Support for Microsoft Excel 2007

IBM® Cognos® 8 supports Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software 2007 native spreadsheets as a report format, in addition to the existing Microsoft Excel HTML formats. The Microsoft Excel 2007 XML format, also known as XLSX, provides a fast way to deliver native Excel spreadsheets to Microsoft Excel XP, Microsoft Excel 2003, and Microsoft Excel 2007.

The use of a native Microsoft Excel format means that the spreadsheets are smaller and more usable. Because the new Office Open XML format is a recognized industry standard supported by ECMA International, the new format provides the added benefit of an open, documented integration format that extends an open systems solution.

The new format appears in the run report user interface. Users of Microsoft Excel XP and Microsoft Excel 2003 must install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which provides file open and save capabilities for the new format.

For more information about Excel format support, see Microsoft Excel Formats.