Anyone who has worked in Excel knows how to open an xls file.

Those who have not worked should, at least out of curiosity, look at the possibilities for processing information through tabular forms.

This program seems to be created for maintaining home accounting, monitoring children's progress and collecting any statistics needed in the family and at work.

The computer is our friend and assistant; it helps solve many problems and fill our leisure time with entertainment.

But its most important function is processing information, which is most often presented in the form:

• text or image;
• tables;
• databases (card files).

For each type of information presentation there is its own format and not even just one, there are dozens, if not hundreds. But it is enough to understand the general principles of operation of the main, most popular programs in order to easily move from one to another and get the desired result.

Information on paper has been familiar to us since childhood. You open the book and read. It's the same on the computer. The completed data set is in a digital file. The book has a title, and the file has a title and an extension to the title.

There is a dot between the name and extension. The name can be anything - this is the name assigned to the file when it was created. There are strict rules for expansion.

By extension, the user and computer see the file format and know what program it is intended for.

Users understand intuitively how to open a file. After all, programmers and designers worked hard for them.

The file is represented on the computer monitor by an icon (icon, pictogram) or its name. We hover the mouse cursor over it, the file is highlighted - this means that it is ready to open.

There are many ways, all are good

There are several ways to open, let's name the main ones using a computer mouse and keyboard.

1. Double-click with the left mouse button.
2. Right-click and a menu will appear where you can select “Open” or “Open with...”. There are other useful commands in this menu. Among them are “Properties” and “Location”, through which you can make sure that this is an Excel file and find in which directory and folder it is saved
3. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
4. Launch Excel and set the command “File” - “Open”. The smart program will show a list of the latest files you worked with. If what you need is not there, find it using Explorer, see point 3 (directory and folder).
5. Using Explorer, we find the file and continue as in paragraphs 1 and 2.

There are other ways without a mouse, only with a keyboard, or with peripherals such as a trackball, joystick, touchpad and touchscreen. The principle is the same everywhere. Once you learn to use a mouse, it’s easy to master any other device.

In 2007, a new version of the Microsoft Office application package was released, which includes Excel. Office programs have received many additional functions and capabilities. Files have become more compact. They take up less storage space.

To avoid confusion, the letter “x” has been added to the file extensions of the new Office. The younger brother of xls is designated xlsx.

It’s easy to open an xlsx file if the new Office is installed on your computer using the above methods.

New Office supports files of any format from previous versions.

There is no fundamental difference between opening an xls file and xlsx. The same rule applies to saving a file. Whatever type is set will remain that way. Very user friendly.

Those who have “old” Excel experience difficulties. The xlsx file will not open; to complete the task, you need to download and upload a converter program. It is distributed freely. Using this program, open the xlsx file and work with it as usual.

However, we can only save it in xls format, and some style features will be lost. The converter is suitable for one-time calls to tables. But if you work in Excel all the time, it is better to download the latest version of Office.

Open without Excel

What to do if Microsoft Office is not installed on your computer (tablet, smartphone)? First of all, don't panic. The digital world knows no boundaries; it has everything.

If it is possible to connect to the Internet, we use online services.

• Google Docs (Google Documents).
• Yandex Disc (Yandex Disk).
• Zoho Docs (Zoho Documents).

These applications (cloud services) are enabled from any browser. Using them, you can open and edit any document in a format compatible with them.

In addition to them, there are dozens of other lesser known ones that can be found by running a search engine on the World Wide Web.

In case there is no connection to networks, download freely distributed applications to your gadget:

• Open Office Portable - does not require installation, can work from a flash drive.
• Apache OpenOffice.
• LibreOffice.
• File Viewer Lite.
• Kingsoft Free Spreadsheets.

Which program to choose is up to you. It depends on the technical characteristics of your device, memory size, speed, compatibility.

Many modern digital devices come with pre-installed office suites.

Manufacturers understand that users need to work with documents and meet them halfway in advance.

If you are looking for the answer to the question of how to open files with the XLS extension, then you have come to the right place. This format is used in Excel tables from Microsoft Office. Sometimes users are faced with a situation where they need to quickly view or edit an Excel file online, since there is simply no office suite on the computer. In this manual you can find out how to open XLS file online using special Internet services.

