How do I open xls files into older Excel?

[Guest]

I have excel 5.0C and need to work with files from a newer version of excel.
Everytime I try to open files from a newer version of excel, I get the error
message that it is not in xls format. Is there a way around this?

 

[Norman Jones]

Hi Flopmax,

You would have to save the workbook in Excel 5 format:

File | Save As | In the 'Save as type' dropdown, select:

Microsoft Excel 5.0 / 95 workbook 9*.xls)

Note that features dependent on later versions will be lost!

Make sure that you save the workbook with a new name so that the current
(newer) version is not overwritten!

 

[Guest]

I can't open the file to save it. I have tried going to windows explorer to
save a copy to my computer but it won't open the file for me to save in 5.0
format. I have tried to use search for files in excel. It finds the file on
the floppy but can't open or save it in the format needed.
Thanks
flopmax

 

[Dave Peterson]

You'll have to ask the person sending you the file to save it into a format that
your copy of excel can read.

You could search eBay for a copy of xl97+. It can read all the versions through
xl2003--although it doesn't support all the features added in xl2k, xl2002,
xl2003.

Or maybe a free spreadsheet program would work for you:
http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD