What is the file format for microsoft excel

A simple bar graph being created in Excel, running on Windows 11
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	November 19, 1987; 35 years ago
Stable release	2103 (16.0.13901.20400) / April 13, 2021; 23 months ago[1]
Written in	C++ (back-end)[2]
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Trialware[3]
Website	microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel

Excel for Mac (version 16.67), running on macOS Big Sur 11.5.2
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	September 30, 1985; 37 years ago
Stable release	16.70 (Build 23021201) / February 14, 2023; 54 days ago[4]
Written in	C++ (back-end), Objective-C (API/UI)[2]
Operating system	macOS
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/mac

Excel for Android running on Android 13
Developer(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Stable release	16.0.14729.20146 / December 22, 2021; 15 months ago[5]
Operating system	Android Oreo and later
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/en-us/excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Excel forms part of the Microsoft 365 suite of software.

Features

Basic operation

Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets,^[7] using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering, and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors for different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager).^[8] A PivotTable is a tool for data analysis. It does this by simplifying large data sets via PivotTable fields. It has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics,^[9][10] and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. It also has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer,^[11] or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports.^[12][13] In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule,^[14] analyze the results, make a Word report or PowerPoint slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants. Excel was not designed to be used as a database.^{[citation needed]}

Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.^[15]

Functions

Excel 2016 has 484 functions.^[16] Of these, 360 existed prior to Excel 2010. Microsoft classifies these functions in 14 categories. Of the 484 current functions, 386 may be called from VBA as methods of the object «WorksheetFunction»^[17] and 44 have the same names as VBA functions.^[18]

With the introduction of LAMBDA, Excel will become Turing complete.^[19]

Macro programming

VBA programming

The Windows version of Excel supports programming through Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a dialect of Visual Basic. Programming with VBA allows spreadsheet manipulation that is awkward or impossible with standard spreadsheet techniques. Programmers may write code directly using the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), which includes a window for writing code, debugging code, and code module organization environment. The user can implement numerical methods as well as automating tasks such as formatting or data organization in VBA^[20] and guide the calculation using any desired intermediate results reported back to the spreadsheet.

VBA was removed from Mac Excel 2008, as the developers did not believe that a timely release would allow porting the VBA engine natively to Mac OS X. VBA was restored in the next version, Mac Excel 2011,^[21] although the build lacks support for ActiveX objects, impacting some high level developer tools.^[22]

A common and easy way to generate VBA code is by using the Macro Recorder.^[23] The Macro Recorder records actions of the user and generates VBA code in the form of a macro. These actions can then be repeated automatically by running the macro. The macros can also be linked to different trigger types like keyboard shortcuts, a command button or a graphic. The actions in the macro can be executed from these trigger types or from the generic toolbar options. The VBA code of the macro can also be edited in the VBE. Certain features such as loop functions and screen prompt by their own properties, and some graphical display items, cannot be recorded but must be entered into the VBA module directly by the programmer. Advanced users can employ user prompts to create an interactive program, or react to events such as sheets being loaded or changed.

Macro Recorded code may not be compatible with Excel versions. Some code that is used in Excel 2010 cannot be used in Excel 2003. Making a Macro that changes the cell colors and making changes to other aspects of cells may not be backward compatible.

VBA code interacts with the spreadsheet through the Excel Object Model,^[24] a vocabulary identifying spreadsheet objects, and a set of supplied functions or methods that enable reading and writing to the spreadsheet and interaction with its users (for example, through custom toolbars or command bars and message boxes). User-created VBA subroutines execute these actions and operate like macros generated using the macro recorder, but are more flexible and efficient.

History

From its first version Excel supported end-user programming of macros (automation of repetitive tasks) and user-defined functions (extension of Excel’s built-in function library). In early versions of Excel, these programs were written in a macro language whose statements had formula syntax and resided in the cells of special-purpose macro sheets (stored with file extension .XLM in Windows.) XLM was the default macro language for Excel through Excel 4.0.^[25] Beginning with version 5.0 Excel recorded macros in VBA by default but with version 5.0 XLM recording was still allowed as an option. After version 5.0 that option was discontinued. All versions of Excel, including Excel 2021 are capable of running an XLM macro, though Microsoft discourages their use.^[26]

Charts

Excel supports charts, graphs, or histograms generated from specified groups of cells. It also supports Pivot Charts that allow for a chart to be linked directly to a Pivot table. This allows the chart to be refreshed with the Pivot Table. The generated graphic component can either be embedded within the current sheet or added as a separate object.

These displays are dynamically updated if the content of cells changes. For example, suppose that the important design requirements are displayed visually; then, in response to a user’s change in trial values for parameters, the curves describing the design change shape, and their points of intersection shift, assisting the selection of the best design.

Add-ins

Additional features are available using add-ins. Several are provided with Excel, including:

• Analysis ToolPak: Provides data analysis tools for statistical and engineering analysis (includes analysis of variance and regression analysis)
• Analysis ToolPak VBA: VBA functions for Analysis ToolPak
• Euro Currency Tools: Conversion and formatting for euro currency
• Solver Add-In: Tools for optimization and equation solving

Data storage and communication

Number of rows and columns

Versions of Excel up to 7.0 had a limitation in the size of their data sets of 16K (2¹⁴ = 16384) rows. Versions 8.0 through 11.0 could handle 64K (2¹⁶ = 65536) rows and 256 columns (2⁸ as label ‘IV’). Version 12.0 onwards, including the current Version 16.x, can handle over 1M (2²⁰ = 1048576) rows, and 16384 (2¹⁴, labeled as column ‘XFD’) columns.^[27]

File formats

Microsoft Excel up until 2007 version used a proprietary binary file format called Excel Binary File Format (.XLS) as its primary format.^[28] Excel 2007 uses Office Open XML as its primary file format, an XML-based format that followed after a previous XML-based format called «XML Spreadsheet» («XMLSS»), first introduced in Excel 2002.^[29]

Although supporting and encouraging the use of new XML-based formats as replacements, Excel 2007 remained backwards-compatible with the traditional, binary formats. In addition, most versions of Microsoft Excel can read CSV, DBF, SYLK, DIF, and other legacy formats. Support for some older file formats was removed in Excel 2007.^[30] The file formats were mainly from DOS-based programs.

Binary

OpenOffice.org has created documentation of the Excel format. Two epochs of the format exist: the 97-2003 OLE format, and the older stream format.^[31] Microsoft has made the Excel binary format specification available to freely download.^[32]

XML Spreadsheet

The XML Spreadsheet format introduced in Excel 2002^[29] is a simple, XML based format missing some more advanced features like storage of VBA macros. Though the intended file extension for this format is .xml, the program also correctly handles XML files with .xls extension. This feature is widely used by third-party applications (e.g. MySQL Query Browser) to offer «export to Excel» capabilities without implementing binary file format. The following example will be correctly opened by Excel if saved either as Book1.xml or Book1.xls:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
 <Worksheet ss:Name="Sheet1">
  <Table ss:ExpandedColumnCount="2" ss:ExpandedRowCount="2" x:FullColumns="1" x:FullRows="1">
   <Row>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Name</Data></Cell>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Example</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
   <Row>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Value</Data></Cell>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="Number">123</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
  </Table>
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

Current file extensions

Microsoft Excel 2007, along with the other products in the Microsoft Office 2007 suite, introduced new file formats. The first of these (.xlsx) is defined in the Office Open XML (OOXML) specification.

Old file extensions

Using other Windows applications

Windows applications such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word, as well as Excel can communicate with each other and use each other’s capabilities. The most common are Dynamic Data Exchange: although strongly deprecated by Microsoft, this is a common method to send data between applications running on Windows, with official MS publications referring to it as «the protocol from hell».^[34] As the name suggests, it allows applications to supply data to others for calculation and display. It is very common in financial markets, being used to connect to important financial data services such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

OLE Object Linking and Embedding allows a Windows application to control another to enable it to format or calculate data. This may take on the form of «embedding» where an application uses another to handle a task that it is more suited to, for example a PowerPoint presentation may be embedded in an Excel spreadsheet or vice versa.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Using external data

Excel users can access external data sources via Microsoft Office features such as (for example) .odc connections built with the Office Data Connection file format. Excel files themselves may be updated using a Microsoft supplied ODBC driver.

Excel can accept data in real-time through several programming interfaces, which allow it to communicate with many data sources such as Bloomberg and Reuters (through addins such as Power Plus Pro).

• DDE: «Dynamic Data Exchange» uses the message passing mechanism in Windows to allow data to flow between Excel and other applications. Although it is easy for users to create such links, programming such links reliably is so difficult that Microsoft, the creators of the system, officially refer to it as «the protocol from hell».^[34] In spite of its many issues DDE remains the most common way for data to reach traders in financial markets.
• Network DDE Extended the protocol to allow spreadsheets on different computers to exchange data. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer supports the facility.^[39]
• Real Time Data: RTD although in many ways technically superior to DDE, has been slow to gain acceptance, since it requires non-trivial programming skills, and when first released was neither adequately documented nor supported by the major data vendors.^[40][41]

Alternatively, Microsoft Query provides ODBC-based browsing within Microsoft Excel.^[42][43][44]

Export and migration of spreadsheets

Programmers have produced APIs to open Excel spreadsheets in a variety of applications and environments other than Microsoft Excel. These include opening Excel documents on the web using either ActiveX controls, or plugins like the Adobe Flash Player. The Apache POI opensource project provides Java libraries for reading and writing Excel spreadsheet files.

Password protection

Microsoft Excel protection offers several types of passwords:

• Password to open a document^[45]
• Password to modify a document^[46]
• Password to unprotect the worksheet
• Password to protect workbook
• Password to protect the sharing workbook^[47]

All passwords except password to open a document can be removed instantly regardless of the Microsoft Excel version used to create the document. These types of passwords are used primarily for shared work on a document. Such password-protected documents are not encrypted, and a data sources from a set password is saved in a document’s header. Password to protect workbook is an exception – when it is set, a document is encrypted with the standard password «VelvetSweatshop», but since it is known to the public, it actually does not add any extra protection to the document. The only type of password that can prevent a trespasser from gaining access to a document is password to open a document. The cryptographic strength of this kind of protection depends strongly on the Microsoft Excel version that was used to create the document.

In Microsoft Excel 95 and earlier versions, the password to open is converted to a 16-bit key that can be instantly cracked. In Excel 97/2000 the password is converted to a 40-bit key, which can also be cracked very quickly using modern equipment. As regards services that use rainbow tables (e.g. Password-Find), it takes up to several seconds to remove protection. In addition, password-cracking programs can brute-force attack passwords at a rate of hundreds of thousands of passwords a second, which not only lets them decrypt a document but also find the original password.

In Excel 2003/XP the encryption is slightly better – a user can choose any encryption algorithm that is available in the system (see Cryptographic Service Provider). Due to the CSP, an Excel file cannot be decrypted, and thus the password to open cannot be removed, though the brute-force attack speed remains quite high. Nevertheless, the older Excel 97/2000 algorithm is set by the default. Therefore, users who do not change the default settings lack reliable protection of their documents.

The situation changed fundamentally in Excel 2007, where the modern AES algorithm with a key of 128 bits started being used for decryption, and a 50,000-fold use of the hash function SHA1 reduced the speed of brute-force attacks down to hundreds of passwords per second. In Excel 2010, the strength of the protection by the default was increased two times due to the use of a 100,000-fold SHA1 to convert a password to a key.

