The .ods file.
- Standard
- ISO/IEC 26300, OpenDocument
- Really a
- ZIP archive of XML parts
- Produced by
- LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Google Sheets export
- Formula syntax
- OpenFormula, which differs from Excel's in places
- Read here as
- Direct, like Excel
- Status
- Ready
- Fidelity
- Read directly
- Largest file
- 25 MB free, 250 MB once a project is bought
What it actually is
LibreOffice and OpenOffice workbooks, read like Excel.
OpenDocument Spreadsheet is an ISO-standardised format, and structurally it is the same idea as .xlsx: a ZIP of XML with one part per sheet. Anything that can read one can usually be taught to read the other.
The differences are at the edges. Formula syntax is namespaced differently, some Excel functions have no direct equivalent and become errors on conversion, and a workbook that has been round-tripped between the two applications frequently carries the scars.
For analysis this matters mainly because a great many .ods files started life as .xlsx, or are about to become one. The conversion is where formulas break, and a broken formula that still displays its last computed value is invisible.
Upload one
The analysis runs before there is anything to pay for.
You see what it found, and the evidence behind it, first.
No account needed to start. You only pay when you like what you see.
What goes wrong, and what is done about it
2 named failures, each with the repair.
Formulas that broke during a conversion
A function with no equivalent in the other application converts to an error, and the cell often keeps displaying its last computed value. The number on screen is real and no longer connected to anything.
What is done: Nothing here reads formulas, only the values they last produced, so a cell whose formula broke while its value still looks fine arrives looking fine. Open the workbook and check for error cells before uploading it.
The same 1900 date problem, inherited
ODS supports Excel's date epochs for compatibility, including the phantom 1900 leap day, so a converted file carries the off-by-one with it.
What is done: The epoch declared in the file is used rather than a global assumption, and a document mixing both is reported.
Questions people ask
About this format, not about the product.
Should I convert to Excel first?
No, and converting is the risk rather than the fix. Round-tripping an .ods through Excel is where formulas break and cell types quietly change, so uploading the .ods directly is both easier and safer than repairing the damage afterwards.
Does it read every sheet?
Yes, including the ones that turn out to be notes rather than data, which are identified and used as context rather than analysed as a table.
What about a Google Sheets export?
Either one works. Google Sheets exports both .ods and .xlsx, and the .xlsx export tends to preserve more formula detail, so it is the one to choose if the sheet contains calculations whose workings you want read rather than just their results.
Keep reading
The jobs people do with this file, and the formats beside it.