Uzc63jgB.xls (1.6 KB)
So my school uses a software called myschoolone. it generates a xls report. the report should contain few names . But linux libreoffice does not open it properly. only first cell is visible. rest of the entire sheet is blank. if i open this same file in windows office 2016 it opens properly. if i open this in google sheets it opens properly. So what is the exact error . I need to be able to explain my issue well to my system administrator. Since the whole office uses windows, he wouldn’t care as it is opening in windows . but help me here to explain my issue so that i may explain it to them. they are not that supportive towards linux. One more thing i noticed. the same xls file gave slight complain in office 2010 but it opened it properly. it opened very fine in office 2016. thank you. uploading xls file so you may reproduce in your system.
This is not a spreadsheet at all.
> file Uzc63jgB.xls
Uzc63jgB.xls: HTML document, ASCII text, with very long lines
I can open the file directly in a web browser.
If you rename the extension to .ods it opens in Writer as a table with all names
Excel has this “do something with this file” behaviour, I’ve also seen at other database-reports. The Import-Filters for xls to Calc obviously are more strict and “expect” only to be called when data is actually .xls
So your “solution” should be just renaming this reports to .html (or .ods if you pprefer to start LibreOffice for the file).
You may copy data from there to calc, if necessary.
Head of your file with additional line breaks:
<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<xml>
<x:ExcelWorkbook><x:ExcelWorksheets><x:ExcelWorksheet>
<x:Name>Class Reports</x:Name>
<x:WorksheetOptions><x:DisplayGridlines/></x:WorksheetOptions></x:ExcelWorksheet></x:ExcelWorksheets></x:ExcelWorkbook>
</xml>
<![endif]-->
</head><body><table>
It does not. It generates so called HTML output files with an incorrect file name extension assigned. Select HTML Document (Calc) for file type when opening the file to get a satisfactory result.
Why, it is. Or what is your definition of a spreadsheet?
That file contains a text table in plain HTML. No formulas, no numbers, no references, no spreadsheet functionality at all. You can view this in a browser, in a text editor, in a word processor and some spreadsheet applications interprete this text table correctly.
This one does not. However, to the best of my knowledge, HTML output files can contain formulas, thus, they are spreadsheets (of course, with limited functionality), in my opinion. Anyway, I see that you rely on Wikipedia. OK.
Yes, you are absolutely right. i finally know the exact problem .
Thanks for the insight. I saw the text of this file. i was not sure whether it was html or javascript or whether xls encodes things in such format. so i wanted expert guidance. thanks for the clarity.
i tried that. but it gave the same output of showing just one cell. But i got great insight here. Thanks
@gabix do you think it is a bug that Calc does not show the full spreadsheet even though Writer can interpret it correctly?
Given that there is a difference when Calc opens it using its filter detection heuristics vs. using " HTML Document (Calc)" explicitly, there is at least something to improve in the filter detection.
No, not a bug, as a) there is no claim of perfect handling HTML output by LO, and b) the file has an incorrect file name extension. But quite a reason for an improvement.
Submitted bug tdf#150964
Even knowing the import filter is there, it is a lot to look through to get to the 70th filter.
Calc can hanlde the file correctly but LibreOffice fails to choose the right filter. This is how to open the file directly:
menu:File>Open… [Ctrl+O]
Pick the .xls file first.
In the file type list box select "HTML Document Calc (.html, .htm)"
Click [OK]
This is the resulting spreadsheet saved as Open Document Spreadsheet (.ods)
Uzc63jgB.ods (9.6 KB)