Other platforms

Excel for mobile

Excel Mobile is a spreadsheet program that can edit XLSX files. It can edit and format text in cells, calculate formulas, search within the spreadsheet, sort rows and columns, freeze panes, filter the columns, add comments, and create charts. It cannot add columns or rows except at the edge of the document, rearrange columns or rows, delete rows or columns, or add spreadsheet tabs.^{[48][49][50][51][52][53]} The 2007 version has the ability to use a full-screen mode to deal with limited screen resolution, as well as split panes to view different parts of a worksheet at one time.^[51] Protection settings, zoom settings, autofilter settings, certain chart formatting, hidden sheets, and other features are not supported on Excel Mobile, and will be modified upon opening and saving a workbook.^[52] In 2015, Excel Mobile became available for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile on Windows Store.^[54][55]

Excel for the web

Excel for the web is a free lightweight version of Microsoft Excel available as part of Office on the web, which also includes web versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Excel for the web can display most of the features available in the desktop versions of Excel, although it may not be able to insert or edit them. Certain data connections are not accessible on Excel for the web, including with charts that may use these external connections. Excel for the web also cannot display legacy features, such as Excel 4.0 macros or Excel 5.0 dialog sheets. There are also small differences between how some of the Excel functions work.^[56]

Microsoft Excel Viewer

Microsoft Excel Viewer was a freeware program for Microsoft Windows for viewing and printing spreadsheet documents created by Excel.^[57] Microsoft retired the viewer in April 2018 with the last security update released in February 2019 for Excel Viewer 2007 (SP3).^[58][59]

The first version released by Microsoft was Excel 97 Viewer.^[60][61] Excel 97 Viewer was supported in Windows CE for Handheld PCs.^[62] In October 2004, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2003.^[63] In September 2007, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3).^[64] In January 2008, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 (featuring a non-collapsible Ribbon interface).^[65] In April 2009, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2).^[66] In October 2011, Microsoft released Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3).^[67]

Microsoft advises to view and print Excel files for free to use the Excel Mobile application for Windows 10 and for Windows 7 and Windows 8 to upload the file to OneDrive and use Excel for the web with a Microsoft account to open them in a browser.^[58][68]

Quirks

In addition to issues with spreadsheets in general, other problems specific to Excel include numeric precision, misleading statistics functions, mod function errors, date limitations and more.

Numeric precision

Despite the use of 15-figure precision, Excel can display many more figures (up to thirty) upon user request. But the displayed figures are not those actually used in its computations, and so, for example, the difference of two numbers may differ from the difference of their displayed values. Although such departures are usually beyond the 15th decimal, exceptions do occur, especially for very large or very small numbers. Serious errors can occur if decisions are made based upon automated comparisons of numbers (for example, using the Excel If function), as equality of two numbers can be unpredictable.^{[citation needed]}

In the figure, the fraction 1/9000 is displayed in Excel. Although this number has a decimal representation that is an infinite string of ones, Excel displays only the leading 15 figures. In the second line, the number one is added to the fraction, and again Excel displays only 15 figures. In the third line, one is subtracted from the sum using Excel. Because the sum in the second line has only eleven 1’s after the decimal, the difference when 1 is subtracted from this displayed value is three 0’s followed by a string of eleven 1’s. However, the difference reported by Excel in the third line is three 0’s followed by a string of thirteen 1’s and two extra erroneous digits. This is because Excel calculates with about half a digit more than it displays.

Excel works with a modified 1985 version of the IEEE 754 specification.^[69] Excel’s implementation involves conversions between binary and decimal representations, leading to accuracy that is on average better than one would expect from simple fifteen digit precision, but that can be worse. See the main article for details.

Besides accuracy in user computations, the question of accuracy in Excel-provided functions may be raised. Particularly in the arena of statistical functions, Excel has been criticized for sacrificing accuracy for speed of calculation.^[70][71]

As many calculations in Excel are executed using VBA, an additional issue is the accuracy of VBA, which varies with variable type and user-requested precision.^[72]

Statistical functions

The accuracy and convenience of statistical tools in Excel has been criticized,^{[73][74][75][76][77]} as mishandling missing data, as returning incorrect values due to inept handling of round-off and large numbers, as only selectively updating calculations on a spreadsheet when some cell values are changed, and as having a limited set of statistical tools. Microsoft has announced some of these issues are addressed in Excel 2010.^[78]

Excel MOD function error

Excel has issues with modulo operations. In the case of excessively large results, Excel will return the error warning #NUM! instead of an answer.^[79]

Fictional leap day in the year 1900

Excel includes February 29, 1900, incorrectly treating 1900 as a leap year, even though e.g. 2100 is correctly treated as a non-leap year.^[80][81] The bug originated from Lotus 1-2-3 (deliberately implemented to save computer memory), and was also purposely implemented in Excel, for the purpose of bug compatibility.^[82] This legacy has later been carried over into Office Open XML file format.^[83]

Thus a (not necessarily whole) number greater than or equal to 61 interpreted as a date and time are the (real) number of days after December 30, 1899, 0:00, a non-negative number less than 60 is the number of days after December 31, 1899, 0:00, and numbers with whole part 60 represent the fictional day.

Date range

Excel supports dates with years in the range 1900–9999, except that December 31, 1899, can be entered as 0 and is displayed as 0-jan-1900.

Converting a fraction of a day into hours, minutes and days by treating it as a moment on the day January 1, 1900, does not work for a negative fraction.^[84]

Conversion problems

Entering text that happens to be in a form that is interpreted as a date, the text can be unintentionally changed to a standard date format. A similar problem occurs when a text happens to be in the form of a floating-point notation of a number. In these cases the original exact text cannot be recovered from the result. Formatting the cell as TEXT before entering ambiguous text prevents Excel from converting to a date.

