You can state your dislike by simply using an open document format, and not any of Microsoft's proprietary additions and conversions.

All in all the data is always still there, they're just trying to get you to look at it THEIR way.

Would that me (self-employed) could persuade my multi-million-£ customers to see it that way. They get very fussy about file formats - if I started using open formats I'd have to convert to/from MS formats whenever sending or receiving files - an even bigger nightmare .

I have set all programs I use to automatically save in MS 2003-2007 format. This seems the most stable and universally accepted way of making sure the vest majority of users can open & edit the files, regardless of their chosen vendor (Mac, Open Office, etc)

I've been thinking that's probably the best scheme. Only potential problem I can see is if a customer sends a file in 2010 format that I may need to modify and return. I'll have to experiment a bit (if I ever get the time!) to see if anything gets lost in translation.

I agree with the idea of using Open Source formats. I have no problem opening Excel formats in Libre Office (of course, I haven't had the opportunity to play with MS's latest adn greatest), and I can export to Excel format with no issues. All this focus on being able to access your documents from anywhere on any device is really screwing up formating...

Option- save as *.csv. You can open a *.csv file with ANY application.

"A half-truth is a whole lie." -- Mum (filched from Mark Twain, I think).

You all are right but the OP is right too. My advice to OP is the same as it is to all my clients, Get LIbre Office and forget MS.

Excel is still the best speadsheet, but for all the changes they put into it and the restrictive nature of it's format. Libre Office will just open the damn file and not bother you with the details.

Many of my clients are lawyers and CPAs and they have to deal with file formats of many types and versions. Once they switch, they don't go back!

Another option is to import it into Google Drive(formerly Google Docs). Once there it will be available to you on the move as well as locally to your machine.