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How to open and edit an Excel file on a Mac without Excel

. 4 minute read. By JOV

An .xlsx file is an Excel workbook. A Mac can show you what is in one without any extra software, and there are several apps that can edit it. What differs between them is what happens to the formulas, the charts and the formatting, and whether the person who sent the file gets back something that still looks like their workbook.

If you only need to look at the numbers

Select the file in Finder and press the Space bar. Quick Look shows the sheets as tables, with a tab for each sheet. You see the results of the formulas, not the formulas themselves, and you can’t change anything. For checking a total or a date, that is often enough.

Numbers

Numbers is Apple’s spreadsheet app. It is free and comes with most Macs. When you open an .xlsx file, Numbers converts it into a Numbers document and tells you what it changed along the way, for example fonts it replaced or functions it doesn’t have.

Two things catch people out:

  • Saving doesn’t update the Excel file. Numbers saves a .numbers document next to it. To get an Excel file again, choose File > Export To > Excel.
  • A Numbers sheet is a canvas with tables placed on it, so a workbook that depends on exact cell positions, merged cells or print layout can come back looking different.

For a simple list or a budget that you keep for yourself, Numbers is pleasant to use. For a workbook that goes back and forth with Excel users, the two conversions add up.

Google Sheets

Upload the file to Google Drive and open it in Google Sheets. It can edit the file in Excel format directly, or convert it to a Google sheet, and File > Download > Microsoft Excel gives you an .xlsx copy. It is free with a Google account and is the easiest way for several people to work in one sheet at the same time.

It needs an internet connection, and the file is stored on Google’s servers. For payroll, client lists or anything from work, check whether that is allowed. Microsoft’s own Excel for the web works the same way with a Microsoft account, with fewer features than the desktop app.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free office suite from libreoffice.org. Its spreadsheet, Calc, opens and saves .xlsx files, works offline and also edits the older .xls format. It has a very large set of functions and handles big workbooks well.

It doesn’t look or behave like a Mac app, and each time you save as .xlsx it asks whether to keep the format. Charts and conditional formatting made in Excel usually survive, but check them before you send the file back.

JOV Office

JOV Office opens an .xlsx file as it is and saves it as .xlsx. There is no import and no export step, so the file you send back is the same workbook with your changes in it.

A budget workbook open in JOV Office, with monthly costs and a column chart.

What you can do in a workbook:

  • Edit cells and formulas. About 340 functions are recalculated as you type. A formula that uses a function JOV Office doesn’t know keeps the result stored in the file and is marked as not recalculated, so you can see which numbers are current.
  • Sort and filter, add charts, use AutoSum, freeze the top row or the first column, and add conditional formatting.
  • Add, rename, move and delete sheets.

The limits are worth knowing before you rely on it:

  • Older .xls workbooks open for reading only. To edit one, save it as .xlsx in another app first.
  • PivotTables are shown and kept in the file, but you can’t create or change them.
  • Macros are kept in the file and never run.
  • A workbook that is protected with a password to open it can’t be opened.

Everything happens on your Mac and nothing is uploaded. JOV Office needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later and is free for 7 days, then $2 a month or $15 a year.

Which one to use

  • To read a number, press Space in Finder.
  • For your own spreadsheets, where nobody needs an Excel file back, Numbers is fine.
  • To work in a sheet with other people at the same time, use Google Sheets or Excel for the web.
  • To edit a workbook and send it back as the same .xlsx, use JOV Office or LibreOffice.
  • For a workbook built around macros or PivotTables that you need to change, you need Excel itself.

Make your chosen app open Excel files

A double-click opens .xlsx files in Numbers unless you tell your Mac otherwise:

  1. In Finder, select any .xlsx file.
  2. Choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I.
  3. Open the “Open with” section and choose the app you want.
  4. Click Change All, then Continue.

Every .xlsx file now opens in that app. You can change it back the same way.

If the file is a CSV

A .csv file isn’t an Excel workbook, even though it often has an Excel icon. It is plain text with a comma between the values, and it has its own problems, such as everything landing in one column or leading zeros disappearing. Those are covered in how to open a CSV file on a Mac.

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