# Running .xls files on Win 98. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657 "2006-09-29T21:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657/1 "2006-09-29T21:10:03Z")
My boss has just recieved a number of Excel files from her area manager, that help with Rota’s and wage forcasting and suchlike. Unfortunately she doesn’t have Excel on her home PC, only Works. Also the company wont allow any software on our back office computer that they haven’t installed themselves. Is there a **legal** piece of software that will run these files under windows 98 (the OS on her home comp)? I’m aware of the likes of Open Office and Abillity Office, but do the latest versions run under 98. I’m also aware that I could take the files home myself and convert them to Works format. However we don’t live near each other, and it could end up being a pain, whenever she receives updates for me to shuttle the discs back and forth. I’ve even tried explaining to our area manager how HE could convert them… but let’s just say he’s not the fastest bus in the system. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657/2 "2006-09-29T21:11:17Z")
IIRC, Microsoft used to make a free Excel viewer that would run on Windows 98. If the file format is newer than the latest viewer understands, you’re SOL, but it’s worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657/3 "2006-09-29T21:19:45Z")
There’s [Excel Viewer](http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c8378bf4-996c-4569-b547-75edbd03aaf0&displaylang=EN), which is free and legal. It opens and allows you to print from all Excel formats, but you can’t alter anything in the spreadsheet. [OpenOffice](http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/instructions.html) should run on 98, according to their site, but I’ve never installed it myself. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657/4 "2006-09-30T19:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] There’s [Excel Viewer](http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c8378bf4-996c-4569-b547-75edbd03aaf0&displaylang=EN), which is free and legal. It opens and allows you to print from all Excel formats, but you can’t alter anything in the spreadsheet. [OpenOffice](http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/instructions.html) should run on 98, according to their site, but I’ve never installed it myself. [/QUOTE] Cheers **Dervorin** OpenOffice was my first thought, I’ll give her a cover disk with it on. I forgot all about Excel Viewer, but we do need to be able to alter the contents of the spreadsheet. Simple question quickly solved. Ta muchly. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-xls-files-on-win-98/374657/5 "2006-10-01T00:29:24Z")
I used to run Star Office 5.2 (a predecessor to OO) on my Win98 machine, and I’ve run Star Office 7 (OO 1.1) there to, no problem.