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Outlook 2013 drops .XLS and .DOC from import, export features

Discussion in 'TechSpot News and Comments' started by Rick, Dec 21, 2012.

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  1. Rick TechSpot Staff Posts: 6,250   +38

    On its Office blog, Microsoft announced several aging features to be whacked by the deprecation hammer in Outlook 2013. Amongst these imminent changes is the elimination of importing (and exporting) legacy Microsoft Office formats, namely 97-2003 .XLS and .DOC files.

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    Rick, Dec 21, 2012
    #1

  2. treeski TechSpot Guru Posts: 668   +31

    Good riddance!
    treeski, Dec 21, 2012
    #2

  3. MrBungle Newcomer, in training Posts: 80   +22

    This could be an issue for businesses who have a large archive of thousands of old documents and reports that are in the non xml format.
    MrBungle, Dec 21, 2012
    #3

  4. Per Hansson TS Server Guru Posts: 1,796   +66

    Haha, I laughed: "Gone too will be the Windows Explorer-Outlook search integration"
    ^^This future I use many times per day at work. It's great being able to simply press the Windows key to bring up the start-menu and then perform a search for a customers part program.
    I will then get both a listing of files in the filesystem referencing this and also mails where this part was discussed with the customer or machine developer in case of problems, all in the same window.

    "Progress" & "improvements" they call it I hear...
    http://www.techspot.com/article/596-windows-search-retrogression/
    Per Hansson, Dec 21, 2012
    #4

  5. Burty117 TechSpot Chancellor Posts: 1,907   +88

    Wait a minute, Outlook has been using OST cache files since at least 2003? how is that a new thing?

    Also I'm pretty sure the search still works in explorer? I'll try it at work on Monday and find out :D
    Burty117, Dec 21, 2012
    #5

  6. Per Hansson TS Server Guru Posts: 1,796   +66

    Burty117 Well here is an even more legimitate source than Microsofts own blog, Technet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178954(v=office.15).aspx

    Title: Outlook Search through Windows Shell
    Scope: Office and Windows
    Type of Change: Removing the feature
    Description: In Office 2013, Outlook items do not display in Windows Shell searches (for example, searches from the Start Menu or by using Win+F). Perform Office searches within Office 2013.
    Reason for Change: N/A
    Benefits: N/A
    Replacement: Search Office items within the Office application.
    Additional Information: N/A

    I just love the "Reason for Change" & "Benefits" sections, reminds me of Metro running on a machine with no touch interface
    Per Hansson, Dec 22, 2012
    #6
    Burty117 likes this.
     

  7. Darth Shiv TechSpot Maniac Posts: 686   +49

    You can still convert using other office applications such as Word into a more modern format.
    Darth Shiv, Dec 22, 2012
    #7

  8. psycros TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 392   +79

    Microsoft is doing a bang-up job of becoming less important in both personal and corporate computing environments. I'd say their on track for near-total irrelevance by 2016.
    psycros, Dec 23, 2012
    #8

  9. veLa TechSpot Booster Posts: 292   +25

    I still save all of my Word documents as rtf's just for backward compatibilities sake.
    veLa, Dec 23, 2012
    #9

  10. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,893   +117

    They are just dropping some strange import/export things specifically to Outlook. I got the impression this was a somewhat exotic way to do things and that Outlook likely has a default that is not xls or doc.

    I'm sure you'll be able to open .doc and .xls files in the new Word and Excel versions. If they do drop that, I'm sure they will make available a free add on to add that compatibility, like they did with opening .docx and .xlsx with Office 2003.
    SNGX1275, Dec 23, 2012
    #10

  11. jonjonjon Newcomer, in training Posts: 18

    Good I hate the email search from explorer. I always have to go disable office in the indexing options. if I wanted to search for an email I would search in outlook. why would I search from explorer?
    jonjonjon, Dec 23, 2012
    #11

  12. distantreality Newcomer, in training Posts: 23

    Just rename the company Lazysoft and get it done and over with already
    distantreality, Dec 23, 2012
    #12

  13. Guest

    The only real advantage to using Outlook over other e-mail clients is the Journal feature. Additionally, businesses with files of PST's going back 10 years will be unable to easily comply with any court-ordered discovery if they cannot easily access .doc files attached to early emails.

    Microsoft has truly shot themselves in the foot this time. First, they release a truncated version of Windows 8 on their initial tablet. Then they mess up Outlook for the final Windows 8 Pro version of the tablet which they won't release until they've gotten every single person interested in a Windows tablet to buy one of their piece-of-junk earlier ones. This is to say nothing about 'the ribbon' in current versions of Office, which most of us find intolerable. Android is looking a whole lot better to me.

    I would probably have paid $1500 for a Surface Pro with an i7 and 8 Gb of RAM Strictly because I wanted to integrate Outlook with all my other devices. With this change I see no reason to be loyal to the Windows platform, so now, I think I'll buy an iPad 7 when they put the Retina display in them. Let Microsoft rot on the vine.

    Wizwill
    Guest, Dec 24, 2012
    #13

  14. SoCal IT Newcomer, in training

    I'm trying to import a list of calendar dates from an .xlsx excel 2013 file into Outlook 2013. It will only take .ics, .pst, or .csv files. Tell me how this helps? I think it SUCKS.
    SoCal IT, Jan 18, 2013
    #14

  15. Guest

    I am using office 2013 under windows 7 home edition. Exel files attached to outlook could not be opend directly. I am able to save and then open. How to overcome thisw?
    Guest, Apr 5, 2013
    #15

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