This issue has caused a well known problem in the analysis of DNA, for example in bioinformatics. As first reported in 2004,^[85] genetic scientists found that Excel automatically and incorrectly converts certain gene names into dates. A follow-up study in 2016 found many peer reviewed scientific journal papers had been affected and that «Of the selected journals, the proportion of published articles with Excel files containing gene lists that are affected by gene name errors is 19.6 %.»^[86] Excel parses the copied and pasted data and sometimes changes them depending on what it thinks they are. For example, MARCH1 (Membrane Associated Ring-CH-type finger 1) gets converted to the date March 1 (1-Mar) and SEPT2 (Septin 2) is converted into September 2 (2-Sep) etc.^[87] While some secondary news sources^[88] reported this as a fault with Excel, the original authors of the 2016 paper placed the blame with the researchers misusing Excel.^[86][89]

In August 2020 the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) published new guidelines in the journal Nature regarding gene naming in order to avoid issues with «symbols that affect data handling and retrieval.» So far 27 genes have been renamed, including changing MARCH1 to MARCHF1 and SEPT1 to SEPTIN1 in order to avoid accidental conversion of the gene names into dates.^[90]

Errors with large strings

The following functions return incorrect results when passed a string longer than 255 characters:^[91]

• type() incorrectly returns 16, meaning «Error value»
• IsText(), when called as a method of the VBA object WorksheetFunction (i.e., WorksheetFunction.IsText() in VBA), incorrectly returns «false».

Filenames

Microsoft Excel will not open two documents with the same name and instead will display the following error:

A document with the name ‘%s’ is already open. You cannot open two documents with the same name, even if the documents are in different folders. To open the second document, either close the document that is currently open, or rename one of the documents.^[92]

The reason is for calculation ambiguity with linked cells. If there is a cell ='[Book1.xlsx]Sheet1'!$G$33, and there are two books named «Book1» open, there is no way to tell which one the user means.^[93]

Versions

Early history

Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982. Multiplan became very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Macintosh on September 30, 1985, and the first Windows version was 2.05 (to synchronize with the Macintosh version 2.2) on November 19, 1987.^[94][95] Lotus was slow to bring 1-2-3 to Windows and by the early 1990s, Excel had started to outsell 1-2-3 and helped Microsoft achieve its position as a leading PC software developer. This accomplishment solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software. Microsoft maintained its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so.

Microsoft Windows

Excel 2.0 is the first version of Excel for the Intel platform. Versions prior to 2.0 were only available on the Apple Macintosh.

Excel 2.0 (1987)

The first Windows version was labeled «2» to correspond to the Mac version. It was announced on October 6, 1987, and released on November 19.^[96] This included a run-time version of Windows.^[97]

BYTE in 1989 listed Excel for Windows as among the «Distinction» winners of the BYTE Awards. The magazine stated that the port of the «extraordinary» Macintosh version «shines», with a user interface as good as or better than the original.

Excel 3.0 (1990)

Included toolbars, drawing capabilities, outlining, add-in support, 3D charts, and many more new features.^[97]

Excel 4.0 (1992)

Introduced auto-fill.^[98]

Also, an easter egg in Excel 4.0 reveals a hidden animation of a dancing set of numbers 1 through 3, representing Lotus 1-2-3, which is then crushed by an Excel logo.^[99]

Excel 5.0 (1993)

With version 5.0, Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user-defined functions (UDF) for use in worksheets. VBA includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE). Macro recording can produce VBA code replicating user actions, thus allowing simple automation of regular tasks. VBA allows the creation of forms and in‑worksheet controls to communicate with the user. The language supports use (but not creation) of ActiveX (COM) DLL’s; later versions add support for class modules allowing the use of basic object-oriented programming techniques.

The automation functionality provided by VBA made Excel a target for macro viruses. This caused serious problems until antivirus products began to detect these viruses. Microsoft belatedly took steps to prevent the misuse by adding the ability to disable macros completely, to enable macros when opening a workbook or to trust all macros signed using a trusted certificate.

Versions 5.0 to 9.0 of Excel contain various Easter eggs, including a «Hall of Tortured Souls», a Doom-like minigame, although since version 10 Microsoft has taken measures to eliminate such undocumented features from their products.^[100]

5.0 was released in a 16-bit x86 version for Windows 3.1 and later in a 32-bit version for NT 3.51 (x86/Alpha/PowerPC)

Excel 95 (v7.0)

Released in 1995 with Microsoft Office for Windows 95, this is the first major version after Excel 5.0, as there is no Excel 6.0 with all of the Office applications standardizing on the same major version number.

Internal rewrite to 32-bits. Almost no external changes, but faster and more stable.

Excel 95 contained a hidden Doom-like mini-game called «The Hall of Tortured Souls», a series of rooms featuring the names and faces of the developers as an easter egg.^[101]

Excel 97 (v8.0)

Included in Office 97 (for x86 and Alpha). This was a major upgrade that introduced the paper clip office assistant and featured standard VBA used instead of internal Excel Basic. It introduced the now-removed Natural Language labels.

This version of Excel includes a flight simulator as an Easter Egg.

Excel 2000 (v9.0)

Included in Office 2000. This was a minor upgrade but introduced an upgrade to the clipboard where it can hold multiple objects at once. The Office Assistant, whose frequent unsolicited appearance in Excel 97 had annoyed many users, became less intrusive.

A small 3-D game called «Dev Hunter» (inspired by Spy Hunter) was included as an easter egg.^[102][103]

Excel 2002 (v10.0)

Included in Office XP. Very minor enhancements.

