Open XLSX File

Open XLSX File on Mac OS

XLSX files are spreadsheets created by Microsoft Excel. These files contain data for the headings, rows, and columns used in creating the spreadsheet, and can be opened in OS X using three programs: Numbers (part of the iWork software suite), Calc (from the OpenOffice suite), and Excel Mac (part of the Office Mac suite).

Using Numbers

Step 1: Download and install the iWork suite.

Step 2: Open the Finder application from the dock and navigate to the folder that contains the XLSX file.

Step 3: Right-click on the XLSX file, select "Open With," and choose "Numbers" from the list. The XLSX file will open once the Numbers application runs.

Using OpenOffice Calc for Mac OS

Step 1: Download and install the OpenOffice software suite.

Step 2: Open the Finder application from the dock and navigate to the folder that contains the XLSX file.

Step 3: Right-click on the XLSX file, select "Open With," and choose "OpenOffice Calc" from the list. The XLSX file will open once the Calc application runs.

Using Microsoft Excel

Step 1: Download and install Microsoft Excel for Mac or the Microsoft Office software suite for Mac.

Step 2: Open the Finder application from the dock and navigate to the folder that contains the XLSX file.

Step 3: Right-click on the XLSX file, select "Open With," and choose "Microsoft Excel" from the list. The XLSX file will open once the Excel application is running.

Problems opening XLSX on Mac OS

There is the possibility that you will receive an error when trying to open the file where it tells you that the format or the extension is not valid, to solve this we can resort to several options:

• Change Excel file extension: Just copy and paste the file anywhere else, then rename with a new name using XLS as the extension.
• Open the XLSX file from the context of each application: either in Numbers, Calc or Excel, you can try to open the file from 'Open file' and search, using the XLSX filter, for the file.
• Opening Excel file with Google Docs: According to some users, using Google Docs to open an excel file is helpful in solving this error.

The three mentioned softwares have a way to open and recover the corrupted files, if none of the proposed options works, try using an XLSX file recovery service.