Opening and saving OpenDocument .ods files in Grid

OpenDocument spreadsheets, the .ods files, are the native format of several free office suites and a common choice in schools, charities and public bodies. Grid by Zaweba opens and saves them, so you can work with people who use .ods without converting files back and forth by hand.

What comes across

When Grid opens an .ods file it brings in the things that make up the body of most spreadsheets: values, formulas, styles, merged cells, column widths, the sheets themselves, defined names and cell notes. A budget, a register or a set of results from an .ods file opens with its figures, its calculations and its look intact, ready to edit.

Saving as .ods writes the same set back out. That makes Grid a comfortable choice for a round trip: someone sends you an .ods, you update it, and you send an .ods back.

What isn't written to .ods

Some of Grid's richer features aren't written when you save as .ods: tables, conditional formats, data validation and charts. The underlying data in a table is kept as ordinary cells, but the table itself, with its style and structured references, isn't. Conditional colours, drop-down lists and charts won't appear in the saved .ods.

It's worth knowing this before choosing a format. If a workbook relies on any of those, save your working copy as .zagr, Grid's own format, or as .xlsx, which keeps all of them. Save an .ods copy only when someone needs that format, and treat it as a copy for sharing rather than the master.

Choosing between .ods, .xlsx and .zagr

For your own files, .zagr is the natural choice: it's Grid's own type, opens in Grid when you double-click it, and is an .xlsx inside, so nothing is lost. For sending to people who use other spreadsheets, .xlsx is the format most programs read, and it keeps tables, charts, conditional formats, validation, notes and pictures. Use .ods when the other person or organisation specifically works in OpenDocument.

A sensible routine

When you receive an .ods file you'll be working on for a while, open it in Grid and save a working copy as .zagr straight away. Do your work there, adding tables, charts and validation as you like. When it's time to send it back, use Save As to write an .ods. The recipient gets a clean OpenDocument file with all the values, formulas and formatting they need, and you keep the fuller version.

If you only need to make a quick change, editing and saving the .ods directly is fine, as long as you haven't added any of the features that .ods doesn't carry from Grid.

Checking the result

After saving an .ods for the first time, it's a good habit to open it again and check the key sheets. Formulas should still calculate, names should still resolve and notes should still be there. If you've used names in formulas, check them in the Name Manager.

Grid also registers itself politely for .ods files: it appears in Open with but never takes the file type over from whatever program you already use for it.

Support for .ods means Grid by Zaweba fits into workplaces and schools that standardise on OpenDocument, without asking anyone to change their habits.