Excel 2011 for Mac - Import XML?

[digitalformula]

Hi all,

Can Excel 2011 for *Mac* import an XML file? I know the Windows versions have been able to do it since Excel 2000 and earlier but the Mac versions seem to have this functionality removed.

Can it be done? If so, how?

Thanks!

 

[RoryA]

Yes, but Windows versions of Excel are the majority of the enterprise. There are not, as yet, that many Macs in large corporations to the best of my knowledge, and that is where I think XML is most used for data exchange.
Anecdotally, almost no developers I know use Macs and those that do tend to be running windows on it. (Excel 2008 naturally didn't help.)
Note: I'm not saying it's right, but I'm pretty sure that in terms of the feature requests MS gets for Mac Excel, XML is probably not yet all that high on the list. Also, my last comment was aimed primarily at the 'almost useless' comment.

 

[Skippyroo]

Yes, but Windows versions of Excel are the majority of the enterprise. There are not, as yet, that many Macs in large corporations to the best of my knowledge, and that is where I think XML is most used for data exchange.
Anecdotally, almost no developers I know use Macs and those that do tend to be running windows on it. (Excel 2008 naturally didn't help.)
Note: I'm not saying it's right, but I'm pretty sure that in terms of the feature requests MS gets for Mac Excel, XML is probably not yet all that high on the list. Also, my last comment was aimed primarily at the 'almost useless' comment.

Depends on what they're developing, I think.. Java guys tend to use Windows for whatever reason, VB and .Net developers too (of course); web developers tend to run Macs because they're running apache out of the box (and because the glowing apple is neat).
I guess I'm just confused that the development path is so different between Windows and OS X versions of Excel. I guess they devoted limited development time to the Mac version and XML import didn't make the "must-haves" to port over.

 

[RoryA]

I guess I'm just confused that the development path is so different between Windows and OS X versions of Excel.

Completely separate teams working on it.

 

[digitalformula]

The vast majority of Excel users don't use 80% of the program's functionality, yet it's all in there. Microsoft obviously thought XML import was of general enough interest that they included it in the Windows version of Excel, so they don't really agree with you. I don't agree with digitalformula that Excel for Mac is "almost useless" without XML import capabilities, but it's a big oversight on Microsoft's part, particularly because most of their enterprise applications speak XML. Also, Mac users tend to be more on the technical side (anecdotally; most of the people I know use Windows, but most of the developers I know use Macs), so you'd think the Mac version would be the one to have XML import.

Yes and that's pretty much my point. I'll admit that my wording "almost useless" was a bit strong but it's too late to take it back now. What I should've concentrated on, perhaps, is that I think it's such a major feature of Excel for Windows that it's very strange to not have it on Mac, especially if you take into account what Skippyroo said above.

I guess I'm disappointed mostly because Microsoft made a big fuss about Excel 2011 for Mac supporting VBA that I'm surprised XML import isn't supported now, too. VBA probably isn't exactly high on Mac users' priority lists but the ability to use Windows Excel/VBA 'apps' on Mac without rewriting would be nice.

 

[xenou]

You can (most likely) create a delimited text file from your csv and import *that*.

 

[jduncanmac]

So my next question...does Microsoft explicitly spell out the lack of XML support on the site they sell Office Mac from? If not this is completely unacceptable. I have just recently switched to a Mac for a new company and I cannot do my job without this functionality. If this lack of functioanlity is not clearly identified, I think Microsoft owes me, and anyone else who expects this BASE functionality, a full refund.

 

[dave3009]

I don't think it falls to Microsoft to spell out features is doesn't give to people, in Office 2008 they didn't provide support for VBA which I think is a little more widely used than XML. Ideally you want to check the features of a product before considering purchasing, a full list of product features is available on the Microsoft Office for Mac website.

If it helps any you can run normal Microsoft Office for Windows using an emulator, probably not the ideal solution but one worth considering.

 

[stickfigurebooks]

The following utility was available as of 1/20/13. Free and web-based, and worked flawlessly for me (converted xml file to xls and opened in Mac Excel 2008):

Free online XML to Excel converter and export tool

David Prendergast
Stick Figure Books

 

[LeonFish]

So digging up an old thread... Curious if anyone has had any luck with this?

It works for me in 2008 mac excel, but my buddy on 2011 mac excel says he cant get it to work.

For me, I did the following and it works as expected:
File>>Import>> (pop-up window with four options csv,fmp,html,txt) choose HTML File>enable all office documents>choose your xml file.

I read some post talk about using data>>get ext data>> , but theres definitely no option for an xml at that level on my version.

But as mentioned, the first path worked for me.
I figured this out as I was looking at the file header trying to figure out how the heck to make an xml readable, easily.
I can say that the XML exports from our website are formmatted in some Office XML, because in the header i noticed the following lines: mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"? Workbook xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:excel" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:spreadsheet"

Pretty obvious clue, even for a fool like me.
So I started poking around in excel and, well, I got it to work. so great.
But, now my buddy on his mac with 2011 excel, says it doesnt work.
and He's the guy that needs to generate the report for the board. so yeah...

Anyone been able to import an office formatted xml in 2011 excel and get a usuable formatted spreadsheet out of it??

 

[Jim Gordon]

If you can post an example XML file on DropBox or other shared service I can try some experiments on it.