Pocket Excel files (.pxl) do not open in Excel 2003 on XP desktop

[Bible John]

I just tried to open a Pocket Excel file on my Windows XP desktop and the
file could not be opened. Has anyone had any luck opening Pocket excel files
on a desktop PC without converting them?

Pocket Excel I believe is the .pxl format that the Handheld PC and the
PocketPC use.

I may want to password protect files and send them to a party that does not
have a PocketPC. Can this be done, or do I need to convert the files to MS
excel and password protect a seperate .zip file using resco File explorer?

I cannot send any files to this party that are not password protected for
the risk is too high.


Thanks,


John

 

[Bible John]

But converting them takes away the password.

I believe they need to be converted. This is automatic if you sync a file
that they are in or drag them using Activesync explore to your pc.

 

[Barnabas Collins]

But converting them takes away the password.

Maybe the simplist solution is to add the password on the desktop?

 

[Sven]

Can't speak to whether the password is retained/works, but you have the
option on the PPC to "Save As" and select .xls, the desktop format. That
gets around the pxl conversion issue. At that point you could zip with
password, and potentially have a smaller file to e-mail from the portable.

Incidentally WM5 devices no longer use the Pocket Excel .pxl format. They
strictly use xls. Same goes for Pocket Word.

 

[Bible John]

I think I'll just sue Resco File Explorer to password protect the files.


Thanks,


John

 

[Bible John]

Maybe the simplist solution is to add the password on the desktop?

I will use RFE to password protect the files.


John

 

[Bible John]

Maybe the simplist solution is to add the password on the desktop?

I'm not sure how to do this.
--
Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
CERM-Church Education Resource Ministries
http://www.cerm.info

 

[timeOday]

I just tried to open a Pocket Excel file on my Windows XP desktop and the
file could not be opened. Has anyone had any luck opening Pocket excel files
on a desktop PC without converting them?

Pocket Excel I believe is the .pxl format that the Handheld PC and the
PocketPC use.

I may want to password protect files and send them to a party that does not
have a PocketPC. Can this be done, or do I need to convert the files to MS
excel and password protect a seperate .zip file using resco File explorer?

I cannot send any files to this party that are not password protected for
the risk is too high.


Thanks,


John

Bible John,

Since you are interested in both Word and Excel files, have you looked
into SoftMaker Office? It runs on the PocketPC but uses real .doc and
..xls files, without conversion. It also seems to do a very good job
showing all the formatting. I like the "outlining" view for .doc files
which lets you collapse and expand text under headings. Frankly,
Softmaker puts Pocket Word and Pocket Excel to shame and removes any
excuse for why they are so weak. I don't know why Microsoft doesn't buy
out Softmaker and euthanize their own half-hearted attempts at PocketPC
productivity software.

 

[xTenn]

I just tried to open a Pocket Excel file on my Windows XP desktop and the
file could not be opened. Has anyone had any luck opening Pocket excel files
on a desktop PC without converting them?

Pocket Excel I believe is the .pxl format that the Handheld PC and the
PocketPC use.

I may want to password protect files and send them to a party that does not
have a PocketPC. Can this be done, or do I need to convert the files to MS
excel and password protect a seperate .zip file using resco File explorer?

I cannot send any files to this party that are not password protected for
the risk is too high.

1. Unlike Onenote and a few other MS apps, an Excel password is quite
breakable with a service charge. Use another encryption, or at the list
zip it with a password. And about the password - length is king, with
varying the sample set between upper case, lower case, numbers and
punctuation being the queen.

2. 2003 SE and later version of pocket excel can read and write standard
excel files. Avoid PXL files - the size savings is really minor.


3. If you have an older version or handheld then look for 3rd party
spreadsheet apps and avoid pocket excel in this and similar instances.

 

[xTenn]

No in my experience. I use several Excel files that were 700-800k on the
desktop but less than 300k as .pxl files on my 2003 device. Now that I
have a WM5 device, they're 800k each on the device as well! :-(.

I wish they left .pxl and .pwd support in WM5 as an option. In addition
to smaller file size, I could also print them with Print Pocket CE, which
does not support .xls and .docs.

Oh well, the price of progress, I guess! ;-)

Man, get with the times - anything less than 1.5 G is too small to count
as a difference...


Just kidding - ESPECIALLY when you consider local device memory.


I have not seen that kind of difference in files - do you use a lot of
charts? I have several full featured xls spreadsheets (with multiple
pages) that stay under 50k with a wm5 device, but those have only a
couple small charts.

It would be my guess that the larger the spreadsheet the greater the
difference in file size.