Alternative FILE formats Lynda Spencelayh Alternative FILE formats P2 explain why spreadsheets may need to be converted to alternative file formats

Alternative file formats Lynda Spencelayh Alternative file formats In addition to the standard format for saving spreadsheets (for Excel® this is known as the xls format because the file extension is .xls), there are a number of alternative formats you can use for different purposes. These include: PDF (Portable Document Format). When you save a spreadsheet as a PDF it can be viewed but not edited by others. The PDF format is very widely used, so it is ideal if you want to publish your spreadsheet online and allow anyone to download and view it (even if they don’t have a copy of Microsoft® Office®).

TXT file. This is a plain text file. Lynda Spencelayh HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). Saving your spreadsheet as HTML means you could include the spreadsheet as part of a web page. As with PDF, your spreadsheet can be viewed but not edited in this format. CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. This is a text file with the contents of each cell separated by a comma. This format can be used to import the spreadsheet data into a database application. Remember you used a csv file when you imported the customer details into your database. TXT file. This is a plain text file. XML file. This is an industry standard format so is useful when you need to export spreadsheet data to other applications (especially non-Microsoft® ones) such as a database. When you save your spreadsheet in any of these formats, the formulae are converted to values. This means you have created a ‘final’ version of the spreadsheet.

Lynda Spencelayh Find out more…… To find out more about the different file formats for saving spreadsheets, use the Help facility in Excel® and search for ‘File formats’. Also study the handout provided.