained.

npsimons 14y ago

Very much this. Sometimes, I don't want (or can't) open OO.org, I just want to be able to get a quick glimpse in Emacs (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnXls http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnXls) or mutt of a simple table of data someone sent me, but so far there are no quick CLI tools (that I've found) to do this. It almost feels as if Microsoft said "hmm, all these free software products can open our files, but they're still complaining about open file formats; how can we abuse our monopoly even more and guarantee that some truly open standard doesn't get mandated?" and thus was born docx, xlsx, pptx, etc.