Using C# to read Excel 2003 in XML format

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I am using Excel 2003. I see that I have the ability to save files in XML format as well as XLSX 2007 format. What this functionality provided by installing something extra like a Comparability Pack or is this base Excel 2003 functionality?

The documentation that I see for Excel and XML refers to Open XML and most of what I see is in regards to Office 2007 or greater.

Can I use "Open XML" to read the Xml format document that I saved in 2003? Is the XML format that I save it in really the same as the format that is used in office 2007?

From this MS Site:

Open XML is an open ECMA 376 standard and is also approved as the ISO/IEC 29500 standard that defines a set of XML schemas for representing spreadsheets, charts, presentations, and word processing documents. Microsoft Office Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 all use Open XML as the default file format.

Does this mean that this library can be used to read an Excel 2003 file that I saved as XML? The presumption here is that the XML format used is really 2007 level due to the incompatibility pack.

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c#excel
The "XML" format saved from Excel 2003 is different from the Office2007+ XML format. The Excel2003 format is a single XML file, whereas the 2007+ format is genrally a zipped collection of different files organised in a folder structure. Open XML is geared towards this format, not the "native" 2003 XML format. - Tim Williams
Great comment. Just the type of info I was looking for. Ty - Ivan

1 Answers

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This is provided by the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats.

Install this compatibility pack if you would like to open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations that were created in the newer versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

...

By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats in newer versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint . The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see 924074.