.xls microsoft spreadsheets cannot be uploaded.

:roll:

If this much energy was spent on astronomy, Dunsink would be premier European observatory

p.s. Mr. Honan Soffice 8, finally has word count for a selected area of text

Yes, I downloaded the latest version of Knoppix last week (which had o.o.o. v2 beta included) - The first thing I tried was the word count feature!

Incidently. If PDF is indeed an open format, why can't I open a PDF file for editing in Open Office? - I've searched the menus etc. but can't see an obvious way of doing it.

Can Star Office open a PDF for editing?

Eh,... Steve,
As I recall, I put up a pdf Messier list here a while back. Wasn't it you that requested I e-mail to you in xls???

But if I recall correctly you initially posted it in PDF format

I requested a spreadsheet so that I could sort it manually myself in different ways. And I sent some changes back to you rather that re-posting it - it was your work so not my right to post any changes publicly. The reason I mentioned Excel was a simple slip of the tongue - I also said

Or I could just bang it into OO.o myself I suppose but I'm waaay to lazy for that

Now run faster

So, for publishing docs in their final read-only format - great. The idea kind of falls apart if I want to publish (for example) my 'eyepiece calculation' xls.... Or any doc where the recipient might want to change data or make additions.

That's what email is for . Bart's purely talking about posting on public forums - everyone should have the oppportunity to read them.

I understand the issue of pdfs for word docs. It appears the same on everyone's computer and the whole idea makes sense. However, it always seem a bit slow/cumbersome downloading pdfs for some reason (I've no idea as to the technical reasons why this is but would love to know), however the idea of pdfs for word docs does in essence make sense.

However, blocking .xls files (to address the topic of the conversation) while no reasonable alternative appears to be available isn't exactly a great idea. Yea, I know pdf has been mentioned but pdf is of very limited use for spreadsheets which require interaction. I've yet to hear someone provide a realisic alternative, however if there is one there I would be willing to use it. Is there any way I can export a spreadsheet from Excel to a format which will retain it's "interactiveness" but allow everyone to open and work with it?

However, blocking .xls files (to address the topic of the conversation) while no reasonable alternative appears to be available isn't exactly a great idea. Yea, I know pdf has been mentioned but pdf is of very limited use for spreadsheets which require interaction. I've yet to hear someone provide a realisic alternative, however if there is one there I would be willing to use it. Is there any way I can export a spreadsheet from Excel to a format which will retain it's "interactiveness" but allow everyone to open and work with it?

OK, here are the reasons:

1) Viruses
2) Bandwidth
3) Not an open format

I'll add the OO file types to the allowed list later to give people more options.

Also, open format has nothing to do with being able to edit it, it has to do with the specification of how the file works being in the public domain. This means that anyone can write a viewr for an open format so as a result they are generally viewable everywhere, which is the point of the excercise when you are sharing data.