You expect Excel for Mac 2011 to open Excel files, of course, but the program can do more than that. You can actually open, work on, and save a file in several formats. Choose File→Save As and then click Format to open the pop-up menu. Excel can open and save in the formats listed in this Format pop-up menu.
You have several options for file formats besides Excel’s default (.xlsx) format:
Excel Template (.xltx): Saves the workbook as a template, which you can open in the My Templates section of the Excel Workbook Gallery. You can also open templates by choosing File→Open and selecting Excel Templates from the Enable pop-up menu. This format does not have macros and is another open XML format.
Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (.xlsm): Workbooks in this XML format contain Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language code, or Excel 4.0 macro code. When opening this format file, Excel displays a prompt asking whether you want to remove the macros contained in the file. The default is Disable Macros. You must instead click Enable Macros if you want macros to run.
Excel Macro-Enabled Template (.xltm): The same as .xlsm, except this is a template. The macro warning dialog displays when you open a workbook in this format, and you must click Enable Macros if you want macros to run.
Excel Add-In (.xlam): Saves a macro-enabled workbook as an Excel add-in.
Excel Binary Workbook (.xlsb): This is the most compact file format, and is recommended for large files. This format doesn’t conform to open source standards.
Web Page (.htm): Save the workbook in a format that Web browsers understand and can display. Excel creates a file in HTML format, along with a supporting folder. Upload both the file and folder to a Web server if you want to share your workbook via the Internet.
Excel files created in one operating system can be opened the other. One exception to this is Excel 2008 for the Mac, which does not support VBA macros. As a result, it cannot open XLMX or XMLT files created by Windows or later Mac versions that support VBA macros. With Excel, your Office moves with you and can implement the most complex formulas, with amazing features. Highlights: Unmistakably Office, designed for Mac - MacBook Pro Touch Bar is fully supported by Microsoft Excel. If you type an equals sign into a cell, Excel will immediately pull up the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar. A ready-for- Retina-screens ribbon makes Excel 2016 for Mac feel more like the Windows version, while retaining a Mac distinctiveness. This comes at the price of the traditional formatting/standard. Since the release of Excel 2016 for Mac, customers have given great feedback about its ease of use and the benefits of the new features. We want to highlight the Excel 2016 for Mac features that customers rave about and share some tips and tricks that could save you a ton of time using the most powerful spreadsheet and data analysis tool on the Mac platform.
Excel can open and save Web pages in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format and do great things with Web tables and data from the Web, but don’t uninstall your HTML (Web page) code editor. Excel can’t replace that.
By J. Carlton Collins, CPA
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Q. Our company uses Excel 2013 running on Windows, but one of our employees wants to switch to a Mac. If we allow him to do this, will his Mac-based Excel files be compatible with the rest of our office’s Windows users, and are there any specific differences between Excel for Mac and Excel for Windows?
A. Generally speaking, Excel versions for Mac and Windows are reasonably compatible. The table below summarizes the primary functional differences between the Mac and Windows editions of Excel.
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To overcome those differences, some Mac owners run Excel for Windows through a virtual machine solution called Parallels Desktop 10 (parallels.com) ($79.99), which then allows users to purchase and run Windows (starting at $99.99) on their Macs. Similar virtual machine solutions include Apple’s Boot Camp Windows (tinyurl.com/plu4hye) (free); and VMWare Fusion 7 (vmware.com) ($69.99).
J. Carlton Collins([email protected]) is a technology consultant, CPE instructor, and a JofA contributing editor.
Note:Instructions for Microsoft Office in “Technology Q&A” refer to the 2013, 2010, and 2007 versions, unless otherwise specified.
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