Phil's Office Secrets - Excel-Dateiformat

Excel Dateiformat

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Summary

Das von Microsoft Excel verwendete Dateiformat ist an sich nicht sehr kompliziert. Arbeitsmappen besitzen das sogenannte Structured Storage Format und ist seit Excel 97 unverändert.

Leserprofil
Erfahrene Excel-Anwender und VBA-Programmierer mit Kenntnissen über
- Office-Dokumente
- Dateiformate

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Inhaltsübersicht

Allgemeines
Einführung

Fachbegriffe und Konzepte

Die Excel-Datei

VBA-Beispiele

Links und Downloads
Bugs und Probleme
Weitere Informationen
Downloads

Allgemeines

Einführung

Ich sag's mal so: Die Excel-Benutzer von der Strasse haben vermutlich kaum Interesse, die internen Datenstrukturen und Eigenschaften von Office- bzw. Excel-Dateien näher kennen zu lernen. Müssen Sie auch nicht haben, denn eine Office-/Excel-Datei ist ja nichts anderes als eine Datei, in der die Daten eines mit Office erstellten Dokumentes abgelegt sind.

Fachbegriffe und Konzepte

Fachbegriffe

Office Dokument-Datei (Office Dokument)
Eine Datei, die ein Anwender mit Microsoft Office erstellt hat und die Daten seiner Arbeit enthält.

Office Datei
Eine Datei, die mit bzw. von Microsoft Office erstellt wurde und beliebige von Office bzw. mit Office verwendete Daten enthält. Eine Office Datei muss nicht zwangsläufig ein Office Dokument sein (z.B. eine Arbeitsmappe in einer xls-Datei) sondern kann auch Nicht-Dokument-Daten enthalten (z.B. die Excel-Symbolleisten in der xlb-Datei).

Datei

Dateiformat

Dateiversion
Excel 97, 2000, 2002

Applikationsversion der Datei
Excel-Version, mit welcher die Datei erstellt wurde

Dateiformat-Version
BIFF1 bis BIFF8

Dateityp
Excel-Arbeitsmappe

Dateiendung
xls, xlt, xla ...

Dual Format/Hybrid Format

Compound Documents

Binary File Format (BIFF)

OLE Structured Storage Files
Dateiobjekt mit verschiedenen Recordtypen enthaltend

OLE Storage API

Dual-Stream File Formats

In addition to having the ability to open and save files created by earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Excel 97 offers a new type of file format called a dual-stream file format. This is a file format that can be opened in both Microsoft Excel 5/95 and Microsoft Excel 97, and that independently supports the features of each.

This format allows users of previous versions of Microsoft Excel to open your workbooks and sometimes run your code. This depends on the features you use and how you write your project. If you use Save As, with the file format set to Microsoft Excel Add-in, you do not get a dual-stream file.

If you use the dual-stream format for your workbooks, you'll notice the following issues:

Dual-stream files are significantly larger than workbooks saved in one format or the other. (This should be obvious as you are actually saving two versions of the workbook in one file.)
If a dual-stream workbook is saved using Microsoft Excel 5/95, the Microsoft Excel 97 stream will be lost and all Microsoft Excel 97 – specific features will be lost.

For most add-in developers the dual-stream format isn't really an issue. Its primary function is to provide backward compatibility for worksheets. Your add-ins will generally take advantage of the newer features and will be saved in Microsoft Excel 97 format. Add-ins are never dual-stream; the two formats are mutually exclusive. Note, however, that a Microsoft Excel 5/95 add-in will load and run in Microsoft Excel 97.

Microsoft Office documents are OLE structured storage files created and maintained using the OLE Storage APIs of the underlying operating

Office Document File Information

Microsoft Office documents are OLE structured storage files created and maintained using the OLE Storage APIs of the underlying operating system. OLE files support more advanced file writing capabilities including Unicode, document summary properties, document versioning, transaction edits, complex multi-application ("compound") documents, and portability (currently implemented by Macintosh and Windows).

When working with Office documents in their native format, developers must use the same OLE Storage APIs (Stg*) as Office to ensure compatibility. Please note that current versions of Visual Basic and VBA do not support these APIs, so developers are encouraged to use VC (or a C/C++ add-in for VB) to view or edit native Office documents.

Die Excel-Datei

Excel-Arbeitsmappe

File Format Compatibilities

The Office 2000 binary file format is the same as the binary file format used in Office 98. For example, an Excel 98 user can open, read, and edit a workbook saved as an Excel 2000 file, and vice versa, without any conversions.

Although advanced features and formatting specific to Office 2000 files are not visible when the files are opened in the Office 98 application, the underlying data is still available when the file is opened again in Office 2000.

HTML As a Companion File Format

Office 98 Macintosh Edition users are accustomed to the convenience of saving their files in HTML format, which allows them to publish a snapshot of the file and post it on a Web site. In Office 2000, HTML is a companion file format to the binary format. This gives you another way to work with HTML documents--documents that can be viewed on a Macintosh with Internet Explorer 4. x.

Internet Explorer 4. x Can Be Used to View Office 2000 Documents Saved in HTML Format

Office 2000 includes HTML as a companion file format to the binary format. This allows Office 2000 users to share their work with Macintosh users equipped with Internet Explorer 4.5. However, there are a few situations you should be aware of:

Margins are sometimes compressed or do not appear as intended.
Table, paragraph, and page borders may be too thick or not present.
PowerPoint 2000 presentations must be saved as HTML v3 using the Save as command.

Working with Office Server Extensions (OSE)

Office Server Extensions (OSE) are software components that make it possible for Office 2000 users to publish to a Web (intranet) site as if they are saving to a file server. This intranet is a dynamic place where people can easily use Web technology to share documents.

Office 98 users can use Internet Explorer 4. x to access and read these documents. However, they are unable to take part in shared threaded discussions around documents and Web pages or to receive automatic e-mail notification when relevant Web pages and documents have been commented on or have changed.

Support for the Microsoft Office Binary File Formats (Q239653).

Microsoft Excel 97 Developer's Kit

How To Create a BIFF5 File (Q150447)

Records Needed to Make a BIFF5 File Microsoft Excel Can Use (Q147732)

Determine the Version of a Microsoft Excel Workbook (Q178605)

Determine Which Version of Excel Wrote a Workbook (Q225029)

Distinguish Between Excel 97 and Excel 2000/2002 Files (Q269168)

Determine If an Excel Workbook Contains Macros (Q224518)

Excel BIFF8 CONTINUE Record Information Is Incomplete (Q207475)

Excel BIFF8 Extended Rich String Formatting Run Is 4 Bytes (Q284436)

Excel BIFF8 FORMAT Record Documentation is Incomplete (Q284441)

STRING Record Description Omits grbit Field (Q197489)