Re: export org table to other formats (gnumeric or scalc or xlsx)

[Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es>]

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>>> "TC" == Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com> writes:

> Uwe Brauer <oub@mat.ucm.es> writes:

>> Hi
>> 
>> A couple of days ago I asked about importing excel formula into org
>> tables, and they only ways seems to do it manually.
>> 
>> I just realised that I need it also the other way around, exporting  to
>> some spreadsheet format, like gnumerica or scalc or xlsx.
>> 
>> But that look equally difficult, isn't. 
>> 
>> Some hints would be welcome.
>> 

> The big problem here is that there is no single format understood by all
> these different programs which you can use. While CSV works OK for data,
> it does not support formulas and other meta data. In particular,
> translating formulas is a real challenge.

> I went down this rabbit hole some years back i.e. having a workflow
> which allowed me to interact with others who used Excel and allowing me
> to use org mode.

> It took hours and hours of additional work and never worked reliably
> because

> - I never found a way of 'exporting' to a format which could be imported
>   by Excel and included formulas

> - None of the Excel export formats support full export of Excel -
>   especially at the meta data level i.e. Visual Basic macros and other
>   'objects'. Workbooks were a real pain.

> - Constantly having to do 'hand tweaking' to fix formulas and other
>   'meta' information (both directions). When exporting to Excel, I would
>   have to open the spreadsheet in another program to 'clean it up'
>   before sending it to colleagues.  

>  - Too many different Excel versions. This issue may not be as bad now,
>    but back then, there were multiple xlsx versions and you would get
>    different results depending on the version.

Thanks very much for this detailed answer. Actually only two solutions
crossed my mind, one is the database approach you mentioned. The other,
though much more restricted to relatively simple formulas, 
would require a more human readable spreadsheet formula, like SKL,
or stencila https://stenci.la/blog/humane-sheets/

So the idea would be to export/import from org to SKL or stencila and then,
hopefully let, excel or scalc, do the rest.

By the way, although scalc is open/free software its native format is
also somehow difficult to read and I presume, your description would also
apply to scalc's format as well. The same might be true for gnumerics...

Regards

Uwe 

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