# viewing a large chunk of xml

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-a-large-chunk-of-xml/378411>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-a-large-chunk-of-xml/378411 "2006-10-30T05:23:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-a-large-chunk-of-xml/378411/1 "2006-10-30T05:23:06Z")

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So i have a file on my computer that is in xml source, basically rendering it unreadable. when i try to open it in IE or firefox, i get an error message that says “cannot view xml with xls style sheet.” How can I read it formatted?

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-a-large-chunk-of-xml/378411/2 "2006-10-30T08:14:17Z")

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Download an XML editor. [XML Cooktop](http://www.xmlcooktop.com/) was the top of a Google search for ‘free xml editor’, and it runs on Windows. (Hey, you mentioned IE and the last Mac version of IE is ancient. 😛 )

Or you could just open it up in Wordpad or something. It _is_ just a text file. No formatting that way, though.