Excel 2003 (v11.0)

Included in Office 2003. Minor enhancements.

Excel 2007 (v12.0)

Included in Office 2007. This release was a major upgrade from the previous version. Similar to other updated Office products, Excel in 2007 used the new Ribbon menu system. This was different from what users were used to, and was met with mixed reactions. One study reported fairly good acceptance by users except highly experienced users and users of word processing applications with a classical WIMP interface, but was less convinced in terms of efficiency and organization.^[104] However, an online survey reported that a majority of respondents had a negative opinion of the change, with advanced users being «somewhat more negative» than intermediate users, and users reporting a self-estimated reduction in productivity.

Added functionality included Tables,^[105] and the SmartArt set of editable business diagrams. Also added was an improved management of named variables through the Name Manager, and much-improved flexibility in formatting graphs, which allow (x, y) coordinate labeling and lines of arbitrary weight. Several improvements to pivot tables were introduced.

Also like other office products, the Office Open XML file formats were introduced, including .xlsm for a workbook with macros and .xlsx for a workbook without macros.^[106]

Specifically, many of the size limitations of previous versions were greatly increased. To illustrate, the number of rows was now 1,048,576 (2²⁰) and columns was 16,384 (2¹⁴; the far-right column is XFD). This changes what is a valid A1 reference versus a named range. This version made more extensive use of multiple cores for the calculation of spreadsheets; however, VBA macros are not handled in parallel and XLL add‑ins were only executed in parallel if they were thread-safe and this was indicated at registration.

Excel 2010 (v14.0)

Included in Office 2010, this is the next major version after v12.0, as version number 13 was skipped.

Minor enhancements and 64-bit support,^[107] including the following:

• Multi-threading recalculation (MTR) for commonly used functions
• Improved pivot tables
• More conditional formatting options
• Additional image editing capabilities
• In-cell charts called sparklines
• Ability to preview before pasting
• Office 2010 backstage feature for document-related tasks
• Ability to customize the Ribbon
• Many new formulas, most highly specialized to improve accuracy^[108]

Excel 2013 (v15.0)

Included in Office 2013, along with a lot of new tools included in this release:

• Improved Multi-threading and Memory Contention
• FlashFill^[109]
• Power View^[110]
• Power Pivot^[111]
• Timeline Slicer
• Windows App
• Inquire^[112]
• 50 new functions^[113]

Excel 2016 (v16.0)

Included in Office 2016, along with a lot of new tools included in this release:

• Power Query integration
• Read-only mode for Excel
• Keyboard access for Pivot Tables and Slicers in Excel
• New Chart Types
• Quick data linking in Visio
• Excel forecasting functions
• Support for multiselection of Slicer items using touch
• Time grouping and Pivot Chart Drill Down
• Excel data cards^[114]

Excel 2019, Excel 2021, Office 365 and subsequent (v16.0)

Microsoft no longer releases Office or Excel in discrete versions. Instead, features are introduced automatically over time using Windows Update. The version number remains 16.0. Thereafter only the approximate dates when features appear can now be given.

• Dynamic Arrays. These are essentially Array Formulas but they «Spill» automatically into neighboring cells and does not need the ctrl-shift-enter to create them. Further, dynamic arrays are the default format, with new «@» and «#» operators to provide compatibility with previous versions. This is perhaps the biggest structural change since 2007, and is in response to a similar feature in Google Sheets. Dynamic arrays started appearing in pre-releases about 2018, and as of March 2020 are available in published versions of Office 365 provided a user selected «Office Insiders».

Apple Macintosh

• 1985 Excel 1.0
• 1988 Excel 1.5
• 1989 Excel 2.2
• 1990 Excel 3.0
• 1992 Excel 4.0
• 1993 Excel 5.0 (part of Office 4.x—Final Motorola 680×0 version^[115] and first PowerPC version)
• 1998 Excel 8.0 (part of Office 98)
• 2000 Excel 9.0 (part of Office 2001)
• 2001 Excel 10.0 (part of Office v. X)
• 2004 Excel 11.0 (part of Office 2004)
• 2008 Excel 12.0 (part of Office 2008)
• 2010 Excel 14.0 (part of Office 2011)
• 2015 Excel 15.0 (part of Office 2016—Office 2016 for Mac brings the Mac version much closer to parity with its Windows cousin, harmonizing many of the reporting and high-level developer functions, while bringing the ribbon and styling into line with its PC counterpart.)^[116]

OS/2

• 1989 Excel 2.2
• 1990 Excel 2.3
• 1991 Excel 3.0

Summary

Impact

Excel offers many user interface tweaks over the earliest electronic spreadsheets; however, the essence remains the same as in the original spreadsheet software, VisiCalc: the program displays cells organized in rows and columns, and each cell may contain data or a formula, with relative or absolute references to other cells.

Excel 2.0 for Windows, which was modeled after its Mac GUI-based counterpart, indirectly expanded the installed base of the then-nascent Windows environment. Excel 2.0 was released a month before Windows 2.0, and the installed base of Windows was so low at that point in 1987 that Microsoft had to bundle a runtime version of Windows 1.0 with Excel 2.0.^[117] Unlike Microsoft Word, there never was a DOS version of Excel.

Excel became the first spreadsheet to allow the user to define the appearance of spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes, and cell appearance). It also introduced intelligent cell re-computation, where only cells dependent on the cell being modified are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or waited for a specific user command). Excel introduced auto-fill, the ability to drag and expand the selection box to automatically copy a cell or row contents to adjacent cells or rows, adjusting the copies intelligently by automatically incrementing cell references or contents. Excel also introduced extensive graphing capabilities.

