Editing Microsoft Excel (section)

=== File formats ===
{{Infobox file format
| name          = Excel Spreadsheet
| icon          = 
| logo          = 
| extension     = .xls, (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb – Excel 2007)
| mime          = application/vnd.ms-excel
| type code     = 
| uniform type  = com.microsoft.excel.xls
| magic         = 
| owner         = [[Microsoft]]
| genre         = [[Spreadsheet]]
| container for = 
| contained by  = 
| extended from = 
| extended to   = 
| standard      = 
}}

Up until the 2007 version, Microsoft Excel used a proprietary binary file format called Excel Binary File Format (.XLS) as its primary format.<ref>{{cite web|date=February 26, 2008|title=How to extract information from Office files by using Office file formats and schemas|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840817/|url-status=live|access-date=November 10, 2008|website=microsoft.com|publisher=Microsoft|archive-date=May 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514083958/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840817}}</ref> 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.<ref name="xml">{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140066(office.10).aspx|title=XML Spreadsheet Reference|work=Microsoft Excel 2002 Technical Articles|publisher=MSDN|date=August 2001|access-date=November 10, 2008|archive-date=October 2, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002081358/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140066(office.10).aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 [[comma-separated values|CSV]], [[DBase|DBF]], [[Symbolic Link (SYLK)|SYLK]], [[Data Interchange Format|DIF]], and other legacy formats. Support for some older file formats was removed in Excel 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2006/08/24/deprecated-features-for-excel-2007.aspx|title=Deprecated features for Excel 2007|publisher=Microsoft—David Gainer|date=August 24, 2006|access-date=January 2, 2009|archive-date=July 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717141312/http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2006/08/24/deprecated-features-for-excel-2007.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 [[Object Linking and Embedding|OLE]] format, and the older stream format.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sc.openoffice.org/excelfileformat.pdf|title=OpenOffice.org's documentation of the Microsoft Excel File Format|date=August 2, 2008|access-date=July 28, 2009|archive-date=May 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509063852/http://sc.openoffice.org/excelfileformat.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Microsoft has made the Excel binary format specification available to freely download.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/B/E/0BE8BDD7-E5E8-422A-ABFD-4342ED7AD886/Excel97-2007BinaryFileFormat(xls)Specification.xps|title=Microsoft Office Excel 97 – 2007 Binary File Format Specification (*.xls 97-2007 format)|year=2007|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|access-date=February 16, 2008|archive-date=December 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222093136/http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/B/E/0BE8BDD7-E5E8-422A-ABFD-4342ED7AD886/Excel97-2007BinaryFileFormat(xls)Specification.xps|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== XML Spreadsheet ====
{{main|Microsoft Office XML formats}}
The ''XML Spreadsheet'' format introduced in Excel 2002<ref name="xml" /> 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'':

<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<?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>
</syntaxhighlight>

==== Current file extensions ====
{{Main|Office Open XML}}

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.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Excel 2007 formats
!Format
!Extension
!Description
|-
|Excel Workbook
|{{code|.xlsx}}
|The default Excel 2007 and later workbook format. In reality, a [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] compressed archive with a directory structure of [[XML]] text documents. Functions as the primary replacement for the former binary .xls format, although it does not support Excel macros for security reasons. Saving as .xlsx offers file size reduction over .xls<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fairhurst|first=Danielle Stein|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oSXWBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA324|title=Using Excel for Business Analysis: A Guide to Financial Modelling Fundamentals|date=March 17, 2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-06245-5|language=en}}</ref>
|-
|Excel Macro-enabled Workbook
|{{code|.xlsm}}
|As Excel Workbook, but with macro support.
|-
|Excel Binary Workbook
|{{code|.xlsb}}
|As Excel Macro-enabled Workbook, but storing information in binary form rather than XML documents for opening and saving documents more quickly and efficiently. Intended especially for very large documents with tens of thousands of rows, and/or several hundreds of columns. This format is very useful for shrinking large Excel files as is often the case when doing data analysis.
|-
|Excel Macro-enabled Template
|{{code|.xltm}}
|A template document that forms a basis for actual workbooks, with macro support. The replacement for the old .xlt format.
|-
|Excel Add-in
|{{code|.xlam}}
|Excel add-in to add extra functionality and tools. Inherent macro support because of the file purpose.
|}

==== Old file extensions ====
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Format
!Extension
!Description
|-
|[[Spreadsheet]]
|{{code|.xls}}
|Main spreadsheet format which holds data in worksheets, charts, and macros
|-
|Add-in ([[Visual Basic for Applications|VBA]])
|{{code|.xla}}
|Adds custom functionality; written in [[Visual Basic for Applications|VBA]]
|-
|Toolbar
|{{code|.xlb}}
|The file extension where Microsoft Excel custom toolbar settings are stored.
|-
|Chart
|{{code|.xlc}}
|A chart created with data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that only saves the chart. To save the chart and spreadsheet save as .XLS. XLC is not supported in Excel 2007 or in any newer versions of Excel.
|-
|Dialog
|{{code|.xld}}
|Used in older versions of Excel.
|-
|Archive
|{{code|.xlk}}
|A backup of an Excel Spreadsheet
|-
|Add-in (DLL)
|{{code|.xll}}
|Adds custom functionality; written in [[C++]]/[[C (programming language)|C]], [[Fortran]], etc. and compiled into a special [[dynamic-link library]]
|-
|Macro
|{{code|.xlm}}
|A macro is created by the user or pre-installed with Excel.
|-
|Template
|<code>[[Xlt (file format)|.xlt]]</code> <!-- using {{code}} either breaks the link or makes it invisible -->
|A pre-formatted spreadsheet created by the user or by Microsoft Excel.
|-
|Module
|{{code|.xlv}}
|A module is written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for Microsoft Excel
|-
|Library
|{{code|.DLL}}
|Code written in VBA may access functions in a DLL, typically this is used to access the Windows API
|-
|Workspace
|{{code|.xlw}}
|Arrangement of the windows of multiple Workbooks
|}