My home computer has Microsoft XP (Home Edition) loaded, which has a works spreadsheet. I can send these documents via e-mail to my office and Excel (operating with Windows 98) reads them perfectly fine. However, my home computer can't read even the most basic Excel spreadsheet.

Does this make sense?

Does XP Office Edition have Excel instead of a Works Spreadsheet? If I upgrade to this, other than the expense, should the upgrade be "seamless?" Or would you simply recommend the Excel installation alone? What version of Excel is recommended?

Doesn't make sense - but it's the way Bill wants it. If you want to read excel, ya gotta have more than works.

If all you want to do is read excel spreadsheets and you don't feel like dumping $300.00 on Office XP - try downloading "Open Office" (search on Open Office I forget the url) or "PC - Suite" from www.software602.com. They're both free downloads. "Open Office" is a lightweight version of Star Office which is no longer a free download. It's a bit clunky but it works fine with excel documents. I've found the software602 products to be outstanding. Either will work fine for reading excel or word documents.

Oh yeah, Open Office has a Linux version too - if you ever want to leave "the dark side."

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Originally posted by risk:
My home computer has Microsoft XP (Home Edition) loaded, which has a works spreadsheet.

Does XP Office Edition have Excel instead of a Works Spreadsheet? If I upgrade to this, other than the expense, should the upgrade be "seamless?" Or would you simply recommend the Excel installation alone? What version of Excel is recommended?

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Risk,

I think maybe you're confusing Windows XP and Office XP. Windows XP (Home or Pro) is an operating system that comes with some application programs like Works. Office XP is a set of applications programs including Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, etc.

I believe you'll need to get Excel (or MSOffice if you want to get the whole package). I would recommend getting the Excel version that you have at work. That will provide the easiest and safest transfer.

If you need to work with two different versions, you can use "save as" when you're in the later version, then choose "type" and click on the earlier version. This works well most of the time, but it's easy to get in a hurry and forget - which can be frustrating when it doesn't open correctly.

If you have an older version of Excel, you might be able to get another copy inexpensively. We were able to buy the Office Pro 97 CD (Word, Excel, Access, etc.) LEGALLY for only $25 at ebay. You might also be able to purchase a multi-user license from Microsoft which would allow you to use your work Excel program at home, too.