Security

Because Excel is widely used, it has been attacked by hackers. While Excel is not directly exposed to the Internet, if an attacker can get a victim to open a file in Excel, and there is an appropriate security bug in Excel, then the attacker can gain control of the victim’s computer.^[118] UK’s GCHQ has a tool named TORNADO ALLEY with this purpose.^[119][120]

Games

Besides the easter eggs, numerous games have been created or recreated in Excel, such as Tetris, 2048, Scrabble, Yahtzee, Angry Birds, Pac-Man, Civilization, Monopoly, Battleship, Blackjack, Space Invaders, and others.^{[121][122][123][124][125]}

In 2020, Excel became an esport with the advent of the Financial Modeling World Cup.^[126]

See also

• Comparison of spreadsheet software
• Numbers (spreadsheet)—the iWork equivalent
• Spreadmart
• Financial Modeling World Cup, online esport financial modelling competition using Excel

References

References

• Bullen, Stephen; Bovey, Rob; Green, John (2009). Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel and VBA (2nd ed.). Boston: Addison Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-50879-9.
• Dodge, Mark; Stinson, Craig (2007). Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Inside Out. Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0-7356-2321-7.
• Billo, E. Joseph (2011). Excel for Chemists: A Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-38123-6.
• Gordon, Andy (January 25, 2021). «LAMBDA: The ultimate Excel worksheet function». microsoft.com. Microsoft. Retrieved April 23, 2021.

External links

• Microsoft Excel – official site

Microsoft created and released the spreadsheet program known as Excel. It comes from the Microsoft Office family of productivity programs. Excel groups data into columns and rows as opposed to a word processor like Microsoft Word. A cell is a location where rows and columns cross. Data, such as text, a number, or a formula, are contained in each cell. They might not be able to display every feature of a file, programs that are compatible with a file format can present an overview of a file. When we want to save our files, we will have numerous file formats including Excel workbooks, templates, etc. These file formats are divided into various types, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint presentations.

File formats in Excel are of various types, but to determine how many formats exist in Excel, we must follow the procedure outlined below: 

Step 1: Click on the file option at the top of the ribbon.

Step 2: Select the Save As option. The Workbook can be saved on local devices (like a computer) and the internet (e.g. OneDrive).

Step 3: Click on the option Browse and save as the dialog box opens. 

Step 4: Choose the Save As option and you will see a list of file formats. Depending on the type of active Worksheet in your Workbook, several file types will be displayed (Data Worksheet, Chart Worksheet, or another type of Worksheet).

Step 5: Select the desired file format by clicking.

Excel File Formats

Excel Workbook

Extension: .xlsx

Spreadsheet files were created using Excel version 2007 and later have this extension. Currently, the default file extension for Excel files is XLSX. XML is the foundation of the file format XSLX. With the aid of this technology, XSLX files are significantly lighter and smaller than XLS files, which immediately results in space savings. Excel documents may be downloaded or uploaded more quickly. The only drawback of this XSLX extension is that it cannot open files created before Excel 2007.

Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook

Extension: .xlsm

With Excel 2007 and later, including Excel macros, the spreadsheet produces files with this suffix. It’s simple to deduce that a file contains a macro with the aid of an extension. This version was created for security purposes to prevent computer viruses, harmful macros, infecting machines, etc. from accessing a file. When it comes to security and macros, this file extension is quite dependable.

Excel Binary Workbook

Extension: .xlsb

When it comes to compressing, storing, opening, etc., this file extension type completely supports excel files that include a lot of data or information. It takes a lot of time to open and process an excel file with a lot of data. It occasionally hangs while opening and regularly crashes.

Template

Extension: .xltx

A template made by the spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel, part of the Microsoft Office family, is known as an XLTX file. It has predetermined layout options that may be used to produce several Excel spreadsheets (typically.XLSX files) with the same formatting and characteristics. XLTX files that give you a head start when making spreadsheets like bills, calendars, and budget plans. Additionally, you may make unique templates using your spreadsheets.

Template (code)

Extension: .xltm

A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template with macro support is known as an XLTM file. It may also keep settings, spreadsheet data, and information about the layout in addition to one or more macros. When looking to generate several spreadsheets (primarily. XLSM) with the same data and style, Excel users save spreadsheets as XLTM files.
XLTX files and XLTM files are related. XLTM files, on the other hand, enable macros, which are collections of instructions that a user has organized so they may swiftly carry out a time-consuming or difficult operation, including formatting a document, inputting data, or conducting computations.

Excel Add-In

Extension: .xlam

The spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel, part of the Microsoft Office family, uses XLAM files, and add-ins that support macros. It is used in Excel to add new features and instructions. While some XLAM files are produced by Microsoft, others are produced by Excel users and third-party developers. Microsoft Excel users can add more features since different users use the program for various, specialized purposes. Users must install an XLAM file-based Excel add-in to add this functionality.

XML Spreadsheet 2003

Extension: .xml

A plain text document is an XML file, and to distinguish them, they are saved with the.xml file extension. The XML file format was created to convey data over the internet and can hold hundreds of entries in the computation. Either humans or machines can read it.. The majority of programming languages make use of XML libraries to do the parsing. Down-converting is the process of converting XML files to other required forms.

XML Data

Extension: .xml

Other description languages like RSS, DOCX format, XSL, and Microsoft don’t employ XML as a format. The text editor notepad++ can open this XML file natively. We need to have a few interactions with the various file organizations to manage the different file formats. The only organization that is required for data and web pages is XML. Next, you could double-click the browser—the file’s default viewer—on occasion to examine a file.

Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook

Extension: .xls

A spreadsheet file, known as an XLS file, can be produced by Microsoft Excel or exported by another spreadsheet application, like OpenOffice Calc or Apple Numbers. It includes one or more worksheets that store and present data as tables. The Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (XLS) binary format was introduced together with the initial 1987 version of Excel. Up to the introduction of Excel 2007, XLS files became one of the most used file formats for preserving spreadsheets. Microsoft replaced XLS files with the Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet (XLSX) format with this version. Excel spreadsheets are often saved in XLSX files.