Opening xls and xlsx documents using such services has a number of advantages. For example, you can open an Excel file on any computer with a wide variety of configurations without having office applications, you just need access to the global network. Below we will look at the most popular online services for opening xls and xlsx files and editing them. Let's get started!

Open xls and xlsx in Excel Online

Here is another service designed for opening office documents and editing them. Registration is not required here and this is very good. The interface of this resource is completely in Russian, so even an insecure PC user can figure out what and how. To upload a document to this resource, you need to click on the large button “Select a file (or) drag it here.”

Online Excel Viewer is not inferior in functionality to the first service from Microsoft, but for a one-time viewing or minor editing of a document it is quite suitable. In general, I recommend it.
Online Excel Viewer Page

Open a spreadsheet with Google Docs

The last service on our list for opening any office documents is Google Docs. Here you can create, open and edit Excel files. Everything is intuitive and very similar to the Microsoft Excel office program. To fully use the service, authorization is required. I think almost every user has a Google account, and if not, then registration takes literally a few minutes. To open and edit an Excel document, go to the page and click on the folder button.

Next, on the next page, click on the “Download” section.

To download the file, click in the center on the “Select a file on your computer” button.

An explorer will open where we indicate the storage location of your XLS file. After these manipulations, you can edit the document without any problems.

Friends, of course, there are many more different services for opening and editing Excel tables, but these three are the most popular and functional. I hope my article helped you answer your question how to open XLS documents. That's all! All the best!

XLS files are spreadsheets. Along with XLSX and ODS, this format is one of the most popular representatives of the group of spreadsheet documents. Let's find out exactly what software you need to have to work with XLS format tables.

XLS is one of the earliest spreadsheet formats. It was developed by Microsoft, being the base format of the Excel program up to version 2003 inclusive. After that, it was replaced as the main one by the more modern and compact XLSX. However, XLS is losing popularity relatively slowly, since importing files with the specified extension is used by a fairly large number of third-party programs, which for various reasons have not switched to a modern analogue. Today, in the Excel interface, the specified extension is called “Excel 97 -2003 Book”. Now let's find out what software you can use to run documents of this type.

Method 1: Excel

Naturally, documents of this format can be opened using the Microsoft Excel application, for which the tables presented were originally created. Moreover, unlike XLSX, objects with the XLS extension can even open older Excel programs without additional patches. First of all, let's look at how to do this for Excel 2010 and later versions.

In addition, if you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer and you have not made changes to the list of default programs for opening file types, then you can launch an XLS workbook in Excel by simply double-clicking on the name of the corresponding document in Windows Explorer or another file manager .

Method 2: LibreOffice package

You can also open an XLS workbook using the Calc application, which is part of the free office suite LibreOffice. Calc is a spreadsheet processor that is a free version of Excel. It fully supports working with XLS documents, including viewing, editing and saving, although this format is not the base for the specified program.

You can open an XLS book directly while already in the Calc application.

Method 3: Apache OpenOffice package

The next option to open an XLS workbook is an application, also called Calc, but included in the Apache OpenOffice office suite. This program is also free and open source. It also supports all manipulations with XLS documents (viewing, editing, saving).

As with LibreOffice, you can open a workbook directly from Calc.

Method 4: File Viewer

You can launch an XLS document using one of many programs specifically designed for viewing documents of various formats that support the above extension. One of the best programs of this kind is File Viewer. Its advantage is that, unlike similar software, File Viewer can not only view XLS documents, but also modify and save them. True, it is better not to abuse these capabilities and use full-fledged table processors, which were discussed above, for these purposes. The main disadvantage of File Viewer is that the free period of use is limited to only 10 days, and then you will need to buy a license.

It is possible to launch the file through the opening window.

As you can see, you can open documents with the XLS extension and make changes to them using a number of spreadsheet processors that are included in various office packages. In addition, you can view the contents of the book using special viewer applications.

