Excel Viewer Editor's Review

If you have no need for Microsoft Office, or simply don’t have the space to have Excel installed all the time, you will naturally run into problems when trying to open Excel spreadsheets. A lot of data content online can be distributed in Excel files and it is a very common format for data recording and input in the workplace. Therefore, you may find yourself with an Excel document and no way to open it. Instead of wasting the space or money on the Office suite, you can download the free Excel Viewer tool.

The interface for Excel Viewer is not dissimilar from the full-version of Excel, except with far few features, buttons and capabilities. You can open, print, copy, and search through your Excel worksheets or workbooks, but that’s it. Released during the Office 2007 years, this does not allow for some Excel 2010 features such as sparklines or splicers. As for macro-based spreadsheets, don’t expect the macros to work in the Viewer at all. These minor features won’t make that much of a difference for regular spreadsheet viewing, but it is still an annoying fault for a simple, back-to-basics app that should be able to handle basic functionality.

Pro's: Free, easily shows Excel files.

Con's: Can’t run macros or Excel 2010 features. Large download for such as basic app.

Conclusion: If you only need to open basic data spreadsheets with simple analysis and representation, then Excel Viewer will do the job. Otherwise you will need something more.