Excel 4.0 Workbook

Extension: .xlw

Workspace files, which are saved in the well-known spreadsheet program Microsoft Excel, have the .xlw file extension. Workbook file references and screen locations are stored in files with the .xlw extension. When .xlw files are opened, the program can move them back to the spot on the screen where they were stored. .xlw files are essential for restoring layouts when a user is working on many workbooks at once. .xlw files only refer to workbook layouts on the screen, therefore they should not be mistaken for files that contain workbook data. These files are primarily utilized by Microsoft Excel 2010 and 2011, and users need to have all workbook files to correctly reopen these files.

Works 6.0-9.0 spreadsheet

Extension: .xlr

The file format specifications for XLR files were not made publicly available and were instead kept as binary files. Developers are consequently unable to examine the file system and create programs that read from and write to these files programmatically. The Works Spreadsheet saves data to.xlr files using the same Excel file format.

Text File Formats

Formatted Text (Space-delimited)

Extension: .prn

A PRN file is one that was made using the Print to File checkbox that may be found in several Windows Print dialogue boxes. A printer, fax machine, or other device utilizes it to print a document because it contains a set of device-specific instructions. Depending on the device the file was produced for, PRN files may include text or binary information.

Text (Tab-delimited)

Extension: .txt

An ordinary text document with simple text is known as a TXT file. Any text-editing or word-processing application may open and edit it. The most widely used text editors for producing TXT files are Apple TextEdit and Microsoft Notepad, which come pre-installed with Windows and macOS, respectively. TXT files are plain text files with very little to no formatting. They are utilized to manage manuscripts, detailed instructions, notes, and other text-based information.
When a user of TextEdit saves a document as a TXT file, those applications remove the document’s formatting (bolding, italicization, font style, alignment, etc.). Most users don’t store more complex text documents, including flyers, reports, letters, or resumes, as TXT files. Instead, they save them as other types of files.

Text (Macintosh)

Extension: .txt

This function guarantees that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are properly understood when a workbook is saved as a tab-delimited text file for usage on the Macintosh operating system. only saves the active sheet.

Text (MS-DOS)

Extension: .txt

Ensures that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are properly understood when saving a workbook as a tab-delimited text file for use on the MS-DOS operating system. only saves the active sheet.

DIF

Extension: .dif

Data interchange format, or DIF for short, is a widely accepted standard for exporting spreadsheets. Users can export data from a spreadsheet in a format that can be loaded by several other programs using DIF files. The format has the drawback of not supporting numerous spreadsheets. This indicates that just one spreadsheet may be stored in a DIF file. As a result, you will need to make numerous DIF files if you wish to export many spreadsheets in the DIF format.

Unicode Text

Extension: .txt

The workbook can be saved as Unicode text, a character encoding standard created by the Unicode Consortium.

SYLK

Extension: .slk

A file stored in the Symbolic Link (SYLK) format, developed by Microsoft to transmit data between spreadsheet applications and other databases, is referred to as an SLK file. It has semicolons between lines of text that describe the cell row, column, layout, and content. An ANSI text file format is used to hold SLK files. SYLK (Symbolic Link) codes, such “E,” which stands for an expression within a cell, are used to record complex formulae.

CSV (comma delimited)

Extension: .csv

The Comma Separated Value (CSV) file extension is frequently used to identify files in this format. An easy text format for a database table is a comma-separated values file. A row in the table is represented by one line in the CSV file. Fields from different table columns are separated inside the line by commas. The CSV file format is straightforward and is accepted by a wide range of software. Moving tabular data between two separate computer applications sometimes involves the usage of csv files.

CSV (Macintosh)

Extension: .csv

Ensures that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are properly understood when saving a workbook as a comma-delimited text file for usage on the Macintosh operating system. Only saves the active sheet.

CSV (MS-DOS)

Extension: .csv

Ensures that tab characters, line breaks, and other characters are properly understood when saving a workbook as a comma-delimited text file for use on the MS-DOS operating system. only saves the active sheet.

Other File Formats

PDF

Extension: .pdf

Format for Portable Documents (PDF). This file format allows file sharing and maintains document layout. The format that you intended is kept when the PDF file is printed or read online. The file’s data cannot be readily altered. For papers that will be printed using professional printing techniques, the PDF format is also beneficial. Note: Excel 2007 does not support this format.

Open document spreadsheet

Extension: .ods

The spreadsheet in OpenDocument. You can save Excel 2010 files so they can be opened in spreadsheet software like Google Docs and OpenOffice.org Calc which supports the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format. Additionally, Excel 2010 supports opening spreadsheets in the. ods format. When. ods, files are opened and saved, and formatting could be lost.

DBF 3, DBF 4

Extension: .dbf

The database management system program dBASE uses a standard database file called a DBF. It divides the information into several records with fields kept in an array data type. Due to the ubiquity of the file format, other “xBase” database tools are also compatible with DBF files. DBF files have been extensively embraced as a standard storage format for structured data in business applications due to their early adoption in the database community and a very simple file layout.

XPS Document

Extension: .xps

XML paper specification files are the ones with the .XPS suffix. These files have a predefined layout and are used to safeguard the accuracy of the data they contain. The sole distinction between them and the well-known PDF file format is the .XPS format’s usage of XML standards for its file structure. The data in your file may be read, shared, and modified using XPS files, which are simple to distribute online. It has become a well-liked substitute for the PDF file format as a result. Any software that runs on Windows and has printing capabilities may produce XPS files.

