Why did my spreadsheet become a text document instead of a Calc file?

Because ODT is OpenDocument Text - Writer's format. This conversion deliberately produces a document with the sheet rendered as tables. For a live spreadsheet in LibreOffice, open the XLS in Calc and save as ODS instead; the two routes serve different jobs.

Do my formulas survive into the ODT?

Their results do; the formulas themselves do not, since Writer tables are not a calculation surface beyond trivial field sums. Treat the ODT as a report snapshot and keep the XLS as the working file.

Is ODT acceptable where XLS submissions are refused?

In ODF-mandated administrations, yes - editable submissions must be OpenDocument there, and a proprietary binary XLS can be rejected outright. The ODT presents the same figures in a standards-compliant document.

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Transfer an old Excel XLS spreadsheet into an ODT text document, rendering the sheet as tables editable in LibreOffice Writer. The output is a Writer document rather than a Calc spreadsheet - right for reports, wrong for continued number-crunching.

Convert XLS to ODT – Free Online XLS to ODT Converter

Why convert XLS to ODT?

Draft LibreOffice Writer reports around data stuck in the ageing Excel 97-2003 format.
Meet OpenDocument submission requirements for public-sector and academic filings.
Retire dependence on binary XLS for documents that now only need reading and light editing.

How to convert XLS to ODT

Upload your XLS file using the area above.
ODT is preselected as the target format.
Click Start and wait for the conversion to finish.
Download your converted ODT file.

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