Open ODS File

Open ODS File

Files with the .ODS extension store documents in Open Document Spreadsheet format. ODS files contain spreadsheet information such as text, graphics, images, formulas and numbers.

Outlook Express 5 mailbox files also use the ODS file extension, in order to save email messages, newsgroups and other mail settings. Open Document Spreadsheet format constitutes an ISO standard and is used worldwide for its extensive software support, including free programs. You can open ODS file both with Microsoft Office Excel and with any free office suite, such as LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice.

Many online document viewers, including official ones, are suitable for opening ODS files.

One of the biggest drawbacks when converting files between the ODS type and the Excel format is image support. There are also several other compatibility issues when using Open Document spreadsheets, formatting may be lost if saved or opened with different programs. Not all ODS features are available, for example, in Microsoft Excel. Similarly, there are several features and formatting options specific to Microsoft Excel that are not available in Open Document spreadsheets.

This means that the free and open source versions are not identical to their equivalents from Microsoft or any other proprietary office line. For this reason, it is recommended to ask the recipients of the files which format they prefer to avoid the need for conversion. In case you have files in the ODS format not compatible with your usual programs, you will always have the option to download the Open Document spreadsheet application.

Finally, similar to XLSX files, you can open ODS file online or offline with a file decompressor like WinZIP or WinRAR. You will get a series of files and folders that contain images, metafiles, settings and others.

Open ODS File on Windows OS

• Try double clicking on an ODS file in Windows File Explorer.
• If the ODS file opener software is associated correctly then the file will open
• If the file did not open you should install Apache OpenOffice
• To open ODS file in Apache OpenOffice you need to launch it and then select File->Open in the main menu
• In the File Open dialog select ODS file and click "Open"