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Excel File Conversion

  1. #1
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    Excel File Conversion

    I have hundreds of Excel spreadsheets with .xls file formats since they are 1997-2003 worksheets. Many of these spreadsheets have macros but are still .xls formats. I recently purchased Microsoft Office 2010 and am now using the new version of Excel. The new version appears to use .xlsx for worksheets and .xlsm for macro enabled worksheets.

    Is there an easy way to convert all my spreadsheets from .xls formats to .xlsm formats. I would probably prefer to just have all my spreadsheets in .xlsm format even if there are no macros so all my files have the same format unless there is a good reason not to do this.

    My other major concern is that many of my spreadsheets have links that specifically list files with .xls formats. What is the best way to update all the links in all my spreadsheets so the link will list the new file format of .xlsm so it can find the file?

  2. #2
    Forum Contributor TechRetard's Avatar
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    Re: Excel File Conversion

    Depending on your skill level there are two ways I would go about this. (1) advanced: use the command promt to change names manually, or (2) probably better option, would be to use a converting software...just do an online search for batch convert xls to xlsx. I am not a fan of posting external websites but if you can't find anything let me know.

    There may be someone in here that could code a macro, but they make specific programs for this sort of thing

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    Re: Excel File Conversion

    Thanks. I think I can pretty easily convert all my files from .xls to .xlsm but my bigger concern is how do I update all the links in the files that reference .xls spreadsheets. Do I have to open every spreadsheet with a link and go to each worksheet and say replace all .xls with .xlsm?

    Also, is there any disadvantage of changing a file to .xlsm instead of .xlsx. Some of my spreadsheets do not have macros so I could change those to .xlsx but I prefer all of my spreadsheets to be .xlsm for simplicity unless there is a good reason I should use .xlsx for the spreadsheets that do not have macros. For example, do .xlsm spreadsheets open slower or save slower than .xlsx files.

  4. #4
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    Re: Excel File Conversion

    Cincy, I don't know of an easy solution for you. If you change a file from .xls to .xlsx, if there is a link to the .xls file it will be broken. You could do a Ctrl H (Find and Replace) and replace .xls] with .xlsx] (because if you have a link to another file the formula will be 'Path\[filename.xls]sheetname'cell ) in each of your workbooks.

    As for the .xlsx vs .xlsm, .xlsx cannot store macros so if you have macros in your sheet you will have to use .xlsm.

  5. #5
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    Re: Excel File Conversion

    I am having trouble updating the file links. I did a replace .xls] with .xlsm] and clicked Replace Al but it only replaces one file link and I have to continue clicking Replace All 1000 times for each of the 1000 file references. I also tried highlighting the whole worksheet and clicked Replace All but it still does one replacement at a time.

  6. #6
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    Re: Excel File Conversion

    You can use this Excel document Converter it can convert all excel files (.xls, .xlsx or .xlsm) to other formats using Java language, you can also select other languages also like .Net etc for the conversion also. Best of luck.

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