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DOS Compatible Spreadsheets

NeXT

NeXT

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Oct 22, 2008
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I have a set of spreadsheets and lists that I store in Microsoft Excel 2000 format (I use Microsoft Office 2000 Professional because it lets me import/export data almost any way I want) and I'm trying to export the data into something I can read and modify on a DOS-only machine (VisiCalc on CP/M would be hilarious but I fear I'd lose too much formatting) but still be able to read and convert it back to the regular Excel spreadsheet later since I'd be using it for field work. They aren't complicated spreadsheets. No coloring, basic cell reference formulas (EG: SUM=C8+D8+(2x5.88) or SUM=E15-E14 kind of stuff) and only a single tab. I tried Lotus 123 and it dropped many of the formulas. I tried Microsoft Works and exported in WPS format and it loaded and I see the formulas but intelligent formula copying (you add an identical line below a completed line and it knows to template the formula, though I'm sure I'm asking too much of it here) doesn't work. I have not however directly tried Microsoft Multiplan.
Any other suggestions or is there a better format I should be working in like CSV?
 
CSV would drop all the formulas. That might not be the solution. I doubt replacing all the formulas would be faster than fixing the ones that didn't carry over through the conversion.

Are you positive that none of the functions used in Excel 2000 are not available to the DOS program? What I remember was that 123 for Windows and Quattro Pro for Windows would do a better job converting from Excel and then converting to their matching DOS program file format than Excel did directly. The result still won't have every formula that the Excel sheet did.
 
The problem is that Microsoft Excel was never a DOS application. The initial releases were for the Macintosh and Windows so it has to make a sacrifice somewhere. I typically do not use advanced formulas or multi-sheet referencing so the above should be okay. There might be one or two files I have which do weird things like change cell color or use the value of another interactive cell to calculate something else but that doesn't apply here.
Multiplan doesn't use A1 formatting. I have absolutely no idea how it would convert that back and fourth.
 
You might try the Lotus "clone" called As-Easy-As from Trius, Inc. It was developed into more like a fork of Lotus and has many additional features. The last DOS version was made available for free:

http://triusinc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10

They have also released the Windows version for free, so you might be able to open the Excel spreadsheets with it and save to a compatible As-Easy-As DOS version format:

http://triusinc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9

If that doesn't work, you might try using Libre Office as an intermediate converter to see if you can get full formula conversion.

I guess the real question becomes "What formulas are dropping and why?" If the formulas aren't complicated, you'd think Excel should be able to convert all of them. Maybe Libre Office will do a better job than Excel in this case.
 
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