At the moment, the Microsoft Office office suite is the most popular and in-demand set of applications. However, many users, especially those who are just beginning their acquaintance with computers, often wonder: which program to open files with the xls extension? To begin with, we note that this format was introduced directly by Microsoft Office, which uses this document to save Excel table files. If you download and open such a file, you can find tables, charts, graphs, formulas and other mathematical elements that are designed to help you with cumbersome calculations.

If you need to download a program for reading xls files, then naturally Microsoft Excel immediately comes to mind. This is not surprising, because the format is native to the software, so reading it will not cause any difficulties. However, difficulties may be caused by the Excel program itself, because it is paid. Accordingly, you need to look for an alternative solution that would allow you to view and edit xls files. You are Calc from the OpenOffice.org office suite, which is a competitor to Microsoft Office. Unlike its famous competitor, the utility is distributed free of charge. So it will be very easy to download this utility for reading documents in xls format.

The program interface is in many ways reminiscent of Excel; users will also have access to all the main functions and options of the software. Creating tables with any number of rows and columns, using functions for calculations and calculations, creating graphs and charts - performing all these and many other tasks will not take much of your time. Managing the application is easy due to its accessible and friendly interface. So if you need a high-quality program for reading such files, try downloading Calc - the software is ideal for this.

Download the program for reading slx files for free Excel Viewer

Another good free utility that you can download to your computer has a self-explanatory name - Excel Viewer. The size of the application is very small, when compared with Excel or Calk, it does not exceed 70 MB. The main positive qualities and advantages of the utility include free distribution, support for the Russian language, reading and editing files in xls format, as well as impressive functionality. Naturally, the Excel Viewer program is constantly updated, so recognizing and opening Excel documents of the latest versions is not difficult for the software.

Xls are spreadsheets created in Microsoft Excel. In turn, Microsoft Excel is part of the Microsoft Office software package, which is widely known throughout the world.

How to open an .xls file?

There are several ways to open and edit these files, each of which may be convenient depending on the situation. If the Microsoft Excel program is installed on your computer, then you can open the .xls file and, if desired, change its contents using it. If you don’t have Microsoft Excel, you should use similar programs from other developers that are widely available on the Internet. And, nevertheless, how to open an .xls file? For example, the free Open Office software package makes it easy to open and edit, which is, without a doubt, very convenient. This software package can be found and downloaded on the Internet.

You don’t have to think about the question of how to open an .xls file on the Internet at all. Even if you don't currently have spreadsheet programs on your computer, the Internet has everything. It is enough to use Google's online service - Google Docs, which looks like Microsoft Excel and allows you to work with .xls files. In addition to Google Docs, you can find other services, both free and paid, that completely replace Excel and even provide additional functionality. The main thing is not to be lazy and take a couple of minutes to thoroughly search on specialized sites.

How to open an .xls file if it is password protected? This happens, although not very often. There is no need to despair. If, unfortunately, the password is unknown, then this issue can turn into a real problem. There are special programs for guessing passwords for .xls files, but none of these programs can guarantee 100% success. Therefore, it is still better to search for the necessary information without a password if your efforts are unsuccessful.

How to open a .xlsx file? This question often arises among people who continue to work with the Windows 2003 operating system. A file in the .xlsx format is the same spreadsheet, but created in modern versions of Microsoft Excel. Starting with the 2007 version of the Microsoft Office software package, Excel developers replaced the file format

Xls to files in .xlsx format to expand the functionality of the program. At the same time, the ability to work with the .xls format was retained, which makes life much easier for users.

If you want to open a .xlsx file and you have a version of Microsoft Office before 2007 installed on your computer (for example, Microsoft Office 2003), you need to download a free compatibility pack from the Microsoft website. To do this, just type “Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack” in any search engine. After downloading and installing this package with .xlsx files, you can safely work in any outdated version of Microsoft Office.
By the way, to find out exactly what version (or what year) of Microsoft Office is installed on your computer, just launch Excel and select “Help - About the program” in the top panel.

Converting the mysterious .xlsx format to .xls. How to do this? There may be a situation in which a .xlsx file needs to be "remade" into a .xls file. This operation is very easy to perform using Microsoft Excel version 2007 or later. To do this, the .xlsx file must be opened and then saved in .xls format. This action will not affect the information contained in the file in any way.