Differences between the OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format and the Excel Online (.xlsx) format

When you open an OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) file by using Excel Online, you might notice some differences with the features that are saved after editing the spreadsheet as compared to the Excel (.xlsx) format. This is because of the different features that the file formats support.

Note:  The differences you will experience when you work with the two file formats are generally constrained to formatting differences and feature availability. Most kinds of data and content will convert, but how you format and interact with the data and content might be different between the formats.

What happens when I edit a spreadsheet in the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format?

The table below shows which Excel Online features are fully, partially, or not supported in the OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format.

• Supported    Both Excel Online and the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format support this feature. Content, formatting, and usability will not be lost.

• Partially Supported    Both Excel Online and the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format support this feature, but formatting and usability might be affected. No text or data is lost, but formatting and how you work with text or graphics might be different.

• Not Supported    The feature in Excel Online is not supported in the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format. By using the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format you risk losing content, formatting, and usability of that part of your spreadsheet.

Area	Subarea	Level of Support	Comments
Digital signatures		Not Supported	The digital signature is removed as soon as you make any edits in the file. If you immediately exit without making an edit, the digital signature is kept.
Formatting	Row Heights/Column widths	Supported	Appearance should be similar.
Formatting	Cell	Supported
Formatting	Table Styles	Not Supported	Table Styles are not saved for files opened in the .ods format.
Hyperlinks		Supported	Hyperlink styles may change.
Formatting	Cell styles	Supported
Formulas		Supported
Formulas	Names	Partially Supported	When you open an .ods format file in Excel Online, Local Names, Named expressions, and names to discontinuous ranges are not supported.
Data Tools	Dates	Partially Supported	Dates prior to January 1, 1900 are not supported.
Data Tools	Group & Outline	Supported
Data Tools	Sort	Partially Supported	Some advanced settings are not supported.
Data Tools	Filter	Partially Supported	Basic filtering is supported, but more complex filters such as date filters are not supported. Note:  Dates prior to January 1, 1900 are not supported.
Charts	Trendlines	Partially Supported	When you open an .ods format file in Excel Online, some Trendlines are not supported.
Charts	Legends	Partially Supported	When you open an .ods format file in Excel Online, some settings are not supported.
Charts	Error bars	Partially Supported	When you open an .ods format file in Excel Online, some Error Bars are not supported.
Charts	Chart Titles	Not Supported	When you open an .ods format file in Excel Online, some Data Labels are not supported.
Charts	Data tables	Not Supported
Charts	Drop Lines	Not Supported
Charts	Hi-Low lines	Not Supported
Charts	Leader lines on data labels	Not Supported
Charts	Filled Radar Charts	Not Supported
Charts	PivotCharts	Not Supported	.
Charts	Chart Sheets	Not Supported
Charts	Pie of Pie or Bar of Pie	Not Supported
Charts	Shapes on charts	Not Supported
Collaboration	Co-Authoring	Not Supported
Tables	Total Row	Partially Supported	Table Rows added to .ods format files in Excel Online are converted to formulas when the file is opened again.
Tables	Hidden Headers	Partially Supported	Displaying previously hidden Headers in .ods files are changed the table column names to default values.
Tables	Structured References	Partially Supported	Structured References are converted to A1-Style references when .ods files are opened again in Excel Online.
Tables	Use-Regular-Expressions attribute	Partially Supported	The defined values for the table: use-regular-expressions attribute are as follows: False. This means that regular expressions are not enabled for string comparisons and searches. True. This means that regular expressions are enabled for string comparisons and searches. The default value for this attribute is true; however, when .ods format files that contain regular expressions are opened in Excel Online, formulas in the file might display different results.

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