Probably 99% of all Excel workbooks are saved in the XLSX file type these days. But there are various other file extensions available: For example XLSM, XLSB or “older” Excel users might still remember the XLS file type. What are the differences of these file types? And even more important: Which one should you use?

When you save an Excel workbook for the first time or use the “Save As” function, you are asked for a folder, file name as well as the file type. By default, Excel suggests the XLSX file type (unless your file has VBA macros). The window looks similar to the screenshot on the right side.

So which file type are you going to use? The answer – like so often: It depends. Before we conclude in a decision tree, we we take a look at the most important file extensions in Excel with their advantages and disadvantages first.

XLSX

The “default” file extension is XLSX. The large majority of Excel workbooks uses this format these days. Microsoft says in the Excel help text about the XLSX file format:

The default XML-based file format for Excel 2007-2013. Cannot store Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro code […].

Most of the time you use the XLSX format: It’s save (can’t store malicious code), has the maximum number of rows and columns and is best known. XLSX is available since Excel 2007 and replaces the old XLS file type. It uses the open XML standard so which is documented well.

Knowing these quick facts, there are the following advantages and disadvantages for the XLSX file format:

XLS

The XLS file type has been the default Excel file extension and format before Excel 2007. In Excel 2007, XLSX replaced the XLS format. Therefore, XLS is kind of outdated right now. In the daily life you won’t find it often any more. But some data base tools still export data as XLS files.

The XLS file type has some disadvantages towards the newer file types XLSX or XLSM: It’s rather unsafe as it can contain VBA macros with malicious code. Also, it needs more disk space than the other file types and at the same time has less rows and columns.

On the other side the only advantage: You can easily open XLS files with older versions of Excel.

XLSM

If you include VBA macros in your XLSX file, you will be asked to change the file extension to XLSM. Only that way you can save your macro within the Excel file (there are other file types possible, e.g. XLSB – but you can’t use XLSX for VBA macros). Therefore, it has most of the advantages and disadvantages of the XLSX file type. Positive: You can immediately identify Excel files with VBA macros.

XLSB

Many people don’t know that there is an actual alternative to the XLSX and XLSM file type: The XLSB file extension. XLSB files store the data a little bit different than the XLSX or XLSM file types: They don’t use the XLM file structure. Instead, XLSB files try to save disk space because the data is stored in the binary structure. The main difference: Binary files are computer- but not human-readable. For more information on binary files in general, please refer to this Wikipedia entry.

The main disadvantage: Binary Excel files can contain VBA macros. So unless you don’t know the origin of a file, please consider well before opening them. Besides that: All the other disadvantages seem minor.

CSV

CSV stands for comma separated values. These files are basically plain text – so there are no formulas or formatting. CSV is often used for data exchange. Excel provides the functionality to import or even directly open CSV files.

The basic application for CSV files: Import or export data. Data base programs often export data as CSV files. Also if you want to transport Excel data into a database program, often the CSV file type works.

ODS

ODS stands for Open Document Spreadsheet. The file type is designed to work on both Excel and other applications, e.g. LibreOffice. From the Excel point of view, ODS doesn’t support all the features. Text and data is usually saved well though. But formatting and many other features (for example charts, tables, conditional formatting) might run into problems.

XLSX (Strict)

Besides the regular XLSX format, Excel offers to save your Excel workbook as “Strict Open XML Spreadsheet”. So what is the difference between those two? Basically, the two file types use the same structure. But:

The Strict variant has less support for backwards compatibility when converting documents from older formats.

Furthermore:

The Strict variant of XLSX disallows a variety of elements and attributes that are permitted in the more common Transitional variant […]

PDF

As you’ve probably heard of PDF files, we won’t go much into detail here. PDF stands for portable document format and has the reputation of not easily being manipulated. Also, it’s quite save to say that how a PDF file looks on your computer, it will most probably look like this on most other computers.

And that’s it for the advantages. I recommend using it when you present your final results in the following cases:

• The recipient of your file should not edit it any more.
• Formatting should be exactly preserved.
• There is no database included, just the summarized results.

That could be the case if somebody wants to check your results on an iPad or a similar device. But: In many cases it would be professional (and nice) to also send at least parts of your Excel file. That way, your recipient could at least take a look at the calculation process.

XLAM

XLAM is the file extension for Excel add-ins. Also our add-ins (for example the popular “Professor Excel Tools“) are XLAM files. They can contain VBA macros, worksheets as well as forms, images and individual ribbons. If you double click on such file, it will open in Excel and you can use the funcationality of the add-in. But next time you open Excel again, it won’t be available any longer. You rather have to enable the add-in within the options (File –> Options –> Add-Ins).

As the XLAM file type is not really an alternative for all the other file extensions above, we skip the advantages and disadvantages.

Comparison of file types

So if we put all the advantages, disadvantages and facts from above together, we come to the following comparison:

Which file type should you use?

Decision Tree

In order to define the best file type for your Excel workbook, please follow the decision tree.

• The first question: Do you just want to display your results only? Then you could also consider the PDF format. But if the recipient of your work wants to edit or follow up your calculations, you shouldn’t use PDF.
• Does your file contain VBA macros?
  • If yes, choose XLSB if you have a large file. Choose XLSM for a file size smaller than app. 10 MB.
  • If no and you got a large file (larger than app. 10 MB), also choose XLSB.
  • If no (you don’t have macros) and your file small, follow the tree on the right hand side.
• The lower two levels of the decision tree are just about compatibility: If you want to open and edit your workbook with another software, choose the strict XLSX or ODF format.
• If you want to make sure that you can open it with versions of Excel 2003 or earlier, go for XLS.

Summary

In conclusion, you can distill a quite short table (if you don’t need to consider old file types and other applications as LibreOffice). You just have to answer two questions: Do you need VBA macros and do you work with